Betting on the mouse
ESPN, a division of the family-friendly giant Disney, announced on Tuesday its strategic entry into the fiercely-contested arena of sports betting.
To join the fray, ESPN is walking down the aisle with gambling powerhouse Penn Entertainment. However, Penn isn’t coming to the union empty-handed — the company is stumping up a staggering $2 billion to the sports network over the next decade, allowing the gaming firm’s current sportsbook to rebrand to ESPN Bet.
PENN shares surged 20% on the announcement, but the real winner of the deal appears to be the controversial figure Dave Portnoy. He has acquired his sports media group Barstool Sports back for a single dollar… just a few years after selling the company to Penn for $551m to roll into its sportsbook offerings. The rough-and-tumble nature of Barstool’s content presented a compliance nightmare in a heavily-regulated market like gambling.
And we’re off
When a groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling expanded the scope of sports betting in the US — from just Nevada and three other states to now encompass 34 states — the industry immediately, perhaps unsurprisingly, boomed. And, like the athletes everyone is betting on, the companies are competing intensely. Penn's sportsbook faced stiff competition from FanDuel and DraftKings, which have together secured over 60% of the market, per data from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming.
With the market booming, ESPN clearly couldn't sit on the bench any longer.
