- PENN earlier today announced mutual agreement with ESPN to terminate 10-year betting deal
- Company looks to reinvest and bolster Canadian igaming operations
- Company announces Q3 2025 results highlighted by 7% Y/Y growth in revenues in Ontario
PENN Entertainment President and CEO Jay Snowden said the company will be ratcheting up focus on its Canadian igaming operations with the announcement that PENN and ESPN mutually agreed to terminate their 10-year partnership.
That announcement went out early this morning. PENN and ESPN had entered in a 10-year agreement in August 2023 after PENN shut down its Barstool Sportsbook partnership, re-branding its OSB platform as ESPN BET.
ESPN would provide PENN with its name and trademark, along with media and marketing support, in exchange for $150 million per year in cash payments to ESPN and warrants to purchase common stock of PENN over the 10 years.
Cash payments to ESPN will cease at the end of Q4 2025, and starting in 2026 the company will no longer have any marketing obligations with ESPN. A total of USD $38.1 million will be paid to ESPN in the fourth quarter of 2025 for marketing services PENN will incur through Dec. 1. From December 1 to December 31 PENN will pay a total of $5 million to ESPN for traditional support for theScore Bet and Hollywood icasino offerings.
Bigger Marketing Push in Canada
There was a clause in the agreement, though, that allowed either party to terminate the agreement after Year 3. This morning’s announcement is an early termination, effective Dec. 1, 2025.
“Although we made significant progress in improving our product offering and building a cohesive ecosystem with ESPN, we were unable to establish ESPN BET as a scale player,” said Snowden during an earnings call discussing Q3 2025 financial results morning. “It is the right time to realign our interactive focus, prioritizing our digital assets in Canada and our Hollywood icasino products to further leverage our core retail casino business and overall omni channel business model.”
Snowden said there will been new app for customers to download and no new registration. All account information, balances, betting history, pending bets, marketing offers and promotions will transfer over in the U.S. and will be under the new branding as of Dec. 1.
“This shift emphasizes cross-sell opportunities across our ecosystem, and enhances connectivity with our 33 million plus PENN play customer database.”
PENN Purchased theScore in Canada in 2021
PENN’s OSB operation in the U.S. will be re-branded theScore Bet. The company’s OSB platform is currently licensed and operating in 19 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C.
“The transition to theScore Bet will present an opportunity to optimize our digital business and operate more efficiently, including replacing fixed media spend with performance-based and regionally targeted marketing that complements our retail and icasino footprint,” he said.
In Canada, PENN announced the purchase of theScore in Canada in August 2021 for CAD $2 billion in a cash and stock deal. PENN’s theScore Bet launched in Ontario when that regulated market went live in April 2022.
Snowden said to look for a renewed focus on its Canadian operations, including a launch in Alberta when that Ontario-style market goes live. At the Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto in June, Alberta Gaming Minister Dale Nally told the audience to expect a “ribbon cutting” in that market in “early 2026”.
PENN Operates OSB and Digital Casino Brands
PENN operates two igaming brands in Canada – theScore Bet and theScore Casino.
“Canada’s been sort of standalone because you have one brand for both sports and casino up there,” said Snowden this morning. “This brand change doesn’t affect our Canadian operations at all. We’ve got nice momentum there, where we had our all-time best casino month last month in Canada … we can build on that with more of a focus and more resources and marketing dollars headed up north of the border.”
PENN generated 2.9 million new users into the company’s ecosystem as part of the ESPN partnership, he added.
“We’re looking forward to the launch of a unified online sports betting brand across all of North America, which will provide a path to stronger unit economics with a simplified cost structure,” said Snowden. “Our reduced fixed media spends will now provide us much more marketing flexibility to invest more in Canada, as well as in us by casino and OSB markets with more compelling returns, particularly as we look ahead to new market openings like Alberta.”
Q3 2025 Results Show Revenue Increase in Ontario
According to Q3 2025 financial data (ending September 2025) released today, the company saw a 7% year-over-year increase in revenues in Ontario in the quarter, with a 10% increase in adjusted gross profit (defined as revenues less all variable costs) and an 83% increase in adjusted contribution profit (adjusted gross profit less external marketing costs).
“We’ve been competing really well [in Canada] with not a lot of marketing spend,” he said. “That’s going to change. We’re going to be able to spend more money in Canada and grow our share.
Land-Based Opportunities in Canada
Snowden was asked about any plans to buy retail properties in Canada to cross-sell the digital side.
“That’s something that’s been on our radar before. There’s not a lot of options there. There are two larger operators in Canada from a retail perspective,” he said. “If opportunities presented themselves at the right time and right price we would definitely take a hard look at that.”
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