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The four-letter network’s partnership with PENN Entertainment will go belly up on December 1. ESPN announced on Thursday a “mutual agreement” with PENN to abandon a relationship that failed from the get go to live up to oversized expectations. And so the 10-year, $1.5 billion deal will have lasted little more than two years. ESPN followed that announcement with another announcement. Once PENN has been “mutually” kicked to the curb, ESPN will launch a deal with DraftKings to make it the “Official Sportsbook and Odds Provider” of ESPN. “DraftKings will also play a major role across ESPN’s digital platforms,” ESPN said in its press release. “DraftKings will power the betting tab within the ESPN app and their customers will receive special promotions for ESPN Unlimited, ESPN’s newly launched direct-to-consumer product.” The ESPN Bet deal with PENN launched immediately after PENN folded the tents on its arrangement with Barstool. And the common thread is PENN, which is basically the Shasta to the DraftKings/FanDuel Coke and Pepsi. It’s all about market share. DraftKings and FanDuel were best positioned to convert existing daily-fantasy customers to sports betting once the Supreme Court opened the floodgates in 2018 for any and every state to allow it. Terms of the DraftKings-ESPN deal weren’t released. Undoubtedly, a lot of money will change hands. Which underscores the initial thought I had the first time I walked into a casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada in 1985: “It sure looks nice in here. And I know who’s paying for it.” That’s the one thing to remember. These companies wouldn’t be able to pay nine-figure annual sponsorships if they weren’t making A LOT more than that. And anyone who peels off some of their hard-earned money for sports betting should understand that they are funding the operation. That’s not an anti-betting take. Yes, it’s nice — and cheap — to be able to enjoy sports without feeling compelled to have skin in the games, whether by betting on the final scores or by dabbling in the crack-cocaine prop-bet parlays the sportsbooks LOVE to market. (Spoiler: They don’t love to market those three-leg parlays because they love giving their money away.) But if you bet, be careful. Don’t delude yourself into thinking you’ll be the one who reverses the trend that allows the sportsbooks to make as much money as they do. Treat it as entertainment. Wager only what you can afford to lose. Never, ever chase losses or view betting as a potential fix to your own short- or long-term financial issues. We’re still in the wild-west phase of legalized and normalized sports betting. Many have fallen victim to the false notion that there’s easy money to be made. Well, there is easy money to be made. But the bettors aren’t the ones who are making it.
