Penn Entertainment’s love affair with big-name sports betting partnerships just hit the skids – again. On Wednesday, the casino giant and ESPN pulled the plug on their ESPN Bet venture, effective December 1, barely two years after inking what was billed as a game-changing $1.5 billion deal. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s strike two for Penn in the online wagering arena. First Barstool bombed out, now ESPN’s getting the boot. At this rate, Penn’s partnership strategy looks less like a powerhouse playbook and more like a comedy of errors. (Looks like Barriere hasn’t the monopoly of such online failures)
The Breakup Basics: No More $150M Kisses to ESPN
Let’s cut to the chase – the divorce is clean and costly. Penn stops shelling out that hefty $150 million annual fee for ESPN’s licensing and marketing muscle starting in Q4. The existing sportsbook? Rebranded to theScore Bet across the US, leveraging Penn’s in-house Canadian asset that’s actually shown some grit north of the border.Penn isn’t hitting pause on expansion, though. Missouri launches December 1, but sans the ESPN glow-up. No red-branded hype, just straight theScore rollout. Smart? Maybe. But it screams damage control after betting the farm on a media titan that couldn’t deliver the punters.
ESPN Bet’s Epic Underperformance: From 10-20% Dreams to 3% Reality
Remember 2023? Penn ditched Barstool in a fire sale – after pouring $551 million into that mess – and pivoted to ESPN like it was the golden ticket. Analysts drooled over the potential: ESPN’s massive audience, Penn’s retail footprint, a shot at dethroning FanDuel and DraftKings. Penn’s brass boldly projected 10-20% national market share within three years.Fast-forward to football season 2024: ESPN Bet scrapes by in sixth place with a measly ~3% slice of the US pie. Initial launch buzz in late 2023 spiked adoption, sure—but then? Crickets. Retention tanked, handle growth flatlined. Penn’s been dropping hints in earnings calls for quarters: « strategic review, » « portfolio optimization. »
Translation: This ain’t working, folks.
Why the Flop? Root Causes in Penn’s Partnership Playbook
Penn’s not cursed; it’s strategically myopic.
Cause one: Overreliance on brand halo without backend muscle. ESPN brought eyeballs, but converting casual fans to depositing, betting degenerates? That’s operational wizardry Penn lacks. FanDuel and DraftKings own that through years of tech iteration, promo precision, and risk management mastery.
Cause two: Timing the market like a drunk dart thrower. Post-PASPA boom favored incumbents. Penn entered late, twice, betting on splashy tie-ups instead of organic product superiority. Barstool? Edgy vibe fizzled amid regulatory headaches and cultural backlash.
ESPN? Corporate polish couldn’t mask underwhelming odds, clunky UX, and promo fatigue in a saturated field.Cause three: Financial hemorrhage without proportional ROI. $1.5 billion over 10 years for ESPN? That’s $150M yearly for what – 3% share? Penn’s EBITDA took hits while competitors scaled efficiently. No wonder payments halt; it’s financial euthanasia.
Penn’s Track Record: A Junkyard of Failed Bets
This isn’t bad luck – it’s pattern recognition failure. August 2023: Barstool shuttered after three years of mediocrity, sold back to Dave Portnoy for peanuts. Now ESPN Bet joins the graveyard alongside relics like Fox Bet and William Hill’s US misadventures.
Penn’s core competency? Land-based casinos. Solid, predictable. But online sports betting demands agility, data science, and ruthless customer acquisition—arenas where Penn plays checkers while DraftKings (20%+ share) and FanDuel (40%+) chessmaster the board.
What’s Next for Penn? theScore Pivot or Third Time’s Charm?
Rebranding to theScore isn’t surrender; it’s survival. Proven in Ontario with decent market penetration, it could stabilize Penn’s ~5-7% hold in key states. Missouri launch signals ambition, but without a marquee partner, expect grind-it-out growth.
Bottom line: Penn’s partnership sarcasm writes itself. Two mega-deals, zero podium finishes. If they swing for a third, maybe skip the media darlings and build something that actually wins bets. Until then, ESPN Bet? Just another tombstone in the sportsbook cemetery.
Disclaimer: This article and its accompanying images may have been enhanced using AI tools to ensure smoother content delivery and visual appeal.
