**ESPN Bet** is an American sports betting brand operated by Penn Entertainment under a licensing agreement with ESPN Inc. It offers mobile and retail sportsbook services across multiple U.S. states, integrating betting opportunities directly into ESPN’s digital and television platforms to engage sports fans[1][4][7]. The brand originated in 2020 as **Barstool Sportsbook**, a partnership between Penn Entertainment and Barstool Sports. In August 2023, Penn sold Barstool back to its founder and simultaneously struck a landmark 10-year licensing deal with ESPN valued at $1.5 billion, plus an additional $500 million in stock options. This agreement marked Disney’s entry into the sports betting market after years of internal deliberation, aiming to leverage ESPN’s massive audience to drive engagement, especially among younger consumers. Barstool Sportsbook was rebranded as ESPN Bet in November 2023[1][2][4]. ESPN Bet's launch was designed to combine Penn’s sports betting infrastructure with ESPN’s content and reach, creating a seamless integration for fans to place bets within ESPN’s ecosystem. The sportsbook operated in 18 to 20 states through mobile apps and select retail casino locations owned by Penn. The partnership was notable for its scale and ambition, with ESPN betting $150 million annually for brand licensing and cross-promotion[1][4][7]. Despite the high-profile launch and strategic positioning, ESPN Bet struggled to gain significant market share, hovering around only 2.6–3% of the U.S. online sports betting market by mid-2024. This underperformance led Penn Entertainment and ESPN to mutually agree to end the partnership in late 2025. Penn announced it would rebrand ESPN Bet as theScore Bet, another sportsbook it had acquired, absorbing ESPN Bet’s operations and taking an $825 million write-down loss on the deal[5][6]. ESPN Bet’s rise and fall highlight the challenges traditional media brands face in the highly competitive and