Line up ESPN BET and MyBookie side by side and the first fact that matters isn’t odds or bonuses — it’s that only one of these two names is still attached to a live signup page. ESPN BET stopped existing on December 1, 2025. MyBookie has been taking the same kind of US bets, under the same name, since 2014. That asymmetry is the actual story here, and the numbers below explain why it matters more than a features comparison would.
Is ESPN BET Legal to Compare Here? Not Under That Name
PENN Entertainment launched ESPN BET in November 2023 on a roughly $1.5–2 billion, 10-year ESPN trademark license, replacing what had been Barstool Sportsbook. PENN and ESPN mutually ended that license early, and PENN retired the ESPN BET name on December 1, 2025, relaunching the identical operator, state licenses, and accounts as theScore Bet. The sportsbook itself never stopped being legal anywhere it operated — only the ESPN branding went away.
Reading this in 2026: “ESPN BET” in the numbers below refers to the operator that now trades as theScore Bet. Any live signup page still using the ESPN BET name is outdated.
By the Numbers
| ESPN BET (now theScore Bet) | MyBookie | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | PENN Entertainment (public, Nasdaq: PENN) | Duranbah Limited N.V. |
| Licensing | US state gaming commissions | Curaçao eGaming |
| Years operating under current legal entity | Since 2023 (Barstool lineage to 2020) | Since 2014, no rename |
| 2025 regulatory action | None — name change was contractual, not forced | MI cease-and-desist (Jan 23), FL cease-and-desist (Feb 5) |
| Product | Sportsbook only | Sportsbook, casino, racebook |
| Footprint | ~20 states, unchanged since rename | No published state block list, nationwide offshore |
| Fastest payout method | PayPal / bank transfer (state-dependent) | Bitcoin, 12–24 hours |
Is MyBookie Legit Next to a Brand That Just Renamed Itself?
MyBookie’s case for legitimacy is tenure, not licensing: over a decade of continuous operation and a payout history documented across sports-betting forums, under a genuine (if light-touch) Curaçao eGaming registration. That’s a different kind of “legit” than ESPN BET’s, which came from being a publicly traded company’s regulated product. Neither is fake. One has thirteen years of unbroken branding to point to; the other had a marketing deal that ended on schedule after two years of underwhelming market share.
Is Either One Safe to Have Money With?
theScore Bet inherits ESPN BET’s full US regulatory backing — state gaming commissions, audited reserves, a formal complaint process. MyBookie’s safety case rests on its Curaçao license and its crypto cashier speed, both real, neither equivalent to a state regulator. The Michigan and Florida cease-and-desist letters in early 2025 are the concrete downside: two states have formally told MyBookie’s operator to stop, and MyBookie doesn’t publish which states might be next.
Who Each One Actually Fits
- theScore Bet (ex-ESPN BET): readers in one of its roughly 20 states who want a sportsbook under full US regulatory oversight and don’t need casino or racebook in the same account.
- MyBookie: crypto-comfortable bettors who want sportsbook, casino, and racebook in one login, are outside Michigan or Florida, and are comfortable with offshore risk in exchange for a decade-plus payout track record.
Neither belongs on a “get rich” pitch. theScore Bet answers to a state regulator if something goes wrong; MyBookie answers to Curaçao, and 2025 showed two US states are actively watching it. Bet only what you can treat as spent, not invested. 21+ where legal; call 1-800-GAMBLER for help.