ESPN didn’t fully get on the sports betting bandwagon until late 2023, when it struck a partnership with Penn Entertainment to launch ESPN Bet.
Amid those efforts, sports gambling has expanded to the majority of the U.S. and has become a focal point of most sports content. With so many sports gambling sponsorships and promotions in stadiums, on game broadcasts, and within sports content, it is nearly inescapable. Meanwhile, addiction is on the rise. States are seeing exponential growth in calls placed to problem gambling hotlines; search traffic related to gambling addiction is up as well.
When ESPN launches its full-service streaming app this week, users will see far greater integration of sports betting and fantasy tools than ever before. In advance of the launch, ESPN chair Jimmy Pitaro addressed how the company is approaching these trends while continuing to promote ESPN Bet and its gambling content.
“If you look at our research, what you’ll see is sports fans today see sports betting as part of the fan experience. Our mission? Serve the sports fan,” Pitaro said on the Channels podcast. “And it would be very hard for ESPN today to serve the sports fan without providing substantial, meaningful betting content and a frictionless, or somewhat frictionless, experience around placing a bet.”
Pitaro emphasized that ESPN’s relationship with Penn is purely a licensing deal and that ESPN does not operate a sportsbook: “We do not take people’s money.” But at the same time, Pitaro insisted that customers have not given the company “negative feedback” about the increase in gambling-related content and that legal sports betting gives companies and governing bodies more tools to identify “problems.”
Pressed on the noted uptick in sports betting among young men in particular, Pitaro acknowledged students are “surrounded by it” on college campuses. Yet he maintained that his view is that most people are making “small bets,” and that ESPN aims to work with its partners to prevent those wagers from snowballing into an addiction.
“From what I’ve experienced, and I don’t want to be naive here, but from my limited experience, what I see is people making small bets,” he said. “Obviously, I understand that there are many problem cases. We have to partner with an enterprise that is making (responsible betting) a priority, is offering thoughtful PSAs, has the technology to identify problem bettors and cut them off, make help available to them.”
Pitaro added that Penn’s responsible gaming tools are part of what drew ESPN and its parent Disney to partner with Penn. The far bigger problem for ESPN is that this partnership is not going well. Ahead of a mutual opt-out in the summer of 2026, both Penn and ESPN have acknowledged that ESPN Bet is significantly behind pace.
It hasn’t been an easy ride for ESPN, either: The company received backlash for touting lead betting analyst Erin Kate Dolan’s record on television, and a local board investigated College GameDay anchor Rece Davis for calling Dolan’s picks “risk-free.” As ESPN Bet falls behind, star host Pat McAfee has grown fond of teasing his bosses about it on-air.
All the bells and whistles in the new ESPN app, Pitaro said, will be something of a last-ditch effort to salvage ESPN Bet and the Penn partnership.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.