ESPN BET gears up for crucial North Carolina launch after rapid early growth

Sports Betting in North Carolina

Several operators, including ESPN BET, will begin live betting operations. This comes after a long regulatory approval process for the new multi-billion dollar industry.

With top sports like college basketball increasingly popular in-state, officials aim to capitalize on and regulate this existing demand.

Eating Into Leading Market Share A Key Focus

Snowden concluded by emphasizing ESPN BET’s focus isn’t actually on where they currently stand in market share rankings.

Rather, it’s about methodically building share through 2023 to cut into the leads of top 2 operators FanDuel and DraftKings - the key players to beat at over 30% share each today.

There's still a long road ahead, but the North Carolina launch presents ESPN BET with a perfect next chance to showcase its early progress.

As March 11th approaches, sports fans can prepare by browsing North Carolina sportsbook promos online ahead of time.

With college basketball heating up and March Madness nearing, there will be no shortage of bonus offers and betting lines to evaluate.

ESPN BET Prepares March Launch Following Rapid Growth

ESPN BET has rapidly gained steam since debuting its mobile sportsbook with a multi-year partnership with sports media giant ESPN in November 2022. Jay Snowden, CEO of operator PENN Entertainment, shared key updates on Thursday.

He first highlighted major success in its first few months, with over 1 million mobile app downloads to-date - hitting a target they didn't expect for a whole year. This fueled a 7% market share, positioning them already as the number 3 operator nationally.

Large Customer Influx Causes High Promotional Spending

Behind the major customer influx has been admittedly high promotional spend investment. In fact, PENN's overall fourth quarter financial report showed a net loss of $358.8 million, impacted heavily by this investment into ESPN BET specifically.

However, Snowden assured this spending would slow in 2023 as customers move from the initial big bonus phase into more standard behaviors of deposits and bets. Future short-term spikes may occur around major sports betting events like March Madness.

Momentum in Key Metrics Provides Cause for Optimism

While the market share numbers may cause sticker shock on the surface, Snowden emphasized key metrics that point to future upside. Though representing just 7% of total national handle or wagers, the app has nearly double that - close to 12-13% - in terms of weekly active users.

As they continue optimizing features and functionality post-launch, ESPN BET hopes more of that engaged user base converts to wagering, in turn boosting market share over 2023 and beyond.

North Carolina Presents Major Opportunity

Snowden also shared plans for North Carolina's March sports betting launch. For ESPN BET specifically, its the first market to open simultaneously with competitors since November's multi-state debut.

With that level playing field comes a "major opportunity" per the CEO. If their current strong user engagement and retention can translate to states launching for the first time like North Carolina, it can significantly boost market position over time.

Product Enhancements Now Possible Post-Launch

With the heavy lifting of their ambitious multi-state debut in the rearview, Snowden said resources can now transition to enhancing product features and functionality.

He said major priorities include improving existing same-game parlay options as well as integrating the media side more deeply with both ESPN's app and fantasy sports databases. The goal will be converting and retaining more of the sportsbook's highly-engaged user base.