DraftKings Strikes Deal With ESPN, Replacing Penn’s ESPN Bet

Following Penn Entertainment’s announcement earlier this week to terminate its 10-year, $1.5 billion sports betting partnership contract with ESPN, DraftKings seized the opportunity to establish a new partnership with the sports media giant.

DraftKings Official Sports Betting Partner of ESPN

What a difference a day makes.

One day, Penn Entertainment is struggling through its $2 billion foray into the world of mobile sports betting instead of maintaining its focus on its bread and butter, land-based casinos, and the next, it is announcing an early termination of its 10-year agreement with ESPN that lasted only two years.

“We will operate with a more efficient cost structure, including replacing fixed media spending … The realignment will free up resources to strategically invest in the North American markets,” Penn announced in a statement.

But as the saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum, and sports betting industry powerhouse DraftKings was more than willing to be the proverbial next man up and leap into the welcoming arms of ESPN.

DraftKings will officially replace Penn’s ESPN Bet on December 1st when the agreement between the old partner ends and the new partner begins. DraftKings will not adopt the ESPN Bet moniker, as it has already generated much greater market share and popularity with its brand than the old ESPN Bet that had failed to capture even 4% of the market.

Jason Robins, CEO and co-founder of DraftKings, was equally as enthused about the company’s new partnership agreement with a staple of the sports betting world.

Penn Shifts to theScore Bet

Penn Entertainment will not exit the mobile sports betting market even after having already spent close to a billion dollars between the acquisition of Barstool Sports and two years of leasing four letters… E-S-P-N.

But now that they have terminated their agreement with ESPN eight years earlier than anticipated, Penn Entertainment will maintain its presence in the USA’s fiercely competitive mobile sports betting market with the brand they operate in Ontario, Canada—theScore Bet.

Penn Entertainment acquired theScore for $2 billion back in 2021 and ended its US presence a year later to focus its efforts north of the border in Canada. But the company’s chief online focus will be on its iCasino business, which has been thriving.

“Our OSB (online sportsbook) offerings will continue to provide top-of-funnel acquisition and cross-sell opportunities for our Hollywood-branded iCasino, which will remain integrated into our OSB product in states where legal, in addition to serving as a standalone iCasino app,” Penn CEO Jay Snowden said.