Disney agonized about sports betting. Now it’s going all in — The entertainment giant did a deal with a gambling company and will launch an ESPN betting app next month
by marketrent
Disney agonized about sports betting. Now it’s going all in — The entertainment giant did a deal with a gambling company and will launch an ESPN betting app next month
by marketrent
20 comments
Family entertainment company to facilitate gambling:^1
>In early 2019, an analyst asked Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger if sports betting could coexist with the House of Mouse’s brand. He said he didn’t see the company facilitating gambling in any way.
>In August, the company struck a 10-year deal with sports-betting company Penn Entertainment to bring gambling to Disney’s ESPN sports network.
>Sports fans will be able to wager on games on their phones through a new app called ESPN Bet that accepts bets through Penn’s sportsbook.
>The idea of gambling under the same roof as Disney has roiled some company executives and employees who feel it will damage the brand that is synonymous with princesses and talking cartoon ducks.
>
>But for ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro and Iger, who saw his two adult sons glued to gambling apps on their smartphones, the chance to engage a younger male audience, and the money, were eventually too good to pass up.
>[Iger] said that it is “inevitable” that sports-watching and sports-betting will go hand-in-hand, and he blessed Pitaro’s efforts to find Disney a partner. Getting involved with gambling was the only way to ensure that ESPN is able to continue to attract younger audiences, he reasoned.
>ESPN, like more traditional TV networks, is struggling with the decline in cable TV subscribers and the rising cost of sports-broadcasting rights.
>Sports leagues and legions of startups have embraced gambling, while large media companies have homed in on betting as one of the best ways to expand.
^1 https://www.livemint.com/news/disney-agonized-about-sports-betting-now-it-s-going-all-in-11697140295777.html
Whenever gambling is mentioned I just want to let everyone know that statistically you will not win, you will lose money the longer you play, it is addictive and you can get addicted, you can lose everything you’ve ever worked for to gambling. Don’t gamble.
They didn’t agonise over it, they agonised over the optics of it.
They only care about how it looks to the general public, not what the actual negative effects of gambling are.
Let’s be clear – Disney knows and UNDERSTANDS that gambling causes great harm to families and can lead to suicide.
You gotta throw agonized in quotes. Someone somewhere said “Hey we can make a shit ton of money if we introduce gambling to our wide ass fan base of irresponsible kids”. And everyone was like “yep”.
It’s funny how quick companies can change their stance when they figure out how to make money off of something.
Gambling ruined my mother’s life. Please do not start gambling. You will lose money and you can easily become addicted and ruin your life and the lives of your family members.
It’s gross how much the betting lines have taken over espn both in broadcast and on the ticker
Now let’s lobby California to allow online sports betting.
Where are the Christians when we need to battle actual social disease like this?
This will be the erosion of the Disney brand.
This is bullshit. It should be illegal for them to do this. WTF. Didn’t we learn anything from having to dismantle the tobacco industry? Companies that kill you or bankrupt you should be outlawed.
When capitalism encounters a choice between profit and morality, profit ways wins. Because if you won’t make money off of suffering, a competitor will. Or you will get fired and replaced by someone who will. There’s always someone out there willing to do evil for money.
Minnie is a Kelce fan.
Jesus don’t they have enough money
It is funny to see MLB of all the leagues to dive head first into gambling.
Personally, the increase focused on gambling has turned me away from professional sports. I watch maybe two live games a year after watching countless games growing up.
It worries me when I watch sports to wonder if any player is on the take or making side bets and if any of the horrible calls were from refs on the take. I just don’t get invested in sports because you don’t know if it was predetermined and you are wasting time.
So you can’t pay your employees a living wage your company makes 28 billion a year And now you wanna get into the gambling circuit sounds about right
I guess I’ll be the only one in here who has a really fun, entertaining time sports gambling even if I don’t win. Has gotten me into a bunch of sports I never used to watch. Well worth it to me
Disney: “gambling is bad”
Also Disney: “wait what does that check say”