Fanatics CEO Rubin to play in White’s $12m Bellagio clash
Table of contents
- UFC president Dana White appeared on streamer Adin Ross’s Kick channel this week, revealing a high-stakes baccarat event planned for later in 2026.
- White and Fanatics founder and CEO Michael Rubin will take on the Bellagio in a streamed contest, with $1m hands and a $12m target to win.
- White also used the stream to address responsible gambling, citing fellow streamer SteveWillDoIt’s losing sessions at Red Rock Casino as a cautionary example.
Dana White has announced a forthcoming high-stakes baccarat event pitting himself and Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of Fanatics, against the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
White revealed the details during a live appearance on gambling streamer Adin Ross’s Kick channel on Wednesday, in a broadcast that also featured Nina Drama.
The $12m challenge
Dana White told Ross that he and Michael Rubin will play $1m baccarat hands against the Bellagio, with the winner being whoever reaches $12m first. The entire session will be streamed live, though no date has been confirmed beyond sometime in 2026.
White’s appetite for high-stakes baccarat is well documented. He has previously claimed to have won over $26m at Caesars Palace between January and March 2025, and the Bellagio currently permits him to wager as high as $400,000 per hand.
The planned $1m hands would mark a significant step up — a threshold White has described on multiple occasions as his ultimate gambling ambition.
White has routinely described himself as a “degenerate gambler,” placing high-stakes bets and refusing to back down from major losses. His history at the Bellagio is extensive. A 60 Minutes segment once followed him to a private baccarat table at the property, where he placed $400,000 bets, fell behind by $1.2m, and still walked away with a $700,000 profit.
Rubin’s involvement adds a notable gaming industry dimension to the event. As founder and CEO of Fanatics, he oversees a global sports platform spanning licensed merchandise, trading cards and collectibles, sports betting and prediction markets, and content and media.
Rubin has also described himself as a “degenerate gambler” and credits early Atlantic City experiences with sparking a lifelong interest in the business. At NRF 2026 in January, Rubin claimed Fanatics Sportsbook took in 25 billion bets in 2025 and reached $850m in revenue, figures he attributed to the book growing faster than its two main rivals since launch.
When Adin Ross expressed enthusiasm about watching the event, White extended a personal invitation.
Dana White, president of the UFC, said:
“You’re gonna be in it. You can play with us. I need all the sick degenerates with us there that night.”
The invitation came after Ross recounted on stream how White paid off $500,000 of his gambling losses the first time the two met at a Las Vegas casino, and handed him a further $50,000 to keep playing.
Responsibility on the felt
Shifting tone, White also weighed in on the gambling conduct of fellow streamer SteveWillDoIt, who has documented heavy losing sessions at Red Rock Casino. He used the example to make a broader point about knowing when to step away.
“Steve will do it, he would get on these crazy binges, right, at Red Rock. And he’s calling me, going ‘Hey, I need help with this.’ And I’m like: ‘Steve, go home.'”
White stayed on the stream for over two hours and closed by promoting UFC 327 in Miami.
The Adin Ross Kick channel has become a focal point for high-profile gambling content. Ross has attracted significant industry attention for his own casino sessions, including a $552,000 Rainbet session halted by his moderator earlier this year in March. He also faces ongoing federal RICO litigation alongside Drake over alleged promotion of offshore platform Stake.us.
What’s going to happen
The planned Bellagio event, with two prominent sports and gaming figures streaming live casino play to a mass audience, shows the growing convergence of high-profile gambling content and mainstream sports business.
For operators, the format could raise questions about where entertainment ends and gambling marketing begins, a distinction regulators in multiple jurisdictions are monitoring with increasing attention.
With Fanatics Sportsbook now a significant US operator, Rubin’s visible participation in a streamed gambling spectacle may attract further scrutiny around responsible marketing standards in the sector, particularly as regulators in several states weigh disclosure obligations for gambling-adjacent content.
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