Sports Betting Boom: CEO’s of Penn National, FansUnite, Score Media and i3 Interactive Seize New Market Opportunities as Legalization Expands. Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN), the regional casino company, bought a 36% stake in closely held Barstool Sports for $163 million on Jan. 29 - $135 million in cash and $28 million in nonvoting. Barstool Sportsbook is Penn’s mobile sports betting app. It is currently live in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and the company rolled out an internet casino offering in Michigan on Feb. ‎Bet on sports with the Barstool Sportsbook from Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) and Barstool Sports while enjoying the same online sports betting experience used by Dave “El Presidente” Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz.

Our growing team of product and engineering talent at Penn Interactive is focused on what we anticipate will be a best-in-class sports betting app, which is expected to.

The following locations have been approved for a sports gaming license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB):

There are currently twelve Pennsylvania sportsbooks up and running, including two at off-track betting facilities. Unibet is scheduled for a Nov. 12 soft-launch date. It will a sports betting app and an online casino.

PA online sportsbook options

If you’ve been following Pennsylvania sports betting news, you know that the launch of online sportsbooks in the state felt like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football at times.

Finally, in May 2019, SugarHouse Sportsbook soft-launched PA’s first online betting app. PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook fully launched in the beginning of June making it Pennsylvania’s first online sportsbook. Since then, the market has grown to eight online betting apps with a few more still on the way.

Online sports betting plans for PA sportsbooks

Each sportsbook in Pennsylvania can have a single online sports betting skin. That skin must prominently feature the name of the PA property holding the license. Even with that stipulation though, there are plenty of big names that partnered up to get into the Pennsylvania sports betting market.

Here is a breakdown of what companies are working with each PA casino:

PlaySugarHouse and BetRivers

These two casinos share a sports betting partner that also works with Parx. Like Parx, the casinos benefit from the quality tech Kambi offers as well as a wide range of bets.

This is a particularly sweet deal for Rivers patrons in Pittsburgh. Even though the book is the only game in town, the prices are the same as SugarHouse, which is in a market filled with books competing for market share.

PlaySugarHouse hit the mobile sportsbetting market first in PA in June 2019. BetRivers launched its sportsbetting app on June 25, 2019.

Hollywood Casino at Penn National

The first retail sportsbook to open in Pennsylvania partnered up with one of the oldest and biggest names in the game: William Hill. However, the partnership between William Hill and Hollywood Casino/Penn National Gaming ended in Oct. 2019.

The retail sportsbooks at Meadows Casino and Hollywood Casino are now powered by Kambi odds. Penn National Gaming announced that it entered into multiyear agreements for online sports betting and iGaming with big-name sports betting operators:

• DraftKings
• PointsBet
• theScore
• The Stars Group

Parx Casino

The biggest casino in the state wanted to be one of the first out the gate when it came to sports betting. Paperwork got the best of the property, which only opened its retail sportsbook in January. A $10 million, 10,000-square-foot permanent sportsbook opened its doors on Aug. 8, 2019.

While it was not first, it did make the argument for being finest thanks to its partnership with Kambi. The European betting group is the supplier with the biggest reach in Pennsylvania. It works with Parx as well as the two Rush Street properties, Rivers and SugarHouse.

Kambi couldn’t go online when Parx opened, but it did offer something close. Parx unveiled a website they named Betslip Builder, which allows bettors to put together bets on their phone, then scan a QR code once they get to the betting counter.

Parx launched PA’s second online sportsbook on June 24, 2019.

FanDuel Sportsbook at Valley Forge Casino

FanDuel may be known by most for its daily fantasy sports offering, but the brand is quickly and successfully making its way into sports betting. The FanDuel Sportsbook at the Valley Forge Casinoopened just in time for March Madness on March 13, 2019.

FanDuel and Valley Forge Casino also launched a mobile sports betting product at the end of July 2019.

Mount Airy and The Stars Group

Mount Airy Casino might have been late PA sports betting market, but they brought one of the bigger brands in the online casino space.

FOX Bet arrived in Pennsylvania on Sept. 5, 2019.

In addition to FOX Bet, the Mount Airy deal also includes a PokerStars and Mount Airy online poker site and a Stars Group-powered online casino. The fully integrated online gambling app with the first online poker in PA debuted on Nov. 4, 2019.

Mohegan Sun Pocono

Mohegan Sun Pocono was the last of the current crop of Pennsylvania casinos to announce a partnership with a sports betting company. Though it was last, the partner is not a bad one at all. Mohegan Sun Pocono will be working with the European company Kindred. The company is best known for the Unibet brand overseas.

The new 1,130-square-foot Unibet Sportsbook at Mohegan Sun Pocono opened on Sept. 27, 2019.

Unibet launched its sports betting app and online casino in November 2019.

Harrah’s Philadephia

While Caesars Entertainment was one of the last casino companies to get in the app game in Nevada, the corporation is definitely stepping up its game as online betting expands.

The company rolled out a brand new Caesars Sportsbook app that was integrated with its NJ online casino. The brand-new app is powered by Scientific Games technology. You can expect the sports betting and casino to be integrated together for the PA app as well. However, there is certainly a chance that Harrah’s has to roll out its sports betting app separately, then integrate at a later date.

Given that Harrah’s was a bit late to the retail game and the property is not as busy as competitors like SugarHouse and Parx, they are having trouble establishing much market share in Philadelphia so far.

The Meadows Racetrack and Casino

In August, DraftKingsannounced its plans to pair with Penn National Gaming. The retail sportsbook at The Meadows opened in early October. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved DraftKings PA sports betting license through Penn National during its Oct. 30 meeting, opening the door for it to launch on Nov. 4.

Presque Isle Downs Casino

Presque Isle Downs’ parent company, Churchill Downs, is a real pro when it comes to horse racing and horse betting. It is still relatively new at sports betting though. When the BetAmerica Sportsbook launched in PA in December 2019, it was only the second state Churchill had an operational sportsbook in. The copany is rapidly growing the BetAmerica brand though.

Live! Casino Philadelphia

Live! Casino Philadelphia received preliminary approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Oct. 2019 for sports betting. Though the Cordish Company did not mention a possible operator for the sportsbook, they do plan to launch online operations ahead of the casino’s planned Dec. 2020 opening.

Wind Creek Bethlehem

While Wind Creek Bethlehem filed an application for a sports betting license, the property has been cagey about which companies they will work with and when it will launch.

After nearly crapping out, Penn National Gaming appears to be back on a streak.

Its partnership with Dave Portnoy‘s Barstool Sports at least in part fueled Penn stock’s rise, fall and resurrection from January to June.

Penn National wanted to go big

The roller coaster ride came about because Penn, a top regional gaming company headquartered in the heartland of Pennsylvania just north of Harrisburg — think small-town suburbia set among farm fields and forested small mountains — had bigger aspirations at the start of the year.

What had begun as a family horse racing business wanted to go really big.

Having made itself a presence in nearly every legal US gambling market, with 41 properties and 26,000 employees, Penn was bumping up against economic concentration regulations.

Penn wanted Barstool as an online sports brand

That meant the only way for it to really grow was to tap a new market, a market free of the geographic constraints that came with buying or building yet another property.

The booming online sports betting market — which Penn had only tapped through brick-and-mortar under a past executive team — was its ticket to the gaming stratosphere.

On Jan. 29, Penn National rolled the dice and bought a 36% share of the sports-centric, risque and sometimes raunchy blog and podcast business Barstool Sports.

The purchase was for approximately $135 million in cash and $28 million in shares of non-voting convertible preferred stock. Penn swiftly closed the deal after the announcement.

Penn Gaming Sports Betting Apparel

Additionally, Penn National agreed to increase its ownership of Barstool to approximately 50% through an incremental investment of approximately $62 million at the end of three years.

Barstool brings a new demographic to Penn

Jay Snowden, president and CEO of Penn National, spelled out the rationale of buying a company without an internet gambling platform on the company’s website:

“This exciting new partnership with Barstool Sports reflects our strategy to continue evolving from the nation’s largest regional gaming operator, with 41 properties in 19 states, to a best-in-class omnichannel provider of retail and online gaming and sports betting entertainment.

“With its leading digital content, well-known brand and deep roots in sports betting, Barstool Sports is the ideal partner for Penn National and will enable us to attract a new, younger demographic, which will nicely complement our existing customer database.

“In addition, with 66 million monthly unique visitors, we believe the significant reach of Barstool Sports and loyalty of its audience will lead to meaningful reductions in customer acquisition and promotional costs for our sports betting and online products, significantly enhancing profitability and driving value for our shareholders.”

Coronavirus disrupts the plan — and Penn’s stock value

And on paper, the plan worked at first.

Penn National Gaming Online Betting

The stock, which had hovered in the $25 to $26 range at the start of the year, hit $38.28 a share on Feb. 13.

Then came COVID-19 and an existential crisis for Penn stock, which bottomed at $4.52 on March 18.

Casinos shut down. Horse tracks shut down. Penn furloughed most employees. Two PA expansion projects, mini-casinos, stopped construction. Assets were sold. A huge stock offering followed to raise cash.

Penn casino reopenings coincide with rising stock price

But now properties are reopening. Employees are returning. But at least at least 1,900 Penn jobs at casinos are gone for good as the company pivots toward online wagering. Resuming work on the mini-casinos in Yorkand Morgantown still awaits, though.

Meanwhile, Penn is rebranding its retail books to carry the Barstool name. Its mothership casino in PA, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, is back up and running, and the company is working to create an online presence based on the Barstool brand.

In fact, despite recently announced permanent layoffs, the company is on a hiring tear.

Penn Sports Betting

On Monday, CNBC’s Jim Cramer remotely hosted Snowden of Penn, along with Portnoy and Barstool CEO Erika Nardini, on his program The Street.

And while Cramer briefly discussed Penn stock’s up, down and up record so far this year, he only spoke of Barstool and the coronavirus shutdown when laying out the context.

Penn plans August launch of Barstool online betting app

Snowden told Cramer that Penn had 70% of its propertiesoperating at 50% capacity and had called back 11,000 employees. No mention was made of the permanent job losses.

Snowden also told Cramer that the Barstool online book should launch in August. The target would put Penn ahead of the anticipated NFL start.

Penn National Gaming Sports Betting

Nardini spoke of Barstool’s growth across platforms and the devoted audience it delivers.

Davey Day Trader moves the market again

Portnoy, uncharacteristically wearing a suit (brokers referred to as “suits” are frequent targets of his diatribes), predicted that Barstool will be the “dominant player” once sports return.

He boasted later that night on Twitter to his 1.5 million followers:

“I just sold the shit out of myself in Penn National.”

By the next day, Penn’s stock was up more than 17% at midday. Penn closed up about $5 a share, or just under 13%, at $36.82. Several market stories took note.

Two days later, the price has mostly played in the $33 range.

Since his highly publicized shift to “Davey Day Trader Global,” Portnoy has demonstrated an ability to influence stock prices, presumably through his “stoolies” who have followed him into the market. His latest national appearance is yet another example of the “Barstool effect” at work, some say.

Penn National’s imminent expansion into online sports wagering and the long-term stability of the stock price should provide a more accurate picture of the company’s position in the months to come.