Disney getting into gambling

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Agree - I remember those days, too. But those changes around alcohol sales came well before Chapek. That ship sailed a couple decades ago.

Of course. Didn't mean to imply Chapek started adult bevs. I remember when it began.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Walt Disney has been dead for 55 years. Using “it’s not what Walt would have wanted” is a bad faith argument that appeals to purists, I guess, but leaves literally no room for progression, evolution of thought or modernization.

Also, there was alcohol in his parks from the jump – he just wanted the rich and exclusive people to have access to it.

Big assumption that all change=progress & evolution. It could also be devolution (Something more evident with the increase is altercations in the parks.)
Yes. There was a time when adult activities were kept separate from kid/family experiences. There IS an argument to be made that experiences based on "family" activities have their own rewards.
I'm not a purist or a saint. But excluding adult activities like drinks & gambling is what separated Disney products & projects from places adults enjoyed, like Vegas or cruises featuring gambling as a selling point. Nothing at all wrong with that.
It's true that many consumers now disagree with my views. Different strokes. But mine is not a "bad faith" argument. It's based on the belief that too many have bought into the big bucks lie, sold by the travel industry, that there's only one way to vacation.

And if that is Disney's path, they're going to need to constantly up their adult entertainment game to keep pace, possibly at a loss of investment to their brand. Which is what I think we're seeing.

Oh. And these are MY views-not Walt's. He's dead.

 

[FCDub]

Big assumption that all change=progress & evolution. It could also be devolution (Something more evident with the increase is altercations in the parks.)
Yes. There was a time when adult activities were kept separate from kid/family experiences. There IS an argument to be made that experiences based on "family" activities have their own rewards.
I'm not a purist or a saint. But excluding adult activities like drinks & gambling is what separated Disney products & projects from places adults enjoyed, like Vegas or cruises featuring gambling as a selling point. Nothing at all wrong with that.
It's true that many consumers now disagree with my views. Different strokes. But mine is not a "bad faith" argument. It's based on the belief that too many have bought into the big bucks lie, sold by the travel industry, that there's only one way to vacation.

And if that is Disney's path, they're going to need to constantly up their adult entertainment game to keep pace, possibly at a loss of investment to their brand. Which is what I think we're seeing.

Oh. And these are MY views-not Walt's. He's dead.

Yeah .... so "what Walt wanted" is immediately a non-starter because there's not a person alive that knows what he would think of all of this. It's like saying "my grandfather had X views so I need to live the same way." Times change, cultures change and evolve. Clinging to the ghost of a long-dead company founder to try to say he'd be against anything that's happened since is not a strong argument for me. You do you, though.

 

[vincep]

Yeah .... so "what Walt wanted" is immediately a non-starter because there's not a person alive that knows what he would think of all of this. It's like saying "my grandfather had X views so I need to live the same way." Times change, cultures change and evolve. Clinging to the ghost of a long-dead company founder to try to say he'd be against anything that's happened since is not a strong argument for me. You do you, though.

Not true.
There are still a number of people alive who worked directly under him.

 

[jimmymc]

I'm surprised it took this long with the rise in online betting. ESPN already has the platforms and information to make it work.

I think it should be clear that this isn't coming into Disney World at all. There won't be poker tables or slots popping up around the parks. It would purely be an app/website without any Disney branding on it.

 

[Baduist]

Not true.
There are still a number of people alive who worked directly under him.

that doesn’t mean they could read his mind and predict his thoughts on anything decades later. If anyone on earth could do that we’d have more than one Disney.

I’m sure he’d surprise a lot of us were he still alive.

 

[jimmymc]

Old enough to remember when the idea of adult beverages anywhere in Disney Parks would never have been considered. I've learned, sadly, that following the money is priority #1, regardless of the way it changes Walt's original intent of the experience. (Now, even Las Vegas caters to families & horse-racing tracks offer "Family Fun Days.")
NOTHING Chapek does will surprise me & there will be no going back once something is profitable.

I think this is a common misconception about "what Walt wanted." Theme parks/amusement parts were very different in the 1950's than they are today. They were basically cheap county fairs filled with fights, alcoholics, and drugs. Walt wanted a family-friendly experience that combined fun rides with storytelling. He banned alcohol in Disneyland to prevent those things from happening.

Theme parks aren't like this anymore, thanks in a large part to Disney. People tend to have much healthier relationships with alcohol, and you can easily argue that kids watching their parents use it responsibly would actually reduce their chances of abusing it as adults. Given how much has changed in that time, I think Walt would be fine with alcohol in the parks today.

 

[Baduist]

Personally I always thought ESPN has nothing to do with Disney to begin with.

If gambling is added under that brand, I don’t see the issue, “Disney doing gambling” is kind of an overdramatized headline in that case.

I’m not a big fan of adding casinos to the cruise ships (mainly because it will mean a busier babysitting service / kids club), but I can’t say that I won’t go on cruises because of it.

 

[afwdwfan]

Honestly, of all the things that have gotten me fired up about the changes, announcements, Chapek, etc this is the least of them. There's money in online sports gambling. Clearly. It is popping up everywhere. Spreads and favorites are openly discussed on ESPN already. Might as well get a slice of this pie if they're going to nickel and dime to monetize everything else.

The problem I see is that you already have so many players in this market like the Fan Duels, etc that offer the product and do it very well. I think Chapek might be a little bit late to the party. I'm sure there's still money to be made, but given how fast things move in this company, the market might be well saturated by the time ESPN finally gets into it.

 

[FCDub]

I’d love to do some prop betting on TSMM, actually.

 

[afwdwfan]

I’d love to do some prop betting on TSMM, actually.

Then there's always the over/under for when Rise breaks down too. The possibilities are endless!

 

[GAN]

Why do I sense a betting kiosk in every gift shop.....

 

[GAN]

One of the things Bob C talked about on the earnings call last week was that they are seriously looking into getting into sports betting. Major change for Disney who has always been against gambling. Apparently Bob sees synergies with ESPN.

Finally an opportunity for me to get some of my money back!

 

[HopperFan]

Why is this news when Disney already has a substantial stake in DraftKings aka already invested in the gambling industry? Disney isn't getting in to gambling, they already are.

And .... Iger was the leader during that deal.

 

[mattincanberra]

Can I offer a piece of advice from Down Under - do whatever you can to keep sports betting out of broadcast sports - be it ESPN or anywhere else.

Australians in general love a "punt" and they love sport, and sports betting and off track bookmaking are common things here (in fact off track gambling was pretty universally the preserve of State Government Totaliser Agencies in Australia until relatively recently), almost every pub and licensed club has both Off Track Betting and Keno and Slot Machines in Australia.

But when in app betting became a "thing", football games became littered with betting analysis from presenters, and kids started to understand the games in terms of betting terms - in-play gambling adds promoted ever more exotic bets.

Slowly we are unpicking all of this, but there are many anti gambling advocates that think that sports betting tied to televised sport was little short of grooming of young people by gambling companies.

Full disclosure, I have sports betting accounts, I love the casino, have made some money betting on sports and elections and lost some too and I'm not in any way opposed to gambling by consenting adults.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Can I offer a piece of advice from Down Under - do whatever you can to keep sports betting out of broadcast sports - be it ESPN or anywhere else.

Australians in general love a "punt" and they love sport, and sports betting and off track bookmaking are common things here (in fact off track gambling was pretty universally the preserve of State Government Totaliser Agencies in Australia until relatively recently), almost every pub and licensed club has both Off Track Betting and Keno and Slot Machines in Australia.

But when in app betting became a "thing", football games became littered with betting analysis from presenters, and kids started to understand the games in terms of betting terms - in-play gambling adds promoted ever more exotic bets.

Slowly we are unpicking all of this, but there are many anti gambling advocates that think that sports betting tied to televised sport was little short of grooming of young people by gambling companies.

Full disclosure, I have sports betting accounts, I love the casino, have made some money betting on sports and elections and lost some too and I'm not in any way opposed to gambling by consenting adults.

Exactly! SPOT ON!

In any event....This happened. I'm sure DeSantis & gang won't give up, though!
Federal judge halts sports betting in Florida, says compact violates Indian gaming laws

https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/f...ida-says-compact-violates-indian-gaming-laws/

 

[Boopuff]

I was watching the news this AM and got the impression that Disney will launch under ESPN an online sports book. However, to get around the FL issue they might have to “base it” out of a “legal” state. Disney will have a work around. I highly doubt they’re thinking casinos on ships. Online sports betting is the way they’ll go.

 

[GAN]

I was watching the news this AM and got the impression that Disney will launch under ESPN an online sports book. However, to get around the FL issue they might have to “base it” out of a “legal” state. Disney will have a work around. I highly doubt they’re thinking casinos on ships. Online sports betting is the way they’ll go.

This is online betting -I can't imagine them ever considering a brick and mortar option ...and definitely not in the State of Florida. But I've been wrong before....

 

[gharter]

If they stay in on-line gambling under ESPN, I don't see an issue.
I don't see this under the Disney label and would be opposed to any gambling at a Disney park or on a cruise ship and I doubt they would consider this.

 

[_19disnA]

If some adult doesn't want to drink or gamble, that is their business........but it doesn't follow for me to have those people try to tell others they shouldn't be able to do those things. Prohibition is long gone and never achieved its intended purpose. What some adult chooses to drink at a Disney restaurant shouldn't be anyone else's business. Whether Disney produced R-rated movies under the Touchstone brand or has sports betting through ESPN is just a clever way to disguise what they are doing. As others have pointed out, it is no longer 1950 and various things have changed with the times.