ESPN has been a big name in sports for decades. Now, it’s poised to become a big name in gambling. ESPN, which is owned by Disney, is licensing its brand to the casino company Penn Entertainment, which will take its existing gambling app and website and relaunch it this fall as ESPN Bet. The deal is worth more than $2 billion to ESPN over ten years.

According to a count by the American Gaming Association, gambling on sports is now legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia. 

And Charles Schreger, a professor of marketing at both NYU and Fordham, said that means betting in the United States is no longer a gray market. 

Not only is that market not gray, it’s growing. And ESPN wants to be a part of that multi-billion dollar industry. 

“(Right now, ESPN) generates a lot of cash in a dying segment of the entertainment business, and that dying segment is traditional television,” said Schreger. 

Schreger said this move monetizes the ESPN brand in new ways. 

Meanwhile, Penn Entertainment — the gaming company — gets ESPN’s reach and promotion, said Brandon Nispel, an analyst at KeyBanc.

“It sets them up pretty well because now they have a bigger audience and the brand name of ESPN,” he said.

You might say it’s a bet — that each sports fan could be a potential gambler.