It was only on Tuesday that news of ESPN BET’s launch came into the ether, and it is still months before the app launches, but pollsters have been hard at work collating data gauging public interest in Penn’s venture.
Odds Assist, an affiliate marketing site, has published the findings of a survey it has conducted indicating that 54% of sports bettors plan to use ESPN BET once it launches.
Pertinently, just 8% of users said that they will not use ESPN BET, while the remaining 38% of players are unsure of whether they will try the app out.
Of the 54% of participants who plan to use ESPN BET, a third of those anticipate using the platform as their primary sports betting app, while 48% of those will use it the same amount as other apps. 3% stated they will exclusively bet on ESPN BET and 11% said it would depend on how competitive the odds are.
Delving into some of the reasoning, 41.3% of people said that they would use ESPN BET over other platforms owing to its association with the ESPN brand. Almost 22% stated they would trust ESPN BET “much more” than other platforms due to the affiliation.
Notably, just 3.8% of respondents said that the ESPN brand would make them less likely to bet on ESPN BE.T
The power of the ESPN brand has been the topic of conversation when it comes to this deal as Penn seeks to grow its market share to over 20%. It would be a tall ask considering that Fanatics are seeking to enter the market, whilst the market share of FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Caesars combined is around 90%.
However, according to those surveyed by Odds Assist, the ESPN BET venture could usurp the market leaders altogether.
45.9% of respondents stated that they think ESPN BET will pass FanDuel and DraftKings to become the US’ biggest sportsbook within three years. 39% of those surveyed said “No, I think FanDuel and/or DraftKings will be bigger, while 15.5% said, “No, I don’t think it will pass major players.”
Odds Assist conducted the poll in collaboration with Pollfish with 1,000 US citizens over the age of 25 surveyed. Those who responded were people who regularly bet on US sportsbook platforms.
It is, of course, early days and Odds Assist is a marketing firm; therefore these results must be taken with a pinch of salt, but there is certainly great levels of interest in the launch.