The worldwide leader in sports is officially part of the sports betting industry.
ESPN BET Sports Betting App launched operations Tuesday, several months after ESPN announced its partnership with PENN Entertainment. The new sports betting outlet is now live in 17 states and is accompanied by a full-court press of content from its namesake television network.
More on the launch of ESPN BET
ESPN announced its entry into the sports betting world earlier this year. In August, it formed a partnership with Penn Entertainment, which had previously operated Barstool Sportsbook. The gambling enterprise sold the Barstool brand, and Barstool Sportsbook was rebranded as ESPN BET.
The new sports betting app launched in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Time will tell if the app will launch in more states where sports betting is legal, including New York and ESPN’s home state of Connecticut.
ESPN BET’s launch is the latest development in a sports betting landscape that’s shifted considerably over the past year. Fanatics Sportsbook is gradually launching following the company’s purchase of PointsBet Sportsbook’s U.S. assets, and WynnBet retreated from a number of states earlier this year.
ESPN BET’s launch includes important TV developments
Unsurprisingly, the ESPN media empire will play a big role in getting ESPN BET off the ground. On launch day, the network announced a slew of changes designed to embrace its foray into legal sports betting.
One of the company’s gambling-focused shows, “Daily Wager,” has rebranded to “ESPN BET Live.” Additionally, viewers of the network will soon see commercials featuring popular SportsCenter anchors Scott Van Pelt and Elle Duncan.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s social media efforts also include a rebrand of sorts. The network announced it is rebranding its SportsNation accounts to ESPN BET.
Can ESPN reporters bet on sports?
The launch of ESPN BET presents a variety of questions. Its reporters sometimes have access to inside information the public isn’t privy to, which can present an integrity issue.
To combat this, ESPN released a memo to employees last week. In it, the company issued a directive banning reporters and insiders from betting on sports they cover, and from passing that inside information to others for betting purposes.
“Uphold our journalistic integrity,” the memo goes on to read. “No story should be reported, delayed, influenced or withheld with the intention of impacting betting lines. All employees must observe the strict boundaries that the Company maintains between our journalistic enterprise and the operations of a sportsbook and should not imply any control or influence over the operations of a sportsbook.”
