ESPN Bet Is out. DraftKings Is in. Penn Hits Reset with a Rebrand.

Investor’s Business Daily, Bloomberg, ESPN, Axios, Business Insider, and NBC Sports contributed to this report.

ESPN and Penn Entertainment are calling time on the marriage that created ESPN Bet — and the sportsbook is getting a new name. Penn, which owns roughly two dozen casinos, will rebrand the underperforming app as theScore Bet in the US, pivoting its digital strategy after ESPN Bet never broke through a market dominated by DraftKings and FanDuel.

This wasn’t the plan back in 2023, when Penn scrapped Barstool Sportsbook and rolled out ESPN Bet with sky-high ambitions of grabbing 10%–20% market share within three years. Instead, it stalled at about 3%, sixth in the US, triggering an escape hatch both sides wrote into their 10-year deal. Rather than wait, they’re splitting now.

ESPN isn’t leaving betting — it’s choosing a heavyweight. Starting Dec. 1, DraftKings becomes ESPN’s official sportsbook and odds provider. DraftKings’ lines and promos will live inside ESPN’s platforms, including the betting tab in the ESPN app, with deeper integrations slated to roll out through 2026. ESPN Bet won’t disappear entirely; it shifts into a content brand, with shows like “ESPN Bet Live” featuring DraftKings odds and tools woven in.

For Penn, the break-up stops the $150 million annual payments to ESPN and clears the decks to focus on where it sees more traction: iCasino and its omnichannel edge tying online gaming to its regional casinos. CEO Jay Snowden framed it as a realignment, not a retreat.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s that a famous sports logo isn’t enough to pry bettors off apps they already use. FanDuel and DraftKings leveraged their daily fantasy audiences to build a near-duopoly once legal wagering exploded, and even ESPN’s brand power couldn’t crack it. Now Disney’s sports juggernaut is teaming with one of the two leaders instead of trying to be the third. Penn, meanwhile, is dusting off a brand that already resonates in Canada — this time to rebuild its US sportsbook on its own terms.