And with barely a whimper, ESPN Bet was taken out behind the woodshed Monday morning and put out of its misery, replaced with theScore Bet.
Users of the ESPN Bet product were instructed to update their apps a little after 8 a.m. ET, and once they did, the ESPN Bet icon was replaced with theScore Bet icon.
Outside of that — and the color change from mint green to electric blue — the app looks, feels, and plays the same.
The rebrand marks the end of what can only be described as a spectacular failure for Penn Entertainment, which had pinned its sports betting hopes on the ESPN name. The partnership, announced with great fanfare in 2023, was supposed to be a 10-year, $2 billion deal that would vault Penn into the upper tier of online sports betting operators.
It didn’t work out that way.
Tough sledding
Despite ESPN’s massive reach and brand recognition, ESPN Bet never cracked more than 2.6% of the online sports betting market. That’s a rounding error to market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings.
The agreement included an escape hatch that would’ve allowed either Penn or ESPN to end the deal after three years, but the companies didn’t even make it that far.
“When we first announced our partnership with ESPN, both sides made it clear that we expected to compete for a podium position in the space,” Penn CEO Jay Snowden said last month during Penn’s earnings call. “Although we made significant progress in improving our product offering and building a cohesive ecosystem with ESPN, we have mutually and amicably agreed to wind down our collaboration.”
For Penn, this marks the second failed sports betting partnership in three years. Before ESPN Bet, there was Barstool Sportsbook, which Penn bought for $551 million only to sell back to founder Dave Portnoy for a dollar in 2023.
This all came on the heels of Penn snapping up theScore Bet — and theScore itself — for $2 billion back in 2021.
John Levy, who founded theScore, hasn’t exactly been a Penn cheerleader lately, speaking candidly on a recent Gaming News Canada podcast.
No respect
“They never respected the [Score] brand. They never invested in the brand. They never listened to us,” Levy said.
Asked if he thought Penn would be able to bring theScore Bet brand to relevance in the United States, Levy was even more plainspoken.
“Newsflash: They’re out of it now. It’s dead. Nobody’s told them,” Levy said.
Of course, Snowden and Co. have different ideas on the future of their online offering.
“Our OSB 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,” he said on the earnings call. “We will operate with a more efficient cost structure, including replacing fixed media spending with performance-based and regionally targeted marketing that complement our casino footprint.”
Penn stock was trading at $14.91 in early trading Monday, up a few ticks from last week’s close.
