ESPN Bet is one of the newest sportsbooks to roll out in Massachusetts, replacing the former Barstool Sportsbook platform. Parent company PENN Entertainment had been running into legal issues getting the Barstool platform launched and live in states where it held a gambling operator’s license and sold the Barstool company back to its original founder Dave Portnoy.
After the Barstool sale, PENN announced a 10-year, $2B deal with ESPN to launch “ESPN Bet,” a state-of-the-art gaming platform has been integrated into existing ESPN print, online, and on-air products. PENN has made a major effort to provide exclusive content from ESPN’s on-air talent, which is helping to spur sportsbook registrations.