ESPN is now my gambling friend. When news broke that the worldwide leader in sports is now hoping to become the worldwide leader in gambling on sports, I had mixed emotions. It brings up a number of questions:
- Is it a conflict of interest? Do we really want the network most associated with reporting on live sporting events basing their profitability, in part, on how many people are wagering on the outcome?
- Is ESPN Bet included in the app when ESPN becomes its own monthly subscription service?
- Do we really need another gambling app? Isn’t DraftKings and Fan Duel and MGM and Caesars and the 20 or 30 other apps available to gamblers offshore enough to satisfy all the gambling needs out there?
- Can they at least re-hire Jeff Van Gundy to promote ESPN Bet? I worry Van Gundy doesn’t have enough money saved for his retirement after blowing so much on bottle service at strip clubs over the years.
- Are ESPN reporters allowed to wager via ESPN Bet using inside information? Does the SEC (commission not the conference) now have to have rules for ESPN reporters like they do prohibiting Congress members from buying and selling stock based on inside information?
- Does this mean they can finally hire Pete Rose to do studio analysis?
- Does it mean ESPN now is forced to put those horribly bad, poorly produced gambling shows currently running on the Ocho into the regular ESPN loop?
- Did Neil Everett get a little too into the beta user testing and that’s why they had to let him go?
- Wait, is Iowa State now officially an ESPN school?
- Can we please use the app in Oregon if it will allow us to bet on college sports because for some reason, we still can’t do that here.
While I’ll be fascinated to see how big ESPN Bet will grow in the next five years, it’s immediate impact was a negative for me as PENN was up 14% earlier in the week and DKNG was down 5% (I own shares of DKNG0. But today PENN is down 6% and DKNG is up 5%. Go figure.
For now, I’ll stick with baseball futures. If you believe in the Orioles — hey, they’re bringing Kevin Brown back tonight — they’re -190 to win the division. If those odds are too long, consider these division winner parlay options:
Orioles + Twins (-120)
Orioles + Rangers (+197)
Orioles + Cubs (+403)
The other strategy I’ve been trying for fun until football and basketball season starts, is betting alternate run line parlays. I typically take six teams and add an average of 5ish runs to their run totals. I try to avoid the teams playing offensive powerhouses and stick to teams still fighting for playoff positions. Just one bet per day. I was well over .500 in July and am .500 this far in August. We’ll see how it goes the rest of the month. If nothing else, ESPN would be proud.
