ESPN Bet App Keeps Crashing and Now Parent Company Shareholder Demands Changes
In a securities filing submitted just before the New Year, HG Vora Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund that owns 9.6 per cent of Penn National's shares, revealed its intention to shake up management of ESPN Bet's parent company.
“Given the persistent underperformance of the common stock and the issuer’s capital allocation track record, amongst other areas of concern, [HG Vora] requested that the issuer afford them the right to designate highly qualified directors who would be committed to working with the issuer’s management and fellow board members to help the issuer realize its full potential,” the hedge fund wrote in the filing.
HG Vora Capital Management saw the acquisition of TheScore as a debacle and Penn National's purchase and selling back of Barstool Sports as a grand debacle.
Both of these deals came with a tremendous price to shareholders as shares have dropped 82 per cent off their prepandemic high.
With Barstool, Penn had to sell that site back to its colorful founder, Dave Portnoy, for US$1 plus 50 per cent of any proceeds from a future sale of Barstool. On top of that, they had to pay another US$1.5-billion to ESPN for marketing and media rights.
The Globe and Mail reports that TheScore sports scores and news app had 3.6 million users in the Canada and the U.S. by 2021. Penn National appears to have had some success with this particular brand and its offerings but the verdict is still out for ESPN Bet.
The Globe and Mail points out how some of the more recognizable brands like Wynn have pulled out of the US sports betting space while market leaders like DraftKings, which went public in 2019, have lost US$4.8-billion since the start of 2020.
Anyone who follows ESPN Bet posts on Twitter (those not tweeted out by ESPN Bet) know there is a huge hill to climb. You do not have to dig deep.
@ESPNBet @ESPNBetSupport what is wrong with the app, i can’t place bets and money is missing
— Johnnyxxx (@JohnGilmoreCC) January 10, 2024
"@ESPNBet took my money and hasn’t added it to my account and told me to wait 3 days will never use this shit again."
"@ESPNBet, @ESPNBetSupport what is wrong with the app, i can’t place bets and money is missing."
"App crashes multiple times a day. Very frustrating to keep dealing wirj this."
"The best part is when I talked to support and they told me to uninstall and reinstall for the 5th time and if that didn’t work use my computer lol. Way too much competition to continue to put up with that noise."
"Been down for an hour and 15 minutes now. This is mind boggling. At least when @DraftKings goes down they throw some credits or free spins out way. This is brutal."
BRUTAL....the understatement of the night.
App crashes multiple times a day. Very frustrating to keep dealing wirj this.
— The Captain (@thecaptain1919) January 10, 2024
Penn National once spent its time and a fortune opposing gambling expansion in Maryland. Oh how times have changed.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
