Specific timeline
ESPN is the latest big name to enter the US sports betting scene and its upcoming online sportsbook has been highly anticipated. PENN Entertainment, which will operate the offering, announced on Thursday through its third-quarter earnings report that the new platform will officially launch on November 14 in 17 states. This simultaneous launch will go ahead as long as there are no last-minute regulatory hitches.
Some of the most notable markets in which ESPN Bet will launch include Arizona, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. One of the big states that won’t be getting ESPN Bet any time soon is New York, as PENN never sought a license in the Empire State due to the hefty 50% tax rate.
launch will take place the week before Thanksgiving
The widespread launch will take place the week before Thanksgiving, which is a time when a lot of big games are taking place across both the college and professional sports scenes in the US. One of the high-profile matchups around that time will be the NFL game on November 21 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, a rematch of Super Bowl LVII.
Leveraging the ESPN name
The technology powering ESPN Bet will be the same that the PENN-owned theScore Bet uses in Ontario. Some of the features of the new sportsbook will include same-game parlays, micro-markets, and prop betting.
The Disney-owned media behemoth ESPN will be helping to drive attention to the launch through a variety of integrations for its 200 million-plus fanbase across varying mediums. This will include a new advertising campaign featuring SportsCenter anchors Elle Duncan and Scott Van Pelt. Further campaigns are in the works for the coming months in an attempt to attract as many customers as possible.
will see ESPN get $1.5bn in cash over the course of a decade
PENN Entertainment has a licensing agreement with ESPN that replaces the former’s previous sportsbook offering through the Barstool brand. This new deal will see ESPN get $1.5bn in cash over the course of a decade and the option to purchase an equity stake in PENN. PENN does have the option to exit the deal after years three and seven if it fails to capture a certain level of market share.
A competitive market
The US sports betting sector is already highly competitive, with numerous operators already departing the market or merging with other brands over the past few years. The high customer acquisition costs mean that only a handful of big operators dominate the market. FanDuel currently is the leader in the space, followed closely by DraftKings, with BetMGM a distant third place.
While it only controlled about 5% of the market when it had its Barstool-branded sportsbooks, PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden hopes that ESPN Bet will be able to capture up to 20% market share by 2027.