From CNBC
One of the leading sports gambling stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after media giant ESPN took a large step into the online betting world.
Shares of DraftKings were down 10% in midday trading after Penn Entertainment announced that it had signed a 10-year deal with ESPN. Penn will rebrand its sportsbook — currently named after Barstool — to ESPN Bet.
ESPN, which is part of Disney, had previously been reluctant to fully embrace the highly competitive online gambling industry. However, ESPN is shedding cable subscribers, and Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC in July that the company was open to strategic partnerships with the sports media brand.
As part of the deal, Penn will pay ESPN $2 billion in cash and stock warrants over 10 years to license the brand. Shares of Penn rose 8% on Wednesday.
I think this is a huge deal. Who better to promote on-line sports betting than ESPN? And I wonder how much ESPN will ignore B1G betting to focus on promoting the games they televise?
One of the leading sports gambling stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after media giant ESPN took a large step into the online betting world.
Shares of DraftKings were down 10% in midday trading after Penn Entertainment announced that it had signed a 10-year deal with ESPN. Penn will rebrand its sportsbook — currently named after Barstool — to ESPN Bet.
ESPN, which is part of Disney, had previously been reluctant to fully embrace the highly competitive online gambling industry. However, ESPN is shedding cable subscribers, and Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC in July that the company was open to strategic partnerships with the sports media brand.
As part of the deal, Penn will pay ESPN $2 billion in cash and stock warrants over 10 years to license the brand. Shares of Penn rose 8% on Wednesday.
I think this is a huge deal. Who better to promote on-line sports betting than ESPN? And I wonder how much ESPN will ignore B1G betting to focus on promoting the games they televise?
