As the end of August has been and gone, and the start of the NFL season looms, New York’s biggest sportsbooks are upping the ante but there’s still no sign of ESPN BET.
With the traditional lull in the US summer sports season drawing to a close, things are set to ramp up as pro football returns following the Labor Day weekend. New York’s top betting sites are already lining up NFL promos and tweaked product improvements in readiness, but will Penn Entertainment be ready to join them for the big kickoff?
The last concrete news on when ESPN BET would hit New York was Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden predicting it would be live in the Empire State for the beginning of the college football season.
That date of August, 24 passed with no launch at the weekend just gone. A couple of days later, ESPN BET staff still seemed to be in the dark about when the sportsbook will be live in the Empire State:
Without further news yet, the next best guess may be that ESPN BET will launch ahead of the NFL season on September, 5.
Elsewhere, Fanatics Sportsbook - the newest kid on the New York sports betting until ESPN BET shows up - has begun a marketing blitz as anticipation builds for the return of football.
Fanatics is heavily promoting its sports betting apps with a TV campaign as the main event. The broadcast and digital commercials are airing on several channels in the states where Fanatics operates its sportsbook.
The publicity drive comes on the back of Fanatics Fest NYC which was held on the weekend of 16 - 18 August and headlined by Jay-Z. The brand’s $5 million Jersey Drop is the centerpiece of its efforts.
Customers can log in daily to see if they’ve been selected to win a team jersey and Fanatics representatives will be on the streets of the Big Apple to hand out kit to unsuspecting winners chosen at random.
BetMGM has announced the digital wallet available on its app in Nevada is now transferable to other states occupied by its mobile sportsbook. It means customers registered with BetMGM in the Silver State can use that account in New York and any of the other North American jurisdictions it’s licensed in.
Such functionality isn’t readily available at any of the other big sportsbooks, notably FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars. A rollout for users in other areas, including New York, is likely to follow if the Nevada trial proves successful. BetMGM has also been busy improving parlay offerings and deposit options on its app just in time for the NFL season.
