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SPORTS BETTING
household name trusted by millions . “ From our perspective , there ’ s great intention to be successful here ,” Morrison continues . “ And to get this right , we ’ re leaning into our brand , which is significant . There ’ s a huge amount of trust built up in that brand .”
On the operator side of things , Penn is also managing all market access and all negotiations for ESPN Bet . A responsible gaming initiative between ESPN and Penn was at the back end of last year , with Morrison revealing “ there ’ s a lot of work involved that we ’ re going to be doing there . There ’ ll be a separate campaign attached to that .”
ONE OF A KIND For ESPN Bet to continue to succeed , ESPN and Penn will make it a priority to take a variety of comments on board .
“ We ’ re going to take a lot of feedback ,” he explains . “ We ’ re going to get a lot of feedback from our own organisation , from the marketplace , from lead partners , from fans , from people in the industry .
“ All that feedback is incredibly important to us . We want to be responsive to that and I think that is going to be a big part of how you see this evolve too .” But with so many other sportsbooks out there , what makes ESPN Bet the best choice for bettors ? It ’ s very
Mike Morrison , vice-president of sports betting at ESPN
“ We are , by our natures , competitive and excited on high levels of achievement ”
simple for Morrison : “ It ’ s the first sportsbook designed for sports fans ,” he says .
“ We ’ re really looking for this experience to be best in class .”
He is tight-lipped on what exactly is upcoming on ESPN Bet for fans , as Penn is operating that side of the deal . But he takes pride in ESPN Bet ’ s integration efforts , which he says will create a oneof-a-kind experience for bettors .
“ What I can say is that there are things we ’ re doing from an integration perspective on our platform ; we ’ re bringing in assets to drive activity , drive promotion , integration with talent ,” he explains . “ The level of commitment and seamlessness that we are seeking between the ESPN platform and the ESPN Bet platform is truly market-leading .” “ There isn ’ t any other scenario where you have a marketleading sports platform , where you get all your news and information and coverage of us , or watch live games and game content , and then have that highlevel connectivity with a sports betting app . Not in the US , right ?”
A SEAMLESS TRANSITION Even for the biggest sports media brand in the US , going up against the likes of DraftKings , FanDuel and BetMGM is a daunting prospect . So what makes Morrison so sure of ESPN Bet ’ s shot at success ?
According to him , it ’ s what ’ s yet to come . Together , ESPN and Penn will continue to build upon the capabilities within ESPN Bet .
“ There are a lot of things in development that haven ’ t been announced yet ,” he reveals . “ That will prove that connectivity , that seamlessness . I think if we ’ re doing this well , it will be intuitive to fans .”
Among what ’ s to come is activity tracking and the ability to opt out of receiving materials around ESPN Bet . “ All of this is in development ,” he says .
As for the heart of the product , Morrison comes back to the unique attraction of ESPN Bet – what it presents for sports fans , not solely what it can offer sports bettors .
“ As I ’ ve said before , we ’ re announcing this with sports fans in mind , not just sports bettors ,” he says . “ I think that ’ s important .”
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