Under the terms of the original commercial agreement, announced in August 2023, ESPN agreed to provide PENN with media, marketing services and the exclusive right to the ESPN BET trademark for OSB in the US in exchange for US$150m per year in cash payments to ESPN and warrants to purchase common stock of PENN.
The agreement had an initial term of 10 years, with the right for either party to terminate the agreement after the third year if specific market share performance thresholds were not met.
“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,” said Jay Snowden, CEO and President of PENN Entertainment.
“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. We plan to realign our digital focus on our growing iCasino business, while continuing to capitalize on our omnichannel advantage as the nation’s leading regional retail casino operator.”
Snowden continued: “Looking ahead, we plan to rebrand our OSB offering in the U.S. to theScore Bet®, with a target date of December 1, 2025 to coincide with the expected launch of sports betting in Missouri, subject to regulatory approvals. We currently operate theScore Bet brand in Ontario, and our OSB product across both the U.S. and Canada will now leverage connectivity with the theScore media app, which has approximately 4 million monthly active users across North America. Our OSB offerings will continue to provide a top of funnel cross-sell opportunity for our Hollywood-branded iCasino, which will remain integrated into our OSB product offering in states where legal, in addition to serving as a standalone iCasino app.”
Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman of ESPN, said: “Together, ESPN and PENN created a truly unique offering with unparalleled integrations across our various media assets. ESPN drove over 2.9 million new users into the PENN ecosystem, with a strong uptick in first time bettors this fall. We appreciate the collaboration we had with PENN and are now pursuing other media and marketing opportunities within this space.”
All outstanding payments to ESPN will cease in the fourth quarter of 2025. Leading up to and following the termination date, ESPN will work with PENN to facilitate a transition from ESPN BET to theScore Bet®. PENN will continue to be an ESPN advertising client.
Source: GMB / G3 Newswire
