ESPN to debut daily sports gambling show on March 11
ESPN is entering the growing daily sports gambling show marketplace.
The network announced Friday that it will start airing “Daily Wager” on March 11. The one-hour show will air weekdays at 6 p.m. EST on ESPNews.
ESPN joins Fox Sports 1 in airing daily gambling shows. “Lock It In” premiered on Fox Sports 1 last September and is also a one-hour show.
“It is basically a version of ‘SportsCenter’ but through the vision of sports gambling,” said “Daily Wager” host Doug Kezirian. “We will have analysts on that you normally see on SportsCenter but they will still be providing content and not making picks. This is not a tout show and there will not be a 1-900 number at the bottom of the screen.”
Sports gambling is an area that more mainstream outlets are expanding to after the Supreme Court’s decision last May to end Nevada’s monopoly on the market. Seven other states legalized it after the Supreme Court ruling and at least 22 others have bills filed in their statehouses for lawmakers to debate.
The show will expand the gambling content currently throughout ESPN. Kezirian also hosts a gambling podcast as well as doing some writing for ESPN’s website. There is also a podcast during football season hosted by Chris “The Bear” Fallica of “College GameDay” and “Stanford Steve” Coughlin of “SportsCenter.” There is also the weekly Bad Beats segment that airs on Monday night’s during Scott Van Pelt’s edition of “SportsCenter”.
“With legalization, the taboo label is starting to erode at a more aggressive pace,” Kezirian said. “We’ve been covering sports betting for awhile but this is now turning the nob a couple notches higher.”
