‘ESPN is next to the Trump Organization’: Analyst calls out network for failed app, rips its promotion tactics geared toward children
· Yahoo Sports
Sports gambling has become a bigger and bigger piece of the American zeitgeist since its legalization has been passed in more and more states. However, not everyone is a fan of the growing phenomenon.
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Call took to X to share his displeasure with a NSFW Sydney Sweeney sports betting ad that has been prevalent throughout the MLB playoffs, and now an Outkick analyst is calling ESPN out for the way it promotes sports gambling.
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“ESPN is next to the Trump Organization, probably the only organization in the history of mankind to be unsuccessful by running a gambling company,” Craig Carton said in a clip posted on X, referencing the failed ESPN Bet app.
“So then they decided, ‘Oh, I know what we’ll do. Since we suck at gambling and owning a gambling company ourselves, we’ll just partner with one of the two big dogs.’ So they’re desperate. So when you’re desperate, and you don’t care about the viewing public that supports all your programming, you do a deal with the devil.”
Carton then criticized the network using cartoons in its gambling ads.
“ESPN has made a deal with the devil.”
@craigcartonlive RIPS the network for using cartoon-style animation to promote sports betting, accusing ESPN of deliberately trying to attract children to gambling. https://t.co/TzCk9VAKqR
— OutKick (@Outkick) October 16, 2026
“That’s exactly what ESPN just unleashed on the American public within the last 24 hours, and that is create a betting guide for the American public in the form of a cartoon. If you’re going to put out a betting guide and it’s a rudimentary, elementary betting guide where they literally teach you What does -7 mean? And they go about seven, eight, nine pages deep before they get to anything about the potential dangers of legalized wagering, especially the dangers for young kids that are too immature to understand the concept of money management.
“ESPN executives should have shut this down as soon as their creative team said, voilà, we’ve got the answer, in their desperate attempt to get market share. In a desperate attempt to make more money on top of more money, ESPN has made the calculated decision that the quickest avenue and way to do that is not through adult sports fans. It’s through your children. And that’s just flat-out wrong.”
Carton finished the clip by saying that he doesn’t care how ESPN PR tries to tackle the situation.
“And I don’t care how they want to spin it. That’s who you’re trying to attract when you put out a gambling guide in the form of a cartoon.”
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