iGaming Weekly Recap (November 3–9, 2025): ESPN Ditches PENN for DraftKings, PENN Pivots to iCasino

ESPN and PENN Entertainment mutually and prematurely ended their exclusive online sports betting (OSB) partnership, which birthed the ESPN BET brand. The deal officially expires December 1, 2025. In a swift pivot, ESPN inked a strategic partnership with DraftKings, naming it the exclusive Official Sportsbook and Odds Provider. The new agreement kicks in the same day, December 1, 2025, granting DraftKings exclusive integration of its products, including sportsbook, daily fantasy (DFS), and Pick6, across the ESPN ecosystem, including the flagship ESPN app. By terminating the prior deal, ESPN retains warrants to purchase 7,957,210 shares of PENN common stock, while PENN commits to paying ESPN $38.1 million for remaining fees.

Following the split, PENN Entertainment announced a major digital overhaul, shifting its core strategy to an “iCasino forward” model. Starting December 1, 2025, PENN will rebrand its U.S. OSB offering as theScore Bet®, positioning it as a customer acquisition tool to funnel users into its fast-growing iCasino business. The shift aims to replace fixed media payments with more efficient performance-based marketing. The reorganization stems in part from PENN’s Q3 2025 results, which reported a net loss of $(865.1) million, driven largely by $825.0 million in impairment losses in the Interactive segment, which underperformed expectations. PENN retains data on 2.9 million digital users acquired during the ESPN partnership and targets breakeven or better in the interactive segment by 2026.

DraftKings posted Q3 2025 total revenue of $1,144,019 thousand, up 4% year-over-year. This growth came despite unfavorable sports outcomes in September and October that dented reported revenue by over $300 million. The iGaming segment powered the gains, with revenue surging 24.9%. Total Sportsbook Handle rose to $10,011.4 billion. DraftKings recorded a Q3 net loss of $(256,788) thousand but raised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance to $5.9–6.1 billion. The board also boosted its share repurchase authorization from $1.0 billion to $2.0 billion, signaling confidence in future cash flows.

A key growth driver for DraftKings is the planned launch of DraftKings Predictions, viewed as a “significant additional opportunity” to boost revenue. The platform targets states where the company “does not offer Sportsbook” (legal online sports betting), reaching jurisdictions inaccessible to its core product, where the “overwhelming majority of financial opportunity” lies. While Predictions is “structurally limited” and not a true rival to the main OSB offering, DraftKings believes it is uniquely positioned to dominate the segment with its existing customer base and exclusive partnerships. The company strengthened its market stance through new, exclusive marketing deals with ESPN and NBCUniversal, effective December 1, 2025, delivering “unparalleled visibility.”

Google integrated real-time data from prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi directly into its core platforms: Google Search and Google Finance. For the first time, users can access live market odds on the probability of future events without leaving the Google ecosystem, responding to natural-language queries.

The integration taps into the “wisdom of crowds,” where contract prices reflect a consensus forecast of an event’s likelihood. New features display probabilities and shifting odds for predictions on political outcomes, economic conditions, and GDP growth. Google strategically selected two partners: Kalshi, a federally regulated exchange overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Polymarket, a blockchain-based platform.

The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), representing major U.S. sports betting operators including DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics, and Bet365, opposed Wisconsin’s current mobile sports betting proposal, arguing operational costs are too high to turn a profit.

The main sticking point is a provision granting Wisconsin tribes 60% of gross mobile sports betting revenue, which SBA calls “economically unviable” in a “low-margin” industry. Operators also criticize the proposed “hub and spoke” model, where tribal entities control central servers, contending that without national consumer brands, players will stick to offshore illegal sites or travel to Illinois.

MyPrize, a fast-rising U.S. social gaming entity, announced a strategic partnership with Crypto.com | Derivatives North America (CDNA) to launch MyPrize Markets, a platform blending social gaming, livestreaming, and prediction markets into a unified user experience.

MyPrize is Crypto.com’s first social gaming partner and will leverage the firm’s financial infrastructure to deliver markets to its large base of over one million users. MyPrize Markets aims to revolutionize prediction markets by offering bets across categories like sports, politics, and crypto, while emphasizing social engagement and enabling users and content creators to discuss and participate in market events in real time.