Despite criticism from analysts and investors earlier this year and claims that a Boyd takeover was on the horizon, CEO Jay Snowden is confident that ESPN Bet can turn its fortunes around.

“Net-net, we remain positive on the ESPN Bet opportunity,” Truist analyst Barry Jonas said of the presentation.

First signs of success in New York

New York is already showing signs of success for ESPN Bet in the first week. The presentation showed that daily revenue per ESPN Bet user in New York is already 296% higher than any other state where the company operates.

According to the New York State Gaming Commission, ESPN Bet took $3 million in bets in the first three days. For comparison: in the week ending September 29th, market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel each cleared $196 million. But Bally Bet, Resorts World and Rush Street Interactive all posted revenue of $8.8 million or less this week.

Since the highly anticipated entry into the Empire State on September 27th, the average deposit amount on the app is 100% higher than other states. Penn’s retention rate has increased from 6.7% to 9% since ESPN Bet launched in November 2023.

Total net gaming revenue (NGR) in the sports betting business increased 403% in September compared to the previous year. According to Penn, monthly unique users increased by 161%.

ESPN and sports betting are closely linked

Regarding the product, Jason Birney, head of interactive operations at Penn, and Aaron LaBerge, CTO at Penn, listed all of the new and novel features at ESPN Bet, including direct ESPN Gamecast links on the sportsbook’s My Bets and Events pages . Users can now add to their betslip directly through the ESPN and theScore apps.

Ahead of its launch, analysts emphasized that the integration between ESPN and ESPN Bet was critical to the product’s success and would allow users to seamlessly connect between sports broadcasts, betting and tracking player and game statistics.

Ahead of the NBA season in October, ESPN and the sports betting app will sync through shared player data. This will ultimately open up new personalization opportunities and specific benefits for loyal customers. The operator said that syncing the two apps will provide a “seamless contextual user experience.”

A look at the third quarter results, adjusted EBITDA increased

Preliminary third-quarter results show Penn increased its expected adjusted EBITDA loss for the interactive business to between $100 million and $90 million. A loss of up to $135 million had previously been forecast.

The upward trend is due to a “better-than-expected hold driven by a higher odds mix from sports betting as well as lower advertising costs.”

Interactive brand Hollywood Casino saw a 233% increase in monthly active users in the third quarter. As a result, Hollywood Casino’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) increased by 53% and net gaming revenue increased by 63%.

The growth of theScore’s overall casino offering has been comparatively slower. Monthly Active Users (MAU) increased by 27%, GGR increased by 16%, and NGR increased by 15%. The interactive division’s total revenue is expected to be $700 million, while total group revenue is expected to reach $6.4 billion.

The omnichannel customer database almost doubled to 3.9 million between the third quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of this year. ESPN Bet has acquired 1.8 million users since its inception, contributing to an 85% increase in the operator’s overall customer base. Penn said its digital business has accounted for 67% of the database’s overall growth since 2019.

The average age of players active for a total of 12 months fell from 53 in August 2019 to 44 in August 2024, undoubtedly due to the launch of ESPN Bet and the continued growth of theScore users.

Looking at Penn Interactive’s business more broadly, online betting and igaming make up the lion’s share (75%) of the group’s digital revenue, while the remaining 25% is split between retail betting, media business, gaming studios and market access deals with DraftKings, BetMGM, Fanatics and Bet Rivers.

Growth in Ontario, no timeline for launch in Alberta

Looking at Ontario and theScore Bet, the sportsbook’s net revenue increased 29% year-over-year in the nine months ended September. The casino’s net revenue increased 32% over the same period, thanks in part to a 60% cross-selling rate between betting and casinos. TheScore Bet captured double-digit market share in Ontario in the first half of the year.

Birney did not provide a timeline for Penn’s move to Alberta, as it is not yet known when the region will open its regulated gaming market.

Dale Nally, Alberta’s minister of services and red tape, first mentioned the region’s intention to open in June. Nally hopes to introduce legislation in 2025, although he admitted this week that further discussions with the industry would be necessary to formulate regulations.

Alberta and Ontario combined are estimated to account for more than half of Canada’s population (51%), Penn estimates, with Alberta alone accounting for 12%.