US sports broadcaster ESPN will officially enter the sports betting market through the launch of ESPN BET on 14 November.
ESPN BET will leverage Penn Entertainment’s technology to break into 17 US states, with ESPN using official odds from its sportsbook evident in its promotional campaign featuring SportsCentre’s Scott Van Pelt to showcase the seamlessness between the two brands.
Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia are the first states to gain access to ESPN BET.
Penn CEO, Jay Snowden, addressed the launch during the group’s Q3 earnings call this week, stating: “This allows us to take advantage of a very active Thanksgiving week sports calendar, which includes the NCAA college football rivalry week, and the Super Bowl rematch of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Philadelphia Eagles, televised on ESPN Monday Night Football.
“In connection with the launch, ESPN will be implementing an initial wave of exclusive integrations across the ESPN ecosystem, which includes 200 million unique monthly users in the US more than 12 million of whom are regular users of the nation’s number one fantasy sports app at ESPN.”
The launch coincides with the closure of the Barstool Sportsbook app, as the near $2bn venture between ESPN and Penn will integrate ad space on the sports broadcasters media channels as well as taking advantage of its roster of talent.
A part of this transition sees the Daily Wager show rebranded to ESPN BET Live as a showcase of the new sportsbook.
