Wager Talk

With ESPN partnership and William Hill deal, all bets are on.

Photo Of Daily Wager and ESPN Sports Center at Caesars Palace Courtesy of ESPN/Caesars Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment and ESPN have been going all-in on sports betting for more than a year, but they just upped the ante.

There’s a whole lot more action now that the two companies have entered into a multi-year agreement linking ESPN’s digital platforms to Caesars Entertainment sports books. The deal comes on the heels of an expanded content collaboration with ESPN and the launch of ESPN’s Las Vegas studio at The LINQ Hotel + Experience.

The new studio builds on a relationship with ESPN that dates back more than a decade. Its inaugural broadcast was Daily Wager, ESPN’s first daily nationally telecast show from Las Vegas, hosted by sports betting analyst Doug Kezirian. Further sweetening the pot: a separate deal making William Hill Sports Book the exclusive sports betting operator for Caesars Entertainment, William Hill’s odds and markets now connect directly to their sports betting apps in legalized states, with links appearing on ESPN’s digital, web and mobile platforms. Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill will also become a sponsor of ESPN’s Fantasy products, deepening an existing relationship as ESPN’s exclusive odds provider.

That gives tens of millions of fans “a direct link to our sports betting apps and odds,” said Ulrik Bengtsson, group chief executive officer of William Hill.