{"id":1489536,"date":"2021-11-11T17:27:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T17:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vegasslotsonline.com\/news\/?p=126921"},"modified":"2021-11-11T17:27:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T17:27:32","slug":"disney-ceo-eyes-us-sports-betting-market-entry-via-espn","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/disney-ceo-eyes-us-sports-betting-market-entry-via-espn\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney CEO Eyes US Sports Betting Market Entry via ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

US betting market pivot<\/h2>\n

Disney CEO Bob Chapek has posited using the entertainment and media giant\u2019s existing sports broadcasting portfolio in a potential betting market pivot by licensing its subsidiary brand ESPN.<\/p>\n

ESPN communications manager John R. Manzo took to Twitter to share his surprise that Chapek, via his firm\u2019s Q4 2021 earnings call, was \u201cgiving love to sports betting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/figure>\n

During the call, Chapek said Disney sees \u201cenormous opportunity in sports\u201d and went on to highlight how ESPN+ subscribers increased by 66% over the past fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Chapek added that Disney was \u201cmoving toward a greater presence in online sports betting\u201d and said that given the iconic brand\u2019s reach and scale, potential partnerships with third parties in the online sports wagering market could be \u201cvery meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

ESPN courting sportsbooks<\/h2>\n

After officially stating its online sports betting vision, Disney has followed through on revelations this summer that ESPN was looking to license its brand to sports betting operators. An August 27 report by Seeking Alpha<\/em><\/a> said that ESPN had already been in sports betting talks with its marketing partners Caesars Entertainment and DraftKings, and that it was aiming for a multi-year deal of at least $3bn.<\/p>\n

Disney\u2019s vast portfolio of businesses includes 20th Century Fox, Marvel, Star Wars, A+E Networks, National Geographic and, of course, ESPN. In 2018, Disney put its weight and funding behind fighting casino gambling expansion in Florida<\/a>, arguing it risked the state\u2019s \u201creputation as a family-friendly destination.\u201d<\/div>\n

Chapek\u2019s earning call outtakes will therefore be music to the ears of Caesars, DraftKings, plus BetMGM, Fox, and Flutter Entertainment.<\/p>\n

In the earnings call, fintech company Capital.com said<\/a> the CEO stressed younger consumers, in particular, were driving the market with their \u201cdesire to have gambling as part of their sports experience.\u201d As Disney strategically follows the consumer, Chapek said, the brand has to \u201cseriously consider getting into gambling in bigger way and ESPN is a perfect platform for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makers of Bambi going into sports betting?<\/h2>\n

The Disney brand is synonymous with feel-good family-oriented entertainment, so how will this square with its entering sports betting?<\/p>\n

Chapek acknowledged concerns existed in the company about entering sports betting \u201cwithout having a brand withdrawal,\u201d but that his firm had done its homework on the impact of gambling on its ESPN and Disney brands.<\/p>\n

\n

it has no impact on the Disney brand\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On the contrary, Chapek said, citing internal research: \u201cIt actually strengthens the brand of ESPN when you have a betting component, and it has no impact on the Disney brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Disney CEO concluded that the demographic opportunity plus the attractive revenue attached makes sports betting an area the business is \u201ckeenly interested in and [\u2026] pursuing aggressively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.vegasslotsonline.com\/news\/2021\/11\/11\/disney-ceo-eyes-us-sports-betting-market-entry-via-espn\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1489537,"template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[]},"genre":[102],"artist":[110],"mood":[],"activity":[],"station_tag":[6949,5709,5584,5451,5452,5453,3739,3740,3706,3790,5387,5807,3708,3632,7465,5684,5865,3799,7496,8438,6324,10665,5397,5730,10166,3803,3636,10151,3807,3813,5464,5875,8871,3748,3643,5983,3646,6995,7378,5241,3652,3827,7683,5736,7435,5879,3755,5480,5541,6336,6129,8383,3667,3668,5484,3758,5742,5547,3836,6432,5490,3840,3681,5493,5494,5273,7850,7743,8229,6076,5962,6839,3690,6441,3694,3732,7386,6412,5279],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/1489536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=1489536"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=1489536"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=1489536"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=1489536"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=1489536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}