Since its inception, the Walt Disney Company has billed itself as the purveyor of family and kids’ fare, banking on a talking mouse, a talking duck and G-rated fairy tales. The company viewed gambling as the antithesis of all that—in league with Maleficent, so to speak.
In 2018, Disney put its money where its mouse is, pumping millions of dollars into a campaign to stop the expansion of casino gaming in Florida. The effort proved successful, and kept the company’s Orlando theme parks free of competition.
But other seeds were planted in 2018 that gave Disney pause. That year, after a lawsuit brought by New Jersey, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting. The floodgates opened. States took the plunge and approved sports betting as a way to bring in revenue. Today, almost half of the country’s states offer sports betting or have legislation in the works to introduce legal wagers.
Even professional and collegiate sports leagues, which previously railed against such wagers as a threat to integrity, now see sports betting as a way to bring more eyeballs to their games, if not more money. Leagues and teams have lined up to make marketing deals with sportsbooks such as DraftKings.
Richard Schuetz, a veteran casino executive and CEO of Schuetz LLC, said Disney “developed the anti-gambling reputation because of different efforts to legalize gambling in Florida. This makes sense to protect the brand and market of the theme parks.”
But sports betting is another matter. John J. English, partner and managing director of sports & technology for Global Market Advisors, said,“The last three years, we’ve seen multiple sports teams and sports betting companies form partnerships with companies that have global brand recognition and have a large audience or active databases. The perception of sports betting in America has evolved; it’s now a very acceptable, extremely popular and growing industry.”
Even so, Disney’s interest took English by surprise. “Four years ago, I would have been stunned for sure,” he told GGB News. “They don’t even have casinos on their ships.”
But sports betting is entertainment, and today, Disney is an entertainment company involved in sports, at least since its acquisition of a large stake in ESPN. It’s simply a matter of separating the whole into its many parts. The components of Disney that target adult demographics should be expected to embrace sports betting, Schuetz said, “but those divisions that target a young or family demographic will not be interested in it, as well as those divisions addressing the theme parks.”
Truth be told, Disney has been tipping its hand a bit over the last couple of years when it comes to sports wagering involvement, according to Josh Swissman, founding partner of the Strategy Organization. It acquired a stake in DraftKings when it purchased 21st Century Fox in 2019. In September, ESPN partnered with both Caesars/William Hill and DraftKings to formalize sports betting and daily fantasy sports partnerships.
Still, Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger drew a clear distinction between the gambling business and the sports betting content business in 2019.
“I don’t see the Walt Disney Company, certainly in the near term, getting involved in the business of gambling in any way,” Swissman said. “I do think there’s plenty of room—and ESPN has done some of this already—to provide information in coverage of sports that would be relevant to and of particular interest to gambling and not be shy about it, basically being fairly overt about it.
“But getting into the business of gambling? I rather doubt it.”
On Disney Investor Day, December 10, ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro said sports betting continues to be an important area of growth for ESPN. But he was speaking across all platforms, including the streaming ESPN+, said spokeswoman Kristie Adler. This includes content such as Daily Wager, a show produced in a new ESPN studio inside the Linq in Las Vegas, and extensive brand placement for William Hill and DraftKings on ESPN’s digital platforms.
At the heart of the marriage between Disney and sports betting is viewership of ESPN and ESPN+, Swissman added. ESPN+ has 11.5 million subscribers, fewer than other Disney streaming platforms, and the lack of wagering content is believed to be a contributing factor. The goal is to add another 500,000 regular viewers.
Brian Wyman, principal consultant for The Innovation Group said, “I think generating gambling content resonates well, particularly now, and you’re seeing all of the major networks planning for this.”
Beyond a quest for viewers, Disney’s eyes were opened during the post-Covid-19 NBA season, played inside the bubble at Disney World earlier this year. The volume of sports wagers further piqued Disney’s interest, and the proliferation of sports betting has lots of businesses rethinking how they interact with the gaming industry. More important for Disney is where sports betting fits on the gambling spectrum, according to Michael Soll, president and founding member of The Innovation Group. “It resonates differently than casino gaming,”
While Disney may not embrace sports wagering as completely as many of its media counterparts, “it is certainly leaning into the wagering business much more than it has historically,” Swissman said. “The betting public demands more wagering information delivered in a real-time fashion.”
Said Wyman: “I think this is a significantly different question than casino expansion in Florida. I suspect Disney’s position there is less about a moral opposition to gaming and more about trying to retain their share of visitors’ entertainment wallets.”
Concluded English, “Disney is a massive conglomerate, so it would make sense to leverage their existing investment in sports across their enormous portfolio. But in the immediate future, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to see Mickey himself promoting mobile betting and offering the best odds.”
