Caesars vs ESPN BET is a query built on a premise that stopped being true in late 2025. Type it today and one of the two names on the label doesn’t exist anymore — PENN Entertainment retired ESPN BET on December 1, 2025, after mutually ending its trademark deal with ESPN early. What’s actually being compared, whether the query realizes it or not, is Caesars Sportsbook against theScore Bet, the same PENN-operated product under a new name.
Why “ESPN BET” Isn’t the Right Name Anymore
PENN launched ESPN BET in November 2023 under a roughly $1.5–2 billion, 10-year ESPN trademark license, replacing what had been Barstool Sportsbook. That license ended early by mutual agreement, and PENN renamed the product theScore Bet, built around its Canadian theScore media brand. The operator, state licenses, and existing accounts carried over unchanged — only the ESPN name and app integrations went away. Reporting at the time pointed to ESPN BET never cracking the top three US sportsbooks by market share as the reason both sides walked away from the deal.
If an old ESPN BET account exists: it moved to theScore Bet automatically, same login and balance, nothing to re-register. Comparing that account to Caesars means comparing theScore Bet’s current footprint and offer to Caesars’s — not the ESPN BET brand, which no longer takes signups.
Is Caesars Legit Next to a Renamed Competitor?
Both are real, regulated operators, but they arrived at 2026 differently. Caesars Sportsbook is a direct product of Caesars Entertainment, the Reno-based casino company that bought William Hill’s US sportsbook business for roughly $4 billion in April 2021 and put its own name on it. theScore Bet is PENN Entertainment’s book, running on the same licenses ESPN BET held, just without the ESPN trademark attached anymore. Neither company had a regulatory failure trigger the rename — it was a marketing agreement ending on schedule, not a legitimacy problem.
Caesars vs theScore Bet (formerly ESPN BET)
| Caesars | theScore Bet (ex-ESPN BET) | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR) | PENN Entertainment |
| Sportsbook footprint | ~2 dozen states + D.C. (Sep 2026) | ~20 states, unchanged since rename |
| Platform | William Hill’s Liberty platform | PENN in-house, ex-Barstool/ESPN BET |
| Casino states | NJ, PA, MI, WV | NJ, PA, MI, WV (Hollywood Casino brand) |
| Name history | William Hill US → Caesars (2021) | Barstool → ESPN BET (2023) → theScore Bet (2025) |
| Welcome offer | Bet $1, get 10 profit boost tokens (up to $25 each) | Current offer under theScore Bet branding — check in-app |
Where the Map Actually Differs
Caesars simply covers more ground. Its roughly two dozen states plus D.C. include markets theScore Bet doesn’t reach, while theScore Bet has kept the narrower footprint ESPN BET carried before the rename — concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast markets PENN has held for years. A reader in a state with only one of the two doesn’t get a real choice; check each brand’s own state page rather than assuming both are live everywhere.
Is Either One Safe to Use?
Wherever each is actually licensed, the regulatory baseline is the same: a named state gaming agency, geolocation enforcing the state line, and standard responsible-gambling tools like deposit limits and self-exclusion. Neither the ESPN trademark disappearing nor Caesars’s wider map changes the house edge on either app — it changes access, not odds.
Who It Fits
Pick Caesars for the wider footprint and a welcome offer backed directly by a publicly traded casino operator with decades of land-based history. Pick theScore Bet if it’s already live where an old ESPN BET account sits and re-signing up elsewhere isn’t worth the hassle — the ESPN branding is gone, but the underlying PENN operator and licenses are exactly what they were before. Either way, it’s entertainment spending, not a plan for income. 21+ where legal; call 1-800-GAMBLER if it stops feeling that way.