PENN Entertainment Announces ESPN BET to Launch November 14
- ESPN BET will launch on Tuesday, Nov. 14
- PENN Entertainment announced the news during its Q3 earnings report
- The launch will be previewed on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the third annual ESPN Edge conference in New York City
The official launch date for ESPN BET has been revealed.
The much-anticipated sports betting operator will launch on Tuesday, Nov. 14, across 17 states, several months after PENN Entertainment began its rebrand from Barstool Sportsbook.
The launch will be previewed on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the third annual ESPN Edge conference in New York City by Jay Snowden, PENN Entertainment CEO and President, and Mike Morrison, Vice President of Sports Betting & Fantasy for ESPN.
ESPN BET Launching on Nov. 14
Snowden made the announcement this morning during PENN Entertainment’s third quarter 2023 earnings report.
“We are extremely excited to announce the planned launch of ESPN BET prior to the active Thanksgiving week sports calendar that includes the NCAA college football rivalry week and the Super Bowl rematch of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles televised on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. ESPN BET will be powered by our proprietary and proven technology platform, which continues to drive impressive performance in Ontario under theScore Bet brand for both online sports betting and iCasino,” he said in a press release.
ESPN BET will offer featured bets, quick bets (micro-markets), player props, same game parlays and more, Snowden noted.
ESPN SportsCenter anchors Scott Van Pelt and Elle Duncan will headline an ESPN BET advertising campaign moving forward.
“Looking ahead, we will be introducing even deeper platform and media integrations with ESPN over the upcoming months, providing an unmatched and seamless media/betting experience that will appeal to sports fans across the country,” Snowden said.
Customers will be prompted to download the new ESPN BET app on Nov. 14. No re-registration will be required and all customer information will still be saved in the app.
Pending final approval, ESPN BET will go live in the following states on Nov. 14:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- West Virginia
— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) November 2, 2023
In the Works Since August
PENN secured the exclusive rights in August to the ESPN BET trademark for online sports betting in the U.S. for an initial 10-year term which may be extended for an additional 10 years upon mutual agreement. PENN Entertainment agreed to pay $1.5 billion to ESPN over the initial 10-year term and grant ESPN approximately $500 million of warrants to purchase 31.8 million PENN common shares.
If ESPN BET meets a certain U.S. online sports betting market share, ESPN could receive bonus warrants to purchase an additional 6.4 million in PENN shares.
PENN’s Barstool Sportsbook has been completely rebranded to ESPN BET, while theScore Bet will continue to operate in Canada. The rebrand includes the mobile app, website, and mobile website. PENN Entertainment will oversee the daily operations of ESPN BET sportsbook.
Rob covers all regulatory developments in online gambling. He specializes in US sports betting news along with casino regulation news as one of the most trusted sources in the country.
