ESPN Bet Preparing to Expand in Ohio Sports Betting Market

ESPN Bet is planning to expand its footprint inside the Ohio sports betting market.

This news comes from Penn Entertainment, the parent company that owns and operates the ESPN-branded sportsbook. While Penn and ESPN Bet continue to focus on securing a larger piece of the market share for online sports betting in the United States, they are also looking to broaden their on-site operations. This will be the motivation behind their expansion in Ohio. 

“As ESPN Bet continues to work toward increasing its sports betting market share, the operator also plans to open new in-person sportsbooks,” writes Pat Evans of Legal Sports Report. “Penn Entertainment announced Thursday that it is opening 10 new in-person ESPN Bet Sportsbooks across its land-based casino portfolio. ESPN Bet is available online in 19 US sports betting markets. Once the new books open early this year, Penn will have 19 ESPN Bet branded sportsbooks at its properties.”

Although the announcement does not feature a concrete launch date, the “early this year” language suggests the openings will happen sooner rather than later. And two of the new ESPN Bet sportsbooks will be opening in The Buckeye State. 

The move seems like a win-win for both sides. While online sports betting in the USA dominates all wagering shares, on-site locations are still important. The destination experiences they offer can help drum up new business and, by extension, state revenue. Adding two more brick and mortar locations should only help increase the popularity of sports betting in Ohio. 

Still, can ESPN Bet successfully compete with industry bigwigs? And even it can, how long might that take? Other sportsbooks have shuddered after a year or two. In reality, it will take much longer than that to rival veteran operators like DraftKings, Caesars, FanDuel and others.

ESPN Bet Will Also Expand Beyond Just The Ohio Sports Betting Market

For ESPN Bet, meanwhile, this news amounts to additional—and much-needed—exposure for its services. Penn Entertainment made a wise decision rebranding its sports betting services using a company synonymous with sports at large. But that intrinsic goodwill goes only so far. Other online sportsbooks in the U.S., such as DraftKings and FanDuel, have been up and running for longer. This gives them a head start over ESPN Bet and other fledgling sportsbook brands.

The challenge ahead of them is particularly daunting inside the Ohio sports betting market. The Buckeye State launched online operations in January 2023. Penn Entertainment did not complete the ESPN Bet rebrand until the end of that year. And in this industry, that amount of time can be an eternity. Especially when Ohio sports betting operators stretch deep in overall numbers.

Not surprisingly, The Buckeye State is not the only market that will see ESPN increase on-site services. Here is a list of all the ESPN Bet locations that will open in 2025, including the two in Ohio:

• Colorado: Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Black Hawk
• Indiana: Hollywood Casino and Hotel Lawrenceburg; Ameristar Casino East Chicago
• Iowa: Ameristar Casino Hotel Council Bluffs
• Ohio: Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway; Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course
• Pennsylvania: Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course; Hollywood Casino at The Meadows; Hollywood Casino York
• West Virginia: Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races

At present, ESPN Bet has physical locations in Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland and Michigan, as well as Ohio. This latest move will give them on-site operations across 10 markets. 

Given the level of aggressive Penn Entertainment has shown with ESPN Bet so far, it will not surprise us if that market number increases from here, either.

Penn Entertainment Continues To Hope They Can Turn ESPN Bet Into A Premier United States Sportsbook

While other companies remain hesitant to aggressively compete with DraftKings, Caesars and FanDuel, as well as popular offshore betting sites with long track records, Penn Entertainment is more than one year into a full steam ahead approach with ESPN Bet. Everyone in the industry is naturally wondering whether their gamble will pay off.

Right now, it is much too early to tell. ESPN Bet’s share of the Ohio sports betting market, in particular, is not especially large. But as Evans notes over at Legal Sports Report, the company believes this can and will change:

During an earnings call in fall 2024, Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden said customer retention through the ESPN database remains higher than average. Snowden also predicted that the average bet size would continue to grow through Q1 [of] 2025. ‘We would expect to see [average wager size] continue to grow throughout the football season as we head out into March Madness as well,’ Snowden said. ‘It’s a big focus for us right now. We think retention, we’re in a really good place, but continuing to improve monetization will be key for us.”

With betting on the NFL playoffs just underway, we won’t know whether Snowden’s football betting predictions pan out for at least a couple of months. And even then, data for betting on March Madness may not roll in until May or June.

Yet, even those returns skew short term. Penn Entertainment is playing longer game with ESPN Bet. At least, that’s what appears to be happening. Whether Penn Entertainment has the stomach for this process in the Ohio sports betting market and elsewhere will be a matter of course.

Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: