ESPN Bet launched Tuesday afternoon, giving the Worldwide Leader its own piece of the growing online sports betting market.
The new app takes the place of Barstool Sportsbook as the face of PENN Entertainment’s sports betting business.
It’s a move that was announced over the summer, as PENN struck a $1.5 billion deal with ESPN to partner with the biggest brand in sports.
In which states is ESPN Bet available?
ESPN Bet is available in 17 states where online sports betting is legal: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
While you do not need to be a resident of one of those states, you must be physically present in one in order to place a wager on ESPN Bet.
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How to register an ESPN Bet account
If you previously had a Barstool account, it will transition into an ESPN Bet account. That means your login credentials, bankroll, transaction history, banking information and even open wager will carry over.
If you’re a new customer, download the app for your Apple or Android device and provide the following information:
- Username
- Password
- Email address
- Phone number
- Last four digits of your social security number
You will also be asked to upload a picture of your driver’s license or other identification, and to take a scan of your face.
Two-factor authentication can also be activated at registration.
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Latest ESPN Bet promos and bonuses
ESPN Bet is welcoming new customers with a pair of bonuses that are worth up to $1,200.
There’s a bet anything, get $200 in bonus bets offer, which is both generous and simple. After creating your account, you simply place any bet, and within minutes, your account will be credited with four $50 bonus bets.
There is no minimum deposit required for this promo.
ESPN Bet’s deposit match bonus isn’t quite as generous. Sure, it’s a 100% match up to $1,000, but it also carries a 20x playthrough requirement. This means that for every $1 of the deposit match you'd like to withdraw, you must wager $20.
Daily promos and boosts will also be available on the app, many of which will be connected to ESPN personalities and shows such as their Seeing Green promo, affiliated with Mike Greenberg. It’s a parlay with boosted odds.
Is the ESPN Bet app good?
When you get through the new branding, the ESPN Bet app is basically the Barstool app in terms of how it looks and works.
The design is simple, and the odds and available markets are easy to digest. A scrolling menu at the top shows you available sports. There’s also a side-scrolling list of the day’s popular upcoming games.
The odds you’ll find are very similar to what you’d find at other online sportsbooks, as are the available markets.
Same-game parlays are marketed as Parlay+, and the builder is a single screen. Games with that option available are marked with a P+ icon. ESPN and Disney certainly love their plusses.
There isn’t much that sets the app apart from its competition in terms of betting. That tells us that ESPN is going to rely on its (significant) on-air product placement to compete in the sports betting industry.
That could work for casual bettors who are sports fans above all else. But for more hardcore sports bettors, it doesn’t have much to draw you in.
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If you're looking for the best sports betting apps on the market, as well as the top sportsbook promos and bonuses, check out our links below:
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