Have you guys ever used ESPN Bet? surprising that it’s shutting down already

[Dave1]

Just found out ESPN has Sportsbook betting? I thought it was just a media about sports.
Maybe you mean that this bet has been closed? https://about.espnbet.com/

I've never bet on ESPN because it's located in the US so it's very limited to global citizens.

But there is a clear reason why ESPN bet is closed because Penn Entertainment pulled out with $1.5 billion as stated in the article.

That is the thing here, most of us knows that ESPN is about media and sports and not necessarily meaning that their subscribers are avid sports gamblers. So just like here in our community who has signature campaign, maybe those that close early didn't translate anything for them while others running for years have really benefited from their promotions and many are signing to their casinos.

But it is said that ESPN will be partnering with one of the biggest and most familiar to us, which is DraftKings,

or ESPN, the sudden breakup marks a rapid pivot in strategy. Just hours after the announcement from Penn, the media giant confirmed a new long-term partnership with DraftKings, which will become its official bookmaker. DraftKings will take over the betting tab inside the ESPN app starting December 1. The standalone ESPN Bet app will shut down on the same date.

[Cointxz]

I know the reason, and I’ve already read the article.. my question was more about what could’ve really caused the failure. It’s not mentioned directly in the article, I just want to hear how others see it. For me, tough competition might be one of the main factors, especially if the market was already dominated by bigger or more established players. Maybe they failed to connect with users or didn’t market it the right way.

If they wanted to make it a success, they probably needed to focus more on improving user experience, forming solid partnerships, or offering something unique that would make them stand out.

Competition is very tough on US market. They even have different sport's channel on every category unlike before that you can watch everything on ESPN.

Bookie like Fanduel and Draftsking already positioned well on sportsbook market that even a giant name can’t share the profit probably they offer less compared to the existing popular bookie.

[nelson4lov]

Have you ever tried using ESPN Bet?
 [...]

But from what I know, it only operates in the US.

You said it yourself. Not everyone on forum lives in the US so US centric businesses that haven't gone mainstream won't be familiar for some of us. As others have commented, ESPN is mostly known for media and sports entertainment. I didn't even know their sportsbook/casino arm existed.

The gambling industry is a tough one and they're not the only ones on the block offering almost identical services like other US based gambling outfits and it's a known tact that gambling is zero-sum at the end of the day.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

I know the reason, and I’ve already read the article.. my question was more about what could’ve really caused the failure. It’s not mentioned directly in the article, I just want to hear how others see it. For me, tough competition might be one of the main factors, especially if the market was already dominated by bigger or more established players. Maybe they failed to connect with users or didn’t market it the right way.

If they wanted to make it a success, they probably needed to focus more on improving user experience, forming solid partnerships, or offering something unique that would make them stand out.

Competition is very tough on US market. They even have different sport's channel on every category unlike before that you can watch everything on ESPN.

Bookie like Fanduel and Draftsking already positioned well on sportsbook market that even a giant name can’t share the profit probably they offer less compared to the existing popular bookie.

Maybe the company that team up with ESPN has experience already is some other places like Canada as the article says. But they didn't know that it's totally different when it comes to US based gamblers.

Fanduel and Draftkings have built their reputation already. And although ESPN's name has that brand already, it's too different things when you are just a sports media and not really attaching to gambling. So that is the risk that this company did go with ESPN and it's obvious that it didn't work out for them. Maybe they will have to re-brand again and start from scratch and try to be more competitive against this two giants.

[Vaculin]

Fanduel and Draftkings have built their reputation already. And although ESPN's name has that brand already, it's too different things when you are just a sports media and not really attaching to gambling. So that is the risk that this company did go with ESPN and it's obvious that it didn't work out for them. Maybe they will have to re-brand again and start from scratch and try to be more competitive against this two giants.

They actually had the platform, but I’m not sure why they weren’t able to fully utilize it. It’s fair to expect they’d capture a huge share of the market, especially since they partnered with ESPN and even used its name for the sportsbook. With that kind of brand power, it should’ve been a big advantage. And while there are already a lot of established players in the industry, it’s not impossible to overtake them as long as the people running it are smart enough to handle the tough competition.

[mikel_012]

ESPN might have the advantage of advertising the casino every time on their channels but most gamblers don't care about this, they want more bonus and games from casinos which are more fun than ESPN. Just because they have the name doesn't mean they get any advantage in real usage, so this was not enough to get people to join in.

When you have so many competition you need a lot more than a name to grow. In this forum we have so many casinos but not once ESPN came here to advertise or create a community because they think the tv channel was enough for that, with no promotion or real advantage. Now they fail.

[Eternad]

At first you need to know what could be the reason why they are shutdown as you said, some of this cases could be either they weren't able to payout to gambler who might won huge amount from the gambling site or maybe some could be either regulation issues which doesn't really suit them something like that, I can't be sure what could cause the problems.
Maybe they could be either planning rebranding all the above mentioned thing could actually caused it or triggered why they have choose to shutdown, and they might come with another brand name.

This sportsbook has billion dollar fund backed by private investors so there’s no way they will not be able to pay some player huge win also they are operating on the US jurisdiction and from a big sports brand so there’s no way they will quit by just not able to payout huge win.

There’s a brief explanation on the article for potential reason which is not profitable since they are aiming for a huge profit due to their big brand but the result is the least expected.

[FinneysTrueVision]

Not that many people watch ESPN anymore due to how expensive cable television has become. That might have had something to do with why they underperformed. There are also some major players like DraftKings, which already have such a large market share that it is hard for newcomers to compete against them.

According to the ESPN Bet website, they are only available in 19 out of 50 states. They aren’t available in large states like California, Texas, and Florida or even Nevada, where gambling is popular. A $1.5 billion deal doesn’t make sense with these limitations.

[tread93]

What do you guys think went wrong here? And if a company that big can fail, does it make crypto sportsbooks look like the better model now?

Yeah, I saw that too, kinda crazy honestly. Shows how even a massive name like ESPN can flop if the product doesn’t actually click with players. Feels like they tried to rely too much on branding and forgot that trust + user experience is what really keeps people around. The US market’s brutal too, DK and FanDuel basically run it. I actually think crypto books are doing better on that front, faster, smoother payouts, and less red tape. Big budgets don’t mean much if the user side doesn’t feel right.

Yeah good point the market share is already so widely taken up by DK and FanDuel but there are also other platforms coming in to keep it competitive. I guess ESPN just realized that they should only stick to what makes them ESPN which is just sports and commentary on sports and NOT hosting a platform that helps folks bet on them. They already have so much going on too, they just tried to juggle too many things at once and probably had not the best leadership as well or else it might have gone the other way.

[rachael9385]

Have you ever tried using ESPN Bet? It’s supposed to be a big one, backed by billions in capital since it’s partnered with Penn Entertainment. But from what I know, it only operates in the US.

Now it’s shutting down after just about a year, which is kinda crazy for a brand that huge. You’d think a name like ESPN could easily dominate the market, but I guess not. Maybe the competition in sports betting there is just too strong, or people didn’t really trust them enough to move away from FanDuel or DraftKings.

What do you guys think went wrong here? And if a company that big can fail, does it make crypto sportsbooks look like the better model now?

https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/espn-bet-to-shut-down-as-penn-ends-1-5b-partnership-deal/

From what I heard it seems their partnership with penn entertainment has ended, I can't really get the information concerning how they ended up having a failed partnership. But what's been said is that they are shutting because they started depreciating in terms of their marekt performance. When a company doesn't manage what they have it doesn't matter what heights they attain one mistake can bring them down.