ESPN Bet, a sports-gambling service rebranded with the name of the Disney-owned sports channel, launched Tuesday in 17 U.S. states.
Penn Entertainment, which owns the service, signed a $1.5 billion deal with ESPN for rights to the sports media giant’s name in August. Under the agreement, Penn will operate ESPN Bet while ESPN promotes the app across its online and broadcast platforms.
A Penn spokesperson said the ESPN Bet app was also scheduled to launch Tuesday afternoon, but did not provide a specific time.
ESPN Bet was set to go live in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Under August’s agreement, Penn’s rights to the ESPN brand will initially run for a decade…