ESPN Bet executives expect sports betting service to launch in New York in next few weeks
On the set of ESPN's Monday Night Countdown. Credit: ESPN Images/Allen Kee
BRISTOL, Conn. – ESPN Bet likely will launch in New York State sometime in the next few weeks, executives with the service said on Wednesday.
“We’re ready to go,” Mark Walker, executive vice president for ESPN Bet, told Newsday at a daylong event at company headquarters for media journalists.
“Just press that button to launch, as soon as New York says we can.”
Walker cautioned he did not want to assume anything but that it was “reasonable to believe” the launch would happen within the next month.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the regulators,” he said, “but I can comfortably say I don’t see any red flags.”
ESPN Bet launched last November in 17 states – now 18 – and is an important initiative for the company.
It views betting as another way of engaging fans, and it has advantages other sites do not, such as integrating people’s betting directly into their regular ESPN app.
Brian Marshall, vice president of sports product and strategy, said, “The reason we’re going to win in this space is because of our ability to build connective experiences between the two products.”
That means, for example, fans looking up game results on their app and having their bets on that game pop up automatically.
ESPN Bet vice president Mike Morrison said betting is “now for many fans an essential part of the sports experience.”
ESPN partnered with Penn Entertainment to run its betting product while using the ESPN brand.
Penn recently acquired the New York mobile sports betting license from the now-closed WynnBet, opening the door for ESPN to move into the state.
Walker, who lives in Manhattan, jokingly said, “It’ll be nice, because I can actually place a bet.”
But seriously, New York represents a key new market for the service because of its size and influence.
“We did the research, and particularly younger fans out there, they feel that there’s a place for ESPN in sports betting,” Walker said. “In fact, they insist on it. A lot of those people live in New York.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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