How is ESPN Bet so far? In the words of Bubble Boy:Not so good”
Before we proceed, a disclaimer is in order. NBC has a gambling agreement with DraftKings. PFT's online operations have never involved gambling transactions.
we had a chance. For various reasons, I passed. Among other things, I'm still concerned that too many people see sports betting as a way to make money rather than what it really is. For the majority of people who engage in sports betting, it is a form of entertainment that comes with high incomes. The degree of certainty that you will lose money.
That's fine. People lose (spend) all kinds of discretionary income. But it's a surefire way to make money just for your home.
Except for Penn National.
After his deal with Barstool fell through, Penn pivoted to ESPNBET and made the following deal: pay $1.5 billion over 10 years, with the ability to purchase up to 31.8 million shares of Penn National stock. Now, the entire first quarter of the new relationship is complete, but Penn State National Airlines missed revenue expectations due to ESPN Bets.
Via Sport business journalESPN Bets was '.Drag the bottom row” Pennsylvania's loss was $196 million. Sales were down 3.6% compared to Q1 2023, which was pens and bar stools.
“While we are pleased with the initial adoption and engagement results for ESPN BET, our focus heading into this football season is to strengthen our product offering,” said Penn National's Jay. President Snowden said. empty glass.
What that means for ESPN viewers/consumers remains to be seen. Mr. Penn will probably want ESPN to sell more gambling products to viewers as he looks to increase his goose revenue. (On Saturday, ESPN sent out an email offering an “Initial Wager Reset” that would give you up to a $1,000 bonus bet if you lost your first bet.) Again, everyone knows how gambling works. That's fine as long as they are on the same page. It can be fun if you do it responsibly. And over time, you may end up losing more than you win.
That's no way to pay the bills. That's not how to get rich. True, there are rare people who have cracked the code (unless they have). For most people, gambling remains a burden to our own delusions that there is a way to get rich quick when there is absolutely not. Advertisements that push these buttons, directly or indirectly, make the problem worse, no matter how many times they say “Please gamble responsibly” in the fine print.
Sportsbooks are not a type of public assistance. They are there to make money. They make money when you lose it. That's the simple truth. Anyone who bets needs to understand that. People who don't understand that shouldn't bet. Otherwise, you will have a gambling problem.
And unprofitable sportsbooks have a completely different kind of gambling problem. It could be as simple as DraftKings and FanDuel have already become the Coke and Pepsi of sports betting. And the best thing anyone else can ever be is RC.
