ESPN CEO remains confident of catching FanDuel and DraftKings
Jimmy Pitaro says ESPN Bet’s target is to gain market share on sports betting leaders as he praises “first innings” of operations since last November’s launch
ESPN CEO Jimmy Pitaro has reiterated ESPN Bet’s target is to eat into FanDuel and DraftKings’ market share, as the operator continues to play catch-up.
The PENN Entertainment-powered brand launched last November and has found itself among the established sports betting operators that are chasing the duopoly.
Despite missing out on revenue expectations in the last two quarters, PENN CEO Jay Snowden said after the group’s Q1 2024 results were published in March that “the two most challenging quarters from a digital P&L perspective are now behind us.”
This followed on from the previous quarter where Snowden said ESPN Bet’s market share will be growing steadily, as it looks to catch up to leaders FanDuel and DraftKings.
While reflecting on H1 2024 when speaking to the Sports Business Journal, Pitaro praised the operator for bringing new players to the platform and reiterated the target to try and beat the market-leading duo.
PENN parted with $1.5bn last summer to secure a brand licensing deal for ESPN with parent company Walt Disney.
Pitaro said: “To say we’re in the first inning of ESPN Bet would be a significant understatement. We’ve done a good job together creating new users for the platform.
“The industry has a tendency of looking at market share, and we have a significant path ahead of us in terms of FanDuel and DraftKings.
“They have a huge head start. They’re the leaders. Just like every day I used to wake up and try to beat my competitor, every day we wake up and we have a target, which is the next in line in terms of market share.”
PENN recently brought in former ESPN and Disney exec Aaron LaBerge as its new chief technology officer, which Pitaro used as an example of the operator gaining ground.
However, the ESPN CEO’s bullish aims came amid pressure from activist investor pressure on PENN.
The Donerail Group penned an open letter at the end of May criticizing the company’s business approach, including moving its core focus away from land-based casinos and the acquisitions of Barstool and theScore.
Elsewhere, Snowden’s $15.5m remuneration package for 2023 was met with strong pushback from more than a third of PENN’s shareholders during last month’s AGM.