Penn Entertainment has launched its new sports gambling service ESPN Bet after buying rights to the name from The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) for US$1.5 billion in August.
Under the terms of the deal, Penn will run the gambling with ESPN to market it through its platforms with the service initially to be available in 17 US states.
ESPN Bet is Penn’s rebranding of an existing sports-betting app, Barstool Sportsbook, that it sold back to its founder Dave Portnoy.
Penn has rights to the ESPN brand for 10 years with the option of extension for another 10 years, while Disney can purchase US$500 million shares in Penn if it chooses.
Up until this point, Disney has fought shy of aligning itself with sports gambling even though ESPN is a huge sports network.
When it signed the deal with Penn, ESPN said it would use its platforms “to educate sports fans on responsible gaming”.