ESPN “Working Very Hard” On Developing A Sports Betting App

Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek says the company are “working very hard” on developing a sports betting app in the future.

ESPN recently expanded its sports betting content team after assigning new roles to on-screen talents Doug Kezirian, Tyler Fulghum, Joe Fortenbaugh, Erin Dolan and Anita Marks. The personalities are now likely to play a more prominent role in what is a changing landscape.

“Sports betting is a part of what our younger, say, under-35 sports audience is telling us they want as part of their sports lifestyle,” said Chapek in an interview at Disney’s D23 Expo in California.

When asked whether the company were working on developing a sports betting app in the near future, he replied: “We’re working very hard on that.”

Disney could potentially follow in the footsteps of UK-based brand SkyBet, who are affiliated with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky brand. Falling under the same umbrella as the hugely successful Sky Sports broadcaster, they have benefitted from the free advertising access on some of the biggest and most viewed sporting events in the UK, such as the Premier League.

ESPN could go down a similar route, using their own various betting sites‘ odds when talking about sporting subjects on their various programming. They have penned deals with DraftKings and Caesars to use their odds, but would likely cease these agreements in the event of them starting their own sports betting app.

The return of the new NFL season is the perfect time to begin incoroporating more sports betting content into the scheduling. The NFL season always marks the busiest time of the year for sports betting in the US and will be an interesting time for ESPN to track the interest in their new and improved sports betting content.