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It’s been just over a year since Disney surprised the world by announcing that it was entering sports gambling. ESPN’s deal with Penn Entertainment, a relatively minor gambling company, gave The Walt Disney Company a $1.5 billion cash injection and a pathway into the lucrative business of sports gambling.
Credit: ESPN
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Since sports betting became legal thanks to a 2018 Supreme Court decision, the once-illegal activity has become a multi-billion business dominated by a few betting sites. According to the American Gaming Association, Americans placed $120 billion in bets in 2023, representing $10.9 billion in profits for the gaming companies.
Those numbers represent a 28 percent increase from 2022 as more states rush to reap the tax benefits of online sports betting.
ESPN Bet currently represents a minor share of those bets as the sports wagering site is only legal in 19 states. However, The Walt Disney Company and ESPN have big plans to turn that into more using slightly nefarious means.
Aaron LeBerge, Penn Entertainment’s new Chief Technology Officer, gave an interview with Fortune in which he laid out the company’s plans for the future. LeBerge spent two decades as the CTO of Disney and ESPN.
Credit: Masterclass/Inside the Magic
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In his role with ESPN, LeBerge helped create ESPN.Com and the internet’s first live draft. Now, he’s using that knowledge to help bolster ESPN Bet.
Buried deep in the interview, LeBerge discussed using information from Disney Parks, streaming services, and other Disney Intellectual Properties to create an individualized experience convincing users to make a sports bet.
He also discussed simplifying betting by targeting ESPN’s 12 million fantasy football users and millions of viewers.
We have an opportunity to really target how we display betting information based on the sophistication of the better.
Credit: Inside the Magic
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However, ESPN’s core demographic of viewers and fantasy football players tends to skew younger. Most fantasy football players are in their 20s, but a significant portion are in their teens, making online sports betting illegal for them.
Disney and ESPN Bet are wading into some ethically murky waters by targeting younger viewers and making it more straightforward to place bets using language even the most simplistic fans can understand.
The sports gambling business has long been criticized for targeting underage gamblers with free bets and limited ID checks. It now appears that Disney is jumping at the chance to turn young consumers into bettors.
Credit: Disney
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While making betting easier will increase revenue for Penn Entertainment, it could also damage the ESPN brand and, by association, the Disney brand.
It was these issues in particular that fans worried about when Disney first made its leap into the world of sportsbooks.
What do you think of Disney targeting naive and younger viewers for its gambling business?
