Penn National Gaming Has Plan To Acquire Majority Share Of Barstool Sports
During Penn National Gaming‘s (PNG) fourth-quarter earnings report, CEO Jay Snowden said a complete acquisition of Barstool Sports is underway.
In 2020, $PENN paid $163 million for a 36% stake in Dave Portnoy’s company. Now, Penn is hoping by 2023, it can acquire the remaining 64 percent.
Complete control of Barstool logical next step?
During the companies investment call, Snowden had this to say:
“We couldn’t be more excited about moving our ownership position up from the current 36 percent. We look forward to being owner of Barstool 100 percent. They have been a great partner for us.”
Even though shares dipped 58% over the past year, it was the Barstool Sportsbook that provided impressive Q4 results.
The popular sportsbook, which is available in 12 states, has helped Penn avoid substantial marketing costs, unlike its competitors. The company achieved this by allowing Portnoy and the Barstool team to promote the sportsbook to millions of their social media followers.
What about online casinos?
Although not as abundant, PNG’s online casino platform is live in three states.
- Michigan
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
Penn is not expected to be profitable with its online operations this year. However, the company is only projecting a loss of $50 million. To compare, other major operators do not expect to be profitable in 2022 either.
One product Penn is counting on is theScore Bet, which it acquired last year for roughly $2 million. The company expects it to be a major player in the Ontario gaming market. Penn also plans to launch mobile sports betting in Maryland and Ohio when given the green light.
Maryland expects online sports betting to launch soon, although a specific date is still unknown. On the other hand, Ohio has pushed mobile and retail sports betting to early 2023.
“We’re definitely going to make sure everyone in Canada and Ontario knows [in April] we are now live and it’s a legal market,” Snowden said.
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