SBC Digital: Penn’s sports betting app with Barstool will be ready for NFL season

July 14, 2020 8:30 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports
July 14, 2020 8:30 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports

Penn National Gaming plans to launch its Barstool Sports betting app in time for the NFL season, but the mobile and online product will be available only in Pennsylvania initially.

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Penn CEO Jay Snowden said Tuesday that following the launch, the app will quickly be rolled out into the company’s 19-state portfolio, in time for the unusual conclusion of the major league basketball, baseball, and hockey seasons that were sidelined in the spring by the coronavirus pandemic.

During a keynote discussion to kick off the SBC Digital Summit North America, Snowden told moderator and Global Gaming Business Publisher Roger Gros that Penn could have rolled out the app earlier this year, but the company decided to wait.

“There are many important states, including Illinois and Michigan, but we wanted to get it launched in one state first,” Snowden said. “We’ll have it fully launched when the major sports are back at it.”

Snowden said the Barstool app will have a “traveling wallet” feature, so that only one app is needed for usage in multiple states. It will also feature Barstool’s personalities with different types of customer engagement, such as “Big Cat’s parlay of the day” and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy’s “bet of the day.”

Snowden said fans of the sports media platform can “wager with or against Dave. Barstool has an active and engaging audience.”

He said that engagement will expand to the retail sportsbooks and sports bars in Penn’s casinos around the country. The locations are being branded as Barstool Sports facilities and events featuring Barstool personalities will occur during major sporting competitions.

“Barstool went to other locations for these events, such as the Dunkin’ Donuts parking outside a stadium,” Snowden said. “Now, they will have a home at one of our casinos. We believe Barstool will bring a lot of excitement into our properties.”

Penn spent $163 million in January to acquire 35% of Barstool Sports. He said the purchase was 45% cash and 55% Penn National stock. Snowden said the idea was to find a brand for sports betting that could change the demographic make-up of Penn’s customer base, which skews to age 45 and older.

“We saw what other casino companies were doing in launching sports betting by leading with their casino brands,” Snowden said. “The daily fantasy sports companies, (such as) DraftKings and FanDuel, were doing a much better job at acquiring customers.”

The 20-minute discussion primarily covered sports betting and the potential for online gaming. Snowden said he was encouraged by the recent initial public offerings by DraftKings and Golden Nugget’s online-gaming business.

He said Penn will focus its iGaming efforts initially in Pennsylvania and Michigan and the company could become the market leader in those states.

Snowden also sees potential for other gaming states to legalize online gaming after losing millions of dollars in gaming tax revenues during the recent nationwide casino shutdown.

“It’s on the table in many states,” Snowden said. “All the states with retail casinos were shut down and watched New Jersey and Pennsylvania still collect gaming taxes.”

Penn National has reopened 37 of its 41 casinos over the past month after the company’s entire portfolio closed in mid-March in response to COVID-19.

The company furloughed roughly 26,000 employees, but has brought back workers at reopened properties. However, Penn has notified employees in several states that the furloughs may become permanent layoffs later this summer.

Penn closed on $600 million in financing in May to boost liquidity and sold the real estate of Tropicana Las Vegas and an under-construction casino in Pennsylvania for $337.5 million in rent credits to real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties in April.

Penn retained the operations of the Tropicana, but has yet to reopen the Strip resort.

Snowden did not discuss the Tropicana or any of the company’s casino portfolio during the session. In a statement last week, he said, “We look forward to the reopening of all 41 of our properties nationwide in the coming weeks.”

Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.