Bettable Hot Dog Eating Competition Host Nathan’s Famous is Being Bought Out

Coney Island’s iconic Nathan’s Famous, well known for its yearly eating contest, is being fully bought out for $450 million.

Nathan’s Famous hosts a yearly July 4 hot dog eating competition, an event that can be legally bet on, thanks to a permission obtained by the New Jersey gaming regulator.

Initial attempts to legalize betting on the contest were unsuccessful. In 2019, several requests were turned down by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) and other state gaming watchdogs.

Sportsbooks finally gained the ability to offer odds on Nathan’s Famous July 4 event in 2020; however, at first, they could only do so in New Jersey, Colorado, and New Hampshire, with other states joining in.

The eating contest, regulated by Major League Eating, is sponsored by legal sportsbooks like DraftKings.

Smithfield Acquisition of Nathan’s Famous

The contest’s delectable sausages and the brand’s larger meat products are the work of Smithfield Foods, the Virginia based company that produces pork and processes food, in turn owned by a Chinese investor.

In 2014, the packaged meat giant acquired the exclusive rights to produce and sell Nathan’s Famous products in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Now, Smithfield will buy all of Nathan’s outstanding shares for a 10% premium above their intrinsic value at $102 per share; the total comes out to $450 million.

30% of Nathan’s shares are owned or controlled by its board of directors. They have approved the transaction and will attempt to persuade other shareholders to accept it as well.  The transaction is set to close in the first half of 2026.

How Nathan’s Famous Came to Be

Founded in 1916 on Coney Island on a $300 loan, Nathan’s Famous started off as a hot dog stand by a Jewish-Polish immigrant named Nathan Handwecker, over time gaining popularity with his 5-cent hot dogs.

Handwecker’s son, Murray, expanded the business and opened several locations across the state of New York.

Private investors acquired the business in 1987, after which they franchised the restaurant. Nathan’s Famous hot dogs were ranked first in a blind taste test competition by Bon Appétit editors in 2023.