Former FanDuel Exec Tasked With Revitalizing ESPN Bet

Bookmakers Review
April 20, 2025

Billy Turchin, formerly a C-suite executive with gaming industry powerhouse FanDuel, has been tapped to head Penn Entertainment’s interactive division, including ESPN Bet.

Talent Injection

It is no secret that ESPN Bet has woefully underperformed since Penn Entertainment reached a 10-year, $2.1 billion deal with ESPN to use its name and gain access to its media platforms to form its mobile sports betting creation, ESPN Bet. This has caused a loss of confidence by investors and, consequently, a plummeting stock price that has cratered from $130 in March 2021 to where it now stands at $14.34.

Recruiting industry talent has been a priority for Penn recently, and former FanDuel senior vice president Billy Turchin is the latest example after being named chief product officer. Turchin will oversee Penn’s three interactive brands:

Turchin will report to Chief Technology Officer Aaron LaBerge, an industry veteran himself who formerly worked at Disney and ESPN and subsequently joined Penn in the summer of 2024.

Two of Penn’s other recent hires who also report to LaBerge are Gadi Rouache, also a former employee of Disney and ESPN, as its SVP and head of design, as well as Mike Andrews, another Disney hire, as its head of engineering. Not so coincidentally, ESPN is owned by Disney, and Penn is desperately trying to create greater synergy with the brand.

Divorce a Possibility

Penn CEO Jay Snowden has come under fire for his company’s sluggish progress since entering the mobile gaming market. Penn Entertainment has traditionally been an operator of land-based casinos, but that experience has not translated into success in the digital arena.

Snowden stated that if ESPN Bet fails to achieve success, he is ready to cut his losses and implement the exit strategy outlined in the 2026 deal. ESPN Bet has control of less than 3% of the national sports betting market, a far cry from the 20% that was expected when ESPN Bet was formed.

From Barstool to Bottom Line

Sports business analyst Joe Pompliano wrote in his March newsletter, “Last week, Penn Entertainment reported its Q4 2024 and full-year earnings… and the results weren’t great. Penn’s interactive division, which includes ESPN BET, lost nearly $110 million in Q4 alone. The company estimates that it controls only 2.35% of the sports betting market across its 20 active jurisdictions, and Penn is now projecting that ESPN BET will have a market share of 4.7% by the end of 2025, a far cry from Penn’s initial goal to own 20% of the U.S. sports betting market by 2027.”

Penn previously spent $650 million buying the bro-culture Barstool Sports media empire and formed Barstool Sportsbook, but only six months after making the final payment, ESPN came calling, and Snowden was only too willing to pick up the phone.

However, one noteworthy contingency was that Penn had to divest itself from the controversial Barstool brand, and Snowden obliged by dissolving Barstool Sportsbook and selling the media empire back to its founder, Dave Portnoy, for exactly $1 and an agreement that Penn would receive half of any future sale of Barstool Sports. Portnoy has vowed never to sell.