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The newly launched ESPN Bet by Penn Entertainment, introduced on Nov. 14, has attracted significant attention from bettors. Within just one week of its debut, gaming analysts report that the operator has accumulated more than a million downloads.
The sportsbook currently operates in 17 US states, catering to bettors in Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, West Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Louisiana.
As per JMP Securities’ analysts in their company equity research report, the highly publicized sportsbook linked with the major media corporation garnered 1.1 million downloads of its mobile application from Nov. 14 to Nov. 20.
“The rollout easily set a new record for most sportsbook application downloads in a product’s first week, as the previous best mark was approximately 468,000 downloads for FanDuel during last year’s Super Bowl,” the report read. “The NFL title game on Feb. 13, 2022, coincided with the launch of online sports betting in New York.”
Analysts from JMP Securities specializing in gaming, online gaming, and gaming technology revealed that ESPN Bet comprised approximately 70% of all sports betting app downloads last week. FanDuel, on the other hand, was reported to follow as a distant second, only capturing around 10% of the total sports betting app downloads.
With a current offering of a selection of 1.8 million downloadable apps in the Apple App Store, ESPN Bet emerged as the top download on the iOS platform last week, surpassing popular apps like ChatGPT and others.
The ESPN Bet download figures set a record, significantly exceeding FanDuel’s previous record for weekly downloads. The operator had seen its app garner approximately 468,000 downloads over six days during the 2022 Super Bowl tournament, setting a new benchmark at the time.
ESPN Bet: Strong Enough to Compete with Sports Betting Leaders DraftKings and FanDuel?
In its inaugural week, ESPN Bet’s launch has been immensely successful, exhibiting significant promise according to analysts. Nevertheless, uncertainty lingers regarding the operator’s potential market share, with analysts cautioning that it is premature to make any concrete projections at this early stage.
The JMP Securities report recognized ESPN Bet as the leading sportsbook in terms of downloads. However, it noted that the 1.1 million downloads in its debut week included both new downloads and automatic installations for existing Barstool Sportsbooks users.
Experts in the gaming industry suggest that monitoring the performance of the sportsbook app in the upcoming weeks and months will provide a clearer indication of ESPN Bet’s ability to rival the top players in sports betting. Presently, the sports betting leaders include DraftKings with a 45% market share, followed by FanDuel at 32%, while BetMGM holds a 10% market share.
Penn Entertainment’s stock received a boost following ESPN Bet’s recent launch, prompting analyst Shaun Kelley to upgrade its rating from neutral to buy. The launch contributed to a more than 7% increase in Penn’s stock trading as of last week.
