An ESPN College GameDay segment that aired in 2024 led to a $15,000 fine levied against PENN Sports Interactive by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC).
ESPN host Rece Davis made on-air comments in March 2024 during an ESPN Bet segment on College GameDay. Davis and another ESPN analyst, Erin Dolan, discussed NCAA men’s basketball betting picks with Davis describing a wager as a “risk-free investment.”
“You know what? Some would call this wagering, gambling, I think the way you sold this, I think what it is, is a risk-free investment. That’s the way to look at it,” said Davis when discussing a second-round March Madness matchup between UConn and Northwestern.
MGC holds an adjudicatory proceeding on the incident
An adjudicatory hearing conducted by the MGC in April determined that PENN, which operates ESPN Bet, violated compliance standards required by Massachusetts gaming law.
The MGC’s authority under state gaming law requires it to ban “advertisements, marketing and branding in such a manner that is deceptive, false, misleading, or untrue, or tends to deceive or create a misleading impression whether directly, or by ambiguity or omission.”
The adjudicatory proceeding, attended by the MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, also determined ESPN Bet violated the ESPN Bet Content Guidance, a policy that governs permissible content delivered by the sports betting operator.
The guidance bans statements that “guarantee success.” The policy also directs ESPN and PENN employees to avoid using “free” and “risk-free” terminology.
The MGC noted that Davis and the entire ESPN college basketball production team attended a presentation in 2023 that detailed best practices involving sports betting.
Social media and TV comments draw concerns
Davis posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, after making the “risk-free” claim.
Davis later joined another ESPN program, The Pat McAfee Show, and shared that his comments on social media were made for clarification and were not an apology. The MGC took issue with Davis downplaying his statement of the bet being a “risk-free investment.”
“Despite the seriousness of the incident, neither Mr. Davis nor an appropriate representative of ESPN Bet issued a sufficient corrective action to ensure a clear, compliant statement was made to the public that his remarks were inconsistent with ESPN Bet’s content standards and in violation of the Commonwealth’s regulations,” said the MGC in its non-compliance decision letter sent to PENN.
Davis also noted on The Pat McAfee Show that the wager in question had won.
“The commission further points out statements made on the Pat McAfee Show regarding the noncompliance incident, specifically the statement that ultimately ‘the bet won,’” continued the MGC. “The commission considers these remarks misleading, as they undermine the intent of the prohibition on ‘risk free’ language, which is to discourage the enticement to wager beforehand and therefore the results of the wager would be irrelevant in this circumstance.”
Davis’ comments on the ESPN Bet segment draws concerns over the partnership between ESPN and PENN, with lines being blurred about where ESPN stops and ESPN Bet begins.
MGC fined PENN over misleading statement in 2023
The MGC fined PENN for Davis’ comments after a similar situation in 2023 that led to the regulator handing PENN a $25,000 fine over the marketing of a “Can’t Lose Parlay” by the now-shuttered Barstool Sportsbook. PENN operated the sportsbook between 2020 and 2023.
