ESPN Bet Continues Downward Spiral, Already Looks Like A Complete Failure

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ESPN made a big gamble when it decided to enter the legal sports betting industry, and it looks like it lost. ESPN Bet, which was introduced in 2023, is getting crushed in the market against its competitors. 

When ESPN executives launched its betting platform, they had hoped that the ESPN brand – one of the biggest in the world – would help drive people away from the two biggest players – FanDuel and DraftKings – and toward ESPN Bet. 

Not only has that not happened, but ESPN Bet isn't even in third place behind those two behemoths. Not even close, actually. 

According to app download data, ESPN Bet has yet to surpass five million downloads and is only ahead of Hard Rock Bet (4.2 million) among the major players in online legal sports betting. 

Now, it's worth noting that this app data dates back to 2020, which is before ESPN Bet existed. At the time, Penn Gaming had Barstool Sportsbook, but eventually broke its partnership with Barstool to team up with ESPN. 

However, as OutKick previously reported, ESPN is lagging far behind the other sportsbooks in market share, so much so that Penn had to lay off several employees. 

ESPN Bet is lagging well behind the other legal sportsbooks operators and looks like a complete flop and massive failure.

ESPN Bet is lagging well behind the other legal sportsbooks operators and looks like a complete flop and a massive failure. 

(Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The truth is that ESPN Bet isn't going to work. The market is saturated with competitors and FanDuel and DraftKings had a substantial head start – in addition, both FanDuel and DraftKings are accessible in far more states than ESPN Bet. 

It doesn't help that the ESPN brand has a lower public sentiment now than ever before. Gone are the days that the "Worldwide Leader" is actually the go-to for many sports fans. Their lean into left-wing politics certainly didn't help matters. 

They had hoped that ESPN Bet might remedy some of the issues plaguing the company, but it doesn't appear to have worked. The question now is how long they will continue to ride it out before deciding to close up shop for good. 

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.