ESPN Bet Introduces Brand-New Betting Feature During Online App Launch

Disney and PENN Entertainment’s joint venture into sports betting via online platform ESPN Bet has created a new betting market for patrons.

Most ESPN Bet was the top app on Apple’s charts on launch day will be familiar with the anytime touchdown market, which deals with predicting which players will cross in the end zone during a game. ESPN Bet has expanded the market and added a “No” option to the anytime TD scorer market, giving users optionality not available at other legal sportsbooks.

The new market is a glimpse of the ingenuity that ESPN Bet will bring into the legal sports betting market.

ESPN Bet launched on Tuesday, Nov. 14. It went live in 17 states simultaneously thanks to PENN, which held operators licenses because of its time in charge of Barstool Sportsbook.

One of ESPN Bet’s commitments was to invest in and push the sports betting market forward in an attempt to acquire a 10% market share within three years. One way to get the people talking about the new product is by offering never-before-seen betting options, such as the “No” anytime TD scorer option.

This bet is exactly what it sounds like: a player cannot score before the final whistle blows, including overtime (if needed).

The odds are fairly juiced compared to “yes” bets. Christian McCaffrey, who is the largest favorite of the week to score a touchdown at -185 on ESPN Bet, is +135 not to score a touchdown and a rare example of a plus-money bet for a player not to score.

The -185 odds suggest that McCaffrey has a 64.9% chance to score a touchdown, while the +135 implies that he has a 42.6% chance not to score.  Those percentages add up to a total of 107.5%, which shows the total juice on the lines.

ESPN Bet users can also parlay “No” anytime TD scorer bets with multiple picks from the same market, as well as “Yes” anytime TD scorer bets, or other standard player props such as passing and rushing yards.

Here’s an example of a “No” anytime TD scorer parlay using odds from this week’s games.

• Deandre Hopkins “No” anytime TD scorer (-320)
• Kyler Murray “Yes” anytime TD scorer (+155)
• Jordan Love over 226.5 passing yards (-118)
• Total parlay odds: +518

ESPN Bet also has sign-up offers for customers, including $200 in bonus bets to all first-time users and $250 for those that use special promo codes. The bonus bets are disseminated in $50 increments.

Users also have the opportunity to get a 100% deposit match on their first deposit up to $1,000. However, this comes with a 20x playthrough requirement, which means that users will unlock $1 in bonus bets for every $20 of real money they wager. 

Jordan McAbee, a NASCAR analyst at RotoBaller, shared on X that he believes Disney and PENN’s plan to acquire a 10% hold of the market will struggle if they are going to be as stingy as to require users to spend $20 just to earn $1.

ESPNBet thinks they’re going to grab market share by requiring a 20x play through on deposit matches?

Yikes.

— Jordan McAbee (@FanRacingOnline) November 15, 2023

DraftKings, a leader in the sports betting industry, has a lucrative three-part welcome bonus worth $1,200 in total. Part of that $1,200 is a 20% deposit match up to $1,000, which comes with a 25x playthrough requirement. 

ESPN Bet also has a special heading at the top of the home page that highlights odds boosts for the day. Clicking the button will open a new menu that shows a variety of major sports markets, including the NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAAF, and more, all of which contain boosted odds for specific bets.

According to SensorTower, which provides insights into App Store data and digital trends, ESPN Bet was Apple’s number-one free app on Tuesday. That’s despite its afternoon launch around 3:30 p.m. ET.