Pat McAfee couldn’t help but throw shade at ESPN Bet during a segment of his show on Thursday.
The host of “The Pat McAfee Show” stopped mid-sentence after an ad for sports betting sponsored by ESPN and operated by Penn Entertainment appeared on the screen.
“Things are going great here,” McAfee said sarcastically as he pointed to the ESPN Bet logo on the screen. “No way.”
The company fell short of expert estimates, reporting a net loss of $114.9 million and a 3.8% year-over-year revenue decline during a disastrous earnings release for the first quarter of the year – the first with data from ESPN Bet.
“Admittedly, we were not as rigorous and accurate with our financial forecasts in the early days of ESPN BET, which does not represent our long-term track record or internal expectations at Penn,” Penn CEO Jay Snowden said during the conference call. by SportsHandle.
Penn Entertainment’s share price fell as much as 15 percent on Thursday, settling for a nearly 9 percent drop on the day at market close.
“ESPN Bet has a lot of room to grow,” said McAfee. “Hey, good luck. Let’s go ESPN Bet. You get knocked down, you get back up. Lawful. Good luck. We’re rooting for it because we’re on ESPN and obviously we’re part of ESPN, so we would like the ESPN stuff to be successful.
“Now, of course, ESPN Bet, I don’t think the people at ESPN are controlling the rules,” he added. “With that said, let’s go. You’ve got ESPN on this.
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ESPN entered the sports betting game with a 10-year, $150 million per year ($1.5 billion total) licensing deal with Penn last August and launching in November 2023.
“While we are pleased with ESPN Bet’s early adoption and engagement results, our focus this football season will be improving our product offerings, including an updated home screen and expanded parlay betting offerings,” Snowden said in a statement, from according to Sportico. .
