ESPN BET 'A Big Swing And Miss' For PENN, WorldWide Leader - Now What? (Analysis)

By Bill Speros Nov 6th, 2025 2:00 PM EST

One ESPN source neatly summed up the history of ESPN BET to me on Thursday: “Sometimes you take a big swing and miss.”

ESPN BET was a $1 billion “big swing and miss” for PENN Entertainment. And its demise a major blow to The Brand in Bristol. The two entries "mutually agreed to part ways" Thursday, just 2 years into what was supposed to be a 10-year marketing and branding partnership. PENN paid ESPN $150 million per year to brand and market its online and retail sportsbooks in the U.S. The deal had built-in outs after 3 and 7 years.

The launch of ESPN BET carried all the fanfare one might expect given that it signaled union between the self-proclaimed WorldWide Leader and legal sports betting.

The breakup between ESPN BET and PENN does not come as a surprise. The available public data on ESPN BET's minuscule market share flashed warning signs across the betting ecosystem since its launch. The timing of tihs divorce a full year before the first opt-out window and the middle of football season did come prematurely.

PENN's first foray into the online sports betting space in the United States came via an ill-fated agreement with Barstool Sports. By the time the ashes settled on that financial conflagration, PENN spent $551 million to buy Barstool Sports, only to sell the company back to Dave Portnoy for the princely sum of $1.

PENN will end up writing off more than $1 billion in the wake of its online sports betting deals with the WorldWide Leader and Portnoy’s self-described “Pirate Ship.” In all, PENN ended up spending roughly $851 million in marketing costs to both ESPN and Portnoy/Barstool.

ESPN BET added 3 million users since its 2023 launch, including 300,000 added this football season. Those stay with PENN as part of this deal. PENN will also pay $5 million ESPN after Dec. 1 to promote theScore Bet sportsbook and/or PENN's Hollywood iCasino

What Happens To ESPNBET Customers & Their Wagers?

The ESPN BET app and branded sportsbook sundowns on Dec. 1. That day – pending regulatory approval in each jurisdiction – what was the ESPN BET book will carry the “theScore BET” branding. Legal sportsbetting also launches in Missouri at 12 a.m. on Dec. 1.

ESPN BET account balances, future bets, registration info, and other customer data shifts over to theScore BET.

Pending regulatory approval in each market, theScore Bet goes live on Dec. 1 in the following jurisdictions:

Arizona
Colorado
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington D.C.
West Virginia

A statement concerning the termination of the ESPN BET-PENN partnership opened discussion at a previously scheduled meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Thursday.

"We at the Commission are aware of the announcement made by Penn Sports Interactive regarding the termination of their marketing partnership with ESPN. Their plans, subject to our approval, would take effect December 1st. We will be reviewing this matter over the next few weeks. And given our priorities at the Commission, we will ensure, at a minimum, that customers at PSI with open futures on ESPN BET, will have their wagers honored. As always, the integrity of gaming and sports betting, in our state, is the highest priority for the Commission. We will be taking that up in the next few weeks," said MGC Chair Jordan Maynard.

ESPN To Partner With DraftKings Moving Forward

For ESPN, its separation from PENN opens the door to deal with DraftKings. The ESPN-DraftKings partnership was announced an hour after ESPN and PENN announced ESPNBET’s obituary. DraftKings becomes the exclusive sports betting site for ESPN, and the network and its platforms will exclusively use DraftKings odds in its content.

In a release, both companies said they will “collaborate to advance their shared commitment to responsible gaming” by using assets to educate, raise awareness and promote responsible play.

“Our betting approach has focused on offering an integrated experience within our products,” said ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “Working with DraftKings, a leader in the space, will allow us to build upon that foundation, continue to super-serve passionate sports fans and grow our ESPN direct-to-consumer business. We are excited about this new collaboration with DraftKings.”

DraftKings will now power the betting tab within the ESPN app.

“ESPN’s unmatched visibility across the world of sports make this collaboration a natural fit,” added Jason Robins, CEO and Co-Founder of DraftKings.

Speculation that ESPN and/or Disney may venture into the prediction market space lacks substance. Disney has massive holdings in Florida and California. Sports betting in both states remain under the control of native tribes. In California, tribes are suing prediction markets over their sports-related trades. The Seminole Tribe in Florida likely will follow suit (pun intended) soon. The Tribes hold great sway in Sacramento and Tallahassee. Disney took its best shot at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis two years ago over parental rights in education and got clobbered.

Why Did ESPN BET Fail?

Despite an historic push by its namesake network, ESPN BET swam upstream against a tsunami the moment it launched in November of 2023. At the time, DraftKings and FanDuel held roughly a 65% combined market share when it came to online sports betting in the United States. That figure has not changed in the past two years.

"This was the opportunity of a century," PENN CEO Jay Snowden said ahead of ESPN BET’s launch. "It wasn't a case of what ESPN wanted to do, it was something ESPN had to do," The companies first met to discuss the partnership in early 2023.

"We're in this space to win," Snowden said. "People ask if this is important to Disney. You'll see how much they care."

Snowden openly spoke of ESPN BET needing to acquire a 20% share of the online sports betting space. It averaged about 3% according to the data available from various jurisdictions and financial analysts.

ESPN Believed 'The Brand' Would Deliver For ESPN BET

ESPN VP of Sports Betting Mike Morrison spoke to bookies.com ahead of ESPN BET’s launch.

Morrison said ESPN BET has one thing that his competitors do not: ESPN.

“How we're going to reference it, promote it, and integrate it under one brand, is really important. I think it serves the sports fans better to have a straightforward approach and a unified approach,” he told bookies.com in October of 2023 during a Q and A about ESPN BET. “And being able to utilize the ESPN brand around ESPN BET is incredibly important.

“We're the number one and most trusted brand in sports. There's, obviously, incredible connectivity with our fan base, and on our platforms. And being able to lean into the ESPN brand, under this new ESPN BET branding, we think was the only way to go here. And this hasn't been done in the market on the way we're planning to do it, with a unified brand in our platform, in conjunction with the sportsbook.”

But in the eyes of too many ESPN viewers and sports fans, the marriage never fit. There were concerns about ESPN employees using inside information to place wagers or manipulate odds. Those concerns never manifested. But the partnership became a drag on the network, and eventually, a liability for both sides. Fans who did not bet complained about the integration of the sports book in ESPN programming. Fans who did bet were long-ago locked into ESPN BET's competitors. And while 3 million new customers is a hefty haul, it was not going to enough to crack the DraftKings-FanDuel duopoly.

Never mind outdraw the sexy new entry on the block - prediction markets such as Kalshi, Robinhood, and Polymarket,

NBA Betting Scandal Coincidence, Not Causation

Don’t be swayed by internet conspiracy theorists. This deal was in the works for months. The recent arrests of Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups, and Damon Jones in conjunction with two NBA-related betting scandals, and this deal, was more coincidence than causation.

In a post on X, ESPN Associate Director of Communications for ESPNBet John R. Manzo noted that this deal “was NOT done because of any NBA betting news.”

“Multi-year deals don’t take a week to execute.”

Another source close to the deal told bookies.com "this has nothing to do with the NBA."

ESPN remains free to launch its own branded sportsbook in the future, but that's unlikely nor necessary given its partnership with DraftKings.

State regulators received notice about the impending decision ahead of Thursday’s announcement. And in most states, the changeover must be approved. Concerns over potential market manipulation ahead of PENN’s earnings call Thursday muted any early announcement.

The union between ESPN and the PENN-owned book did not mark the first time a major media entity tried to make a run in the sports betting space, including PointsBet and NBC; and FoxBet. Both of those platforms have gone to the Big Book in the sky.

They await ESPN BET on December 1.

About the Author

Bill Speros

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Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist and editor whose career includes stops at USA Today Sports Network / Golfweek, Cox Media, ESPN, Orlando Sentinel and Denver Post.