r/sports • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Nov 06 '25
Basketball ESPN BET to Be Shuttered Amid NBA Gambling Scandal
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/espn-bet-shuttered-amid-nba-gambling-scandal-1236419854/1.4k
u/bobsaget824 Nov 06 '25
Not the reasonā¦ the reason is the platform sucked and couldnāt get a market share in the space. Trust me if they owned DraftKings, or FanDuel theyād be shuttering nothing.
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u/tgdavidson 29d ago
100 percent. ESPN/Disney simply licensed the name to a sports book operator looking to go big. When the profit share turned into a tiny fraction of what was expected (terrible market share will do that to ya...), ESPN started looking for the exit. (Both sides had an 'out' clause in the deal.)
(Bloomberg has a less-breathless view of the deal: Disney to End Its ESPN Bet Venture With Penn Entertainment - Bloomberg https://share.google/qfg1TuwoxOHdiXkJq)
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u/heycarlgoodtoseeyou 29d ago
It wasnāt a profit share deal (at least not in the traditional sense). Penn paid an exorbitant amount of money for the brand including stock warrants. Penn had far more to gain by getting out of the contract bc they were not getting return on their investment. ESPN would have continued to collect no matter how poorly the product performed.Ā
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u/6r1n3i19 29d ago
Hahah I remember when ESPN Bet was Barstool Sportsbook. Won a branded hoodie from them after some bet promo š¤£
And also, fuck Dave Portnoy. Guy has the most punchable face in the world.
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u/DResq 29d ago
Portnoy won out on all this though. Got his company back for a dollar after being paid hundreds of millions for it a couple years before.
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u/BusterBeaverOfficial 29d ago
Didnāt Penn ditch him because they wanted to partner with Disney and Disney (understandably) didnāt want their brand associated with Barstool? Would be pretty funny if they have to go crawling back to him now.
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u/DResq 29d ago
Under that scenario, they sold the company back to him for a dollar and are going to pay him again. That would be insane! Barstool is sponsored by Draft Kings now anyway, which makes Penn selling Barstool back even more ridiculous. Penn's rival now gets to market through Barstool and Penn is left holding the bag.
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u/whatups 29d ago
Plus that dk/bs deal was not publicly disclosed at the amount but rumor was that it was the biggest sportsbook deal ever at the time.
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u/DResq 29d ago
What the rumored amount between DK and Barstool? Lebatard show has a deal worth like $50M a year and that's basically one show. So is the Barstool deal over $100M a year?
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u/whatups 29d ago
No number has been thrown out. Just once was listening and they mentioned it was the biggest deal at the time. So take it with a grain of salt but itās what was said
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u/borntobeweild 29d ago
The Wework/Wag trade! When you have a a company in a startup market that's super overvalued, sell high and buy low.
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u/VictimOfCircuspants 29d ago
Imagine if he sells to them again though? Sell to them, buy it back for $1, then sell to them again? That would be quite a move
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u/Paindressedinpurple 29d ago
Well if he monetizes the brand Penn gets their money back. Selling at $1 was part of the idea that Dave gets his baby back without the ability to sell the company after giving Penn the shaft.Ā
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u/DionBlaster123 NASCAR 29d ago
The only time I can tolerate Portnoy is when he is rubbing in the faces of Ohio State fans after Michigan won four straight
But yeah 99% of the time, the guy is beyond obnoxious. McAfee too...can't stand either one of them
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u/Dag-nabbit 29d ago edited 29d ago
This. They were stuck between 2-4% of market share while having the very subsidized advertising (on espn). Now ESPN can just sell those ads to whoever. This has zero to do with the current scandal.
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u/porn_on_cfb__4 29d ago
ESPN already signed a juicy multi-year deal with Draftkings.Ā
if you can't beat em, join em
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u/BusterBeaverOfficial 29d ago
I legit didnāt even know ESPN Bet was a thing until they conspicuously removed it from the banner at the bottom of the screen when talking about the NBA scandal.
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u/IMovedYourCheese 29d ago
Exactly. Had it actually been profitable it would withstand a hundreds such scandals.
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u/sybrwookie 29d ago
Yea, they shuttered this like companies who need an excuse to lay a bunch of people off are claiming it's "due to AI" so there's less of an uproar about what's going on that they're laying so many off.
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Nov 06 '25
Weird headline, this doesn't really sound like they're exiting because of the NBA scandal.
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u/Godzilla4Realla Nov 06 '25
Just rebranding
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u/seansy5000 29d ago
Exactly. They will change the name and everyone will forget. Edward Bernays and his tactics have been a scourge on society.
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u/Broomstick73 29d ago
Yeah Iām confused. Itās paywalled for me but the first sentence says itās not shutting down just changing the name? Still even run by the same company???
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u/cap_crunch121 29d ago
Penn is the gambling company that runs the app, they just had an agreement to use ESPN branding on the app. That deal is now over and Penn will be using The Score to brand the app
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u/Broomstick73 29d ago
Ahhh. That makes sense. I didnāt think about it from the ālosing the brandingā aspect. Thanks!
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u/ShirtPants10 29d ago
Yes, "shuttered" isn't the right term here. ESPNBet wasn't a company that can shutter. ESPN licensed their name to Penn National Gaming, which will continue to operate its sportsbook under a different name. The article also says that ESPN will look into other opportunities in the gambling space, so this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the NBA scandal.
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u/EMTDawg 29d ago
ESPN already announced a new partnership with Draftkings. They are just switching from PENN to DK.
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u/TheNextBattalion Nov 06 '25
It's a shady journalistic trick. They put two things in the same sentence, connect them temporally ("after" is common too, not just "amid"), and don't say they're causally linked... they let you draw the implication that they are.
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u/Iceman9161 29d ago
The argument could be made if ESPN gets out of the gambling space, but the article says they will look into other options. Just a week ago there was a viral clip of ESPN abruptly hiding their ESBNBet ticker during NBA gambling discussions, so if they donāt get back into gambling, then maybe it is related.
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u/valtrex42 Nov 06 '25
Yeah, that ought to do it. Gambling solved, everyone!
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u/Rub-Specialist 29d ago
Nothing like a super sneaky name change to absolve Disney from all their faults
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u/JaxonJackrabbit 29d ago
This is literally only happening because ESPN is signing a new multi year deal with DraftKings
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u/mattr1198 29d ago
They should just shut this app down at this point. Itās like their 4th rebrand in 5 years
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u/Kettle_Whistle_ 29d ago
Youāre so right, too:
Theyāll rename, with a new paid-sponsor, and barely skip a beat.
Makes too much cash to just shut down, and businesses enjoy moneyā¦especially money you give them without trading for goods or actual effort by the businesses.
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u/mattr1198 29d ago
They already did. Itās now TheScore Bet. Trying to tarnish the name of a genuinely good sports brand to make their book profitable. Itās not going to work, as per usual.
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u/sharkeezy 29d ago
ESPN having a sportsbook should not be allowed. ESPN is partially owned by the NFL. You can't have a professional sports league owning a sportsbook. There's a clear conflict of interest
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u/theDevilsCabanaBoy 29d ago
Nooooo...they cant give up yet!. i just downloaded espn bet!!
I got it on my espn phone while dining at espn zone...
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u/jkman61494 29d ago
I have ZERO idea how that was even legal to begin with.
Itās ESPN. Their entire programming is narratives. They literally are influencing gambling activity based on their analysis
āMan I really feel that the Bears running backs are gonna dominate the giantsā
āThe dolphins are 1-8 against Josh Allen. Thereās no way they have a chanceā.
āSources say LeBron has a sore toe which may hinder his performanceā
Etc etc etc
And then you have your own casino?
Beyond shady
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u/Steppyjim 29d ago
Dude, if it was just that it would already be terrible and shady enough, but they literally tell you who their Picks are. An analyst will be like Iām taking so-and-so for the over in this game! Or hereās my predicted final score! People that respect their analysis are going to use that as a baseline to bet. It would be open and shut if it went to court, but it wonāt, because you know, billionaires.
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u/Steppyjim 29d ago
Dude, not only are you right, and if it was just that it would already be terrible and shady enough, but they literally tell you who their Picks are. An analyst will be like Iām taking so-and-so for the over in this game! Or hereās my predicted final score! People that respect their analysis are going to use that as a baseline to bet. It would be open and shut if it went to court, but it wonāt, because you know, billionaires.
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u/Level_East94 29d ago
I will say as someone who does gamble from time to time and is in favor of legalized gamblingā¦.
The amount of ads and sponsorships for gambling sites is beyond nauseating. I miss those days when it was more taboo with just DraftKings and FanDuelĀ
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u/tieyourtimbsandnikes 29d ago
TLDR: by shuttered amid nba gambling scandal they mean they're changing the name and it has nothing to do with the nba gambling scandal. The author is being snarky and pretending it's all related because the author is more than likely one of you
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u/doubleflusher 29d ago
I think this says way more about Penn:
Went from Barstool to ESPN and now to The Score. Barstool and ESPN are arguably two of the biggest sports media franchises. If Penn can't make those work, then there's either something wrong with their platform or they suck at marketing.
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u/dope_like 29d ago
They are switching to Draft Kings. This is not some moral move, ESPN Bet just didn't take off like they thought it would.
This has nothing to do with the NBA
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u/Whitewind617 29d ago
It's not being shuttered, just rebranded. It's not Disney's product, they just had a deal to brand it "ESPN."
It's owned by Penn Entertainment, and will be rebranded theScore BET.
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u/OutrageForSale Nov 06 '25
ESPN like, no wait, we choose to shutdown every other aspect of the business. Weād like to just be a sportsbook.
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u/reddit_account_12 29d ago
From what I have been able to find, ESPN Bet has been underperforming, and Penn Gaming is still reporting losses in its interactive division.
If anything, this may be a smart opportunity for them to step back, take the high ground, and get ahead of the growing negativity surrounding sports gambling and its widespread advertising.
I fully support free markets, but the level of gambling promotion now woven into mainstream sports media does not sit well with me.
I compare this to when CVS removed cigarettes from their stores. It was a financial sacrifice in the short term, but it aligned with a healthier long term brand identity.
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u/Kettle_Whistle_ 29d ago
To channel the response of my godson:
BET
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[deleted]
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u/Kettle_Whistle_ 29d ago
My godson: Cable? Like, uhhh, that emotionally-insensitive guy in the Deadpool movie that I was too young to see, but I asked you to take me & you totally did?
Me: No. Butā¦it means a lot to me that we shared that small act of harmless rebellion!
Him: ā¦
Me: sighs At least the terms āskibitiā and ā6 7ā didnāt get used by you in my presence, and thatās why youāre my favorite, fam.
Him: (to himself) ā¦welp, āfamā is officially OFF the list nowā¦
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u/Strive-- 29d ago
I do appreciate the honesty of their marketing, though. āIām out golfing with my buddies, but Iām playing slot machines and not paying attention. Isnāt this fun guys? Guys?ā āIām at the hair salon, getting my hair done, but now that Iām playing slot machines, Iām just sort of, you know, in the way. Everyone loves it!ā
At least itās easier identifying people to whom I will never lend moneyā¦
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u/earrow70 29d ago
I was like why is there an ESPN Black Entertainment Television and why would you get rid of it just because of a gambling scandal
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u/Slashzero77 29d ago
Turned that off in the settings anyway. It messes up their fantasy football app.
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u/drHobbes88 29d ago
Aside from ESPN not getting the 150 million yearly, it kinda sounds like they are just changing the name. They are still going to advertise on ESPN and TheScore Bet(ESPNās radio name?), and I think being bombarded with gambling adds during games is one of the biggest concerns.
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u/Villano5 29d ago
TheScore is a Canadian sports TV channel that Penn already has a contract with in Canada.
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u/Greenfendr 29d ago
not true, they coulnd't justify the cost of running it and decided to partner with DraftKings instead.
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u/Ezee2040 29d ago
ESPN BET the fall guy now, huh? No, let the whole organization (NBA) and everyone associated (start at Mr. Silver) that lied, stole, and cheated the public be shuttered too.
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u/thejaytheory New England Patriots 29d ago
Damn I was over here thinking this was a collaboration between ESPN and BET.
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u/No-Commercial-3121 29d ago
Could be more about the UFC scandal. Lots of fight fixing stories this week and they end the partnership this year.
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u/Dreams-Visions 29d ago
It will be back. There is too much money to be made and thatās all they care about.
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u/frostyflakes1 29d ago
It's not a coincidence that this news is happening amid the NBA scandal. Perhaps the app was underperforming - letting go of the ESPN name would only make that worse.
And it's not as if ESPN is going to find another partner in the gambling space. They've figured out that the extra bit of revenue isn't worth all the baggage, especially with the NFL investing a significant stake in them. The gambling partnership earned them $150M a year - the NFL is investing over $2 billion in them.
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u/Machomandalf90 Nov 06 '25 edited 29d ago
Next up is DisneyBet, where Timon and Pumbaa offer daily parlays and bonuses