The Walt Disney Co. has abandoned plans to take a $250m stake in daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator DraftKings, but DraftKings’ exclusive advertising deal with Disney’s sports broadcaster subsidiary ESPN is going ahead.

In April, word spread that Disney was in talks to acquire a significant piece of DraftKings. On Tuesday, tech blog re/code reported that Disney had decided to walk away. No explanation has been provided for Disney getting cold feet, but the company’s traditional anti-gaming stance may have left itself open to accusations of hypocrisy, given the DFS parallels with sports betting.

While DraftKings will have to look elsewhere for sugar daddies, its plan to become ESPN’s exclusive DFS partner was confirmed on Wednesday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but previous reports said DraftKings would be required to spend $500m on advertising with ESPN properties over a three-year span.

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