Disney to End Its ESPN Bet Venture With Penn Entertainment

The ESPN Bet logo.

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. and Penn Entertainment Inc. agreed to mutually end their ESPN Bet sports-betting venture on Dec. 1 after failing to capture a significant market share.

The companies signed a 10-year, $2 billion agreement and launched the product with much fanfare two years ago. The venture was a way for Disney to use its ESPN brand to capitalize on the fast-growing market for sports betting.

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Penn, a casino owner based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, had jettisoned its Barstool Sports business and signed on with ESPN after running into regulatory issues with Barstool’s controversial founder Dave Portnoy.

Penn’s shares gained 3.9% in early trading while Disney was virtually unchanged.

Despite many attempts by others to crack the business, the $13.7 billion sports-betting market is dominated by FanDuel, a division of Flutter Entertainment, and DraftKings Inc.

ESPN Bet, a relatively late entry, struggled to come out with the popular features other operators offered. The business was a distant seventh place in the mobile sports-betting market in the US with a less than 3% share, according to data from Alfonso Straffon, an independent analyst.

Penn will offer sports betting starting Dec. 1 in the US under theScore Bet brand, according to the company.

(Updates with changes in early trading of shares in fourth paragraph)

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