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Will Disney Become a Sports Betting Giant?

Dave Bonderoff

Last Updated: November 17, 2021 7:47 AM EST • 2 min 41 sec read.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 05: A view of the logo during ESPN The Party on February 5, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN/AFP (Photo by Mike Windle / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Disney considers legal sports betting a significant opportunity, and the company could enter the market through ESPN.

It seems like Disney may attempt to become part of the exploding U.S. legal sports betting scene. After what's been described as a rough year for the Disney brand because of the coronavirus pandemic, it appears the company that owns ESPN is looking seriously at including sports wagering in its immense portfolio.

Bob Chapek, the CEO of Walt Disney Company, surprisingly talked in-depth during a third-quarter earnings call last week about expanding Disney's reach to include a sports betting platform through ESPN. He also discussed ESPN+ increasing its subscribers by 66 percent over the fiscal year, with 90 percent of that increase centered around viewers of the platform's sports events.

“We do believe that sports betting is a very significant opportunity for the company, and it's all driven by the consumer,” says Chapek. “It's driven by the consumer, particularly the younger consumer who will replenish the sports fans over time and their desire to have gambling as part of their sports experience.”

The Mainstreaming Effect

Legal sports betting is quickly becoming mainstream in the U.S. Since the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a ban on sports betting in 2018, 32 states and Washington, D.C. have launched legal sports betting platforms, with an estimated 111 million citizens in those jurisdictions able to place legal wagers.

Those platforms produced $5 billion in wagers in September alone, and the country's sportsbooks reported $2 billion in gross gaming revenue during the first half of 2021. By 2030, the industry is expected to generate $30 billion off of an estimated $400 billion in total wagers, according to Macquarie Research.

An American Gaming Association report released in September showed that seven out of 10 Americans support legal sports betting in their state.

Disney and ESPN have watched as other media brands enter and succeed in the legal sports betting space, both financially and from a profile perspective. The benefits for Fox Sports and FOX Bet, NBC and PointsBet, CBS and Caesars, and Bally's and Sinclair have been immense, all as ESPN still isn't participating in a major revenue generator.

Not Entering Lightly

In 2019, Bob Iger, who was then Disney's chief executive, said the company would never enter the sports betting game “by facilitating gambling in any way.” Fast forward to 2021, and Chapek says the company is “starting to take some pretty big steps along that way.”

It's a major change in philosophy for Disney, but one done out of apparent necessity.

“Gambling does not have the cachet now that it had, say 10 or 20 years ago, and we have some concerns as a company about our ability to get in it without having a brand withdrawal,” said Chapek. “But I can tell you that given all the research that we've done recently, that that is not the case. It actually strengthens the brand of ESPN when you have a betting component, and it has no impact on the Disney brand.

"Therefore, to go after that demographic opportunity plus the, of course, not insignificant revenue implications, that is something that we're keenly interested in and are pursuing aggressively.”

Already Somewhat Involved

Quietly, Disney and ESPN are already taking part in the U.S. legal sports betting industry. In 2020, ESPN forged ties with Caesars Entertainment and DraftKings for sponsorships during programming, and for posted odds during SportsCenter broadcasts.

As recently as this past summer, ESPN floated a brand licensing deal with the two companies for a reported $3 billion. Disney has also quietly been involved in talks to maybe acquire a struggling betting brand, BetRivers Interactive.

“There’s a long way between embedding into ESPN as a business model and licensing out,” Chapek said. “Let’s just say that our fans are really interested in sports betting. Let’s say that our partners with the leagues are interested in sports betting, so we’re interested in sports betting.”

So don’t expect the chatter to die down soon as Disney and other top-tier companies look to take advantage of the legal sports betting gold rush in the United States. While it may seem shocking that family-centric Disney wants to join the legal sports betting fray, the company's ESPN wing makes it a logical step.

Written By:
Dave Bonderoff
Dave Bonderoff and betting go hand-in-hand. Both are characterized by "odds". Dave fancies himself as one of the most dedicated sports and pop-culture junkies around, to the chagrin of his family and friends. Following sports for 50 years and writing about it for 20, Dave hasn't found a sport yet that can't contribute to 2-3 straight hours of couch time. That search remains ongoing. As a good old Canadian boy, hockey is in Dave’s heart, as is curling sadly. But evolution is a real thing and that’s why football, baseball, and just about every sport on the planet has become a passion. Dave isn’t afraid to kill some time obsessing over politics or the far-too-frequent awards shows the consume the airwaves.