ESPN Bet, a rebranded sports gambling app from Penn Entertainment, is here

NEW YORK — 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.

The ESPN Bet app also launched Tuesday afternoon.

ESPN Bet went 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 with the option of extension for another 10 years.