Penn Entertainment has hired former FanDuel executive Billy Turchin as the chief product officer for its interactive segment, the latest in a string of key hires from major sports tech brands as the company works to turn around ESPN Bet.
Turchin announced the move on LinkedIn Thursday. He will oversee product strategy across Penn’s digital portfolio, which includes ESPN Bet, Hollywood Casino, and theScore Bet. He will report to Chief Technology Officer Aaron LaBerge, a Disney and ESPN veteran, who joined Penn last summer.
FanDuel veteran latest ESPN Bet hiring
Turchin previously served as senior vice president of product at FanDuel, where he led product development across a range of areas, including account management, payments, responsible gaming, anti-fraud systems, and user experience — helping scale what is now the market leader in US sports betting.
His hiring is Penn’s third major addition to its digital leadership team in the past six months. In the fall, the company brought on Gadi Rouache, formerly of Disney and ESPN, as its SVP and head of design and Mike Andrews, also formerly of Disney, as its head of engineering. Both also report to LaBerge.
LaBerge has spearheaded efforts to more tightly integrate ESPN Bet with ESPN’s media ecosystem — one of the core pitches of the original partnership. That has included user interface improvements, in-app account linking and integrations with ESPN’s apps. While Penn has touted recent improvements to its app and onboarding flow, uptake of those features seems to be limited so far, the company acknowledged on its most recent earnings call.
Penn hoping to turn around ESPN Bet
The addition comes at a pivotal time for Penn, following underwhelming returns from ESPN Bet and a public proxy battle with activist investor HG Vora. Penn has committed $1.5 billion to its 10-year licensing agreement with ESPN and aims to hit breakeven this year for its interactive segment — despite falling short of initial benchmarks.
During the past NFL season, ESPN Bet captured about 3% of the total betting handle share in its active states, placing it sixth among national operators.
In February, Penn CEO Jay Snowden acknowledged that ESPN Bet’s performance had not met internal projections. He also noted that if progress continues to lag, ESPN holds a contractual right to exit the deal as early as summer 2026 — potentially giving Penn an off-ramp from its $1.5 billion commitment.
