USA - When the federal ban on sports betting was terminated in May of last year by a decision made by the Supreme Court decision, it made for massive opportunities for a lot of players in the industry.
States could bring in more tax revenue by legalizing sports betting, operators could get a piece of the valuable new market, gamblers could gain access to legitimate forms of sports betting, and the sports leagues could take full advantage of the increased interest. Media firms could also substantially benefit from this dynamic market, with ESPN and Fox duking it out to be the top dog in this particular yard.
ESPN, long considered to be one of the largest and most successful sports television networks in the United States, just announced a dedicated studio for sports betting content, in collaboration with the authoritative Caesars Entertainment Group.
The spanking new studio will be established at the Linq Hotel in Las Vegas. It will be the hub for stirring new sports betting content that will reach a worldwide audience. There was no additional information given that pertained to the financial agreement between the two parties.
However, this studio will not be open until 2020, but it is set to play a crucial role in ESPN’s sports coverage moving forward. A lot of digital and social media content will be shot there. The network is already showing a show that is dedicated to sports betting called “The Daily Wager.”
Speaking about this development, Mike Morrison, the vice president for business development at ESPN, remarked: “Working with a category leader like Caesars Entertainment will help us serve these highly engaged, diverse sports fans with the best and most relevant content possible. The sports betting landscape has changed and fans are coming to us for this kind of information more than ever before.”
Placing the studio in Las Vegas works best because it is the number one place for sports betting in the country.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports is also running new television shows that are focused on sports betting and is taking a more hands-on approach with it. The network is developing its own sports betting platform called “Fox Bet.”
Fox is collaborating with BetStars, having purchased a 4.99% stake in the Stars Group. This deal is worth $236 million (£185m) and also provides Fox the option of raising its stake in the Stars Group to 50% in the next decade. The Stars Group already has proficiency in sports betting, having bought Sky Betting and Gaming for a massive $4.7 billion (£3.7bn) last year.
The Fox Bet platform will launch before this year ends. There will be two separate platforms. One will be free to play and will deliver various prizes to those who perform the best with their sports predictions.
The goal is to convert these free-to-play clients to the pay-to-play platform. Fox has a lot of resources to pile into this endeavor, having just sold a considerable amount of its entertainment assets to Disney for about $71 billion (£55.7bn).
