Penn National Gaming Set to Acquire Rest of Barstool Sports

Currently, Penn National Gaming (PNG) holds a 36% stake in Barstool Sports. After a great 4th quarter in 2021 for the industry as a whole, PNG shareholders are moving ahead with a deal to move forward and purchase the rest of Barstool Sports ownership(64$) by sometime in 2023.

PNG acquired its initial stake in Barstool back in 2020 for $163 million. The purchase was made to provide PNG with a presence in the U.S. sports gambling market behind the proprietary sports betting platform that had already been established by Barstool Sports to service U.S. markets. Note: The amount of the remaining acquisition has yet to be settled.

To date, the Barstool Sports sports betting platform is available in 12 states. The company also looks poised to receive licenses in Maryland and Ohio. While officials in the state of Maryland have yet to set a start date for mobile sports betting, it looks like mobile operators will get the green light by early to late spring. In the state of Ohio, legislators have already designated the early part of 2023 as the target starting date for Ohio sports bettors.

This news breaks as the entire U.S. sports betting community is abuzz in regard to the $1.6 billion in mobile betting handle that was reported by New York for January. That record-breaking amount was achieved in just a little more than three weeks, which certainly speaks to the pent-up demand New Yorkers had to bet sports from the comfort of their homes.

In a report to shareholders regarding 4th Qtr 2021 results, CEO Jay Snowden offered a little bad news and a whole lot of good news. The bad news includes 4th Qtr results that reflected a net loss and a probable net loss of $50 million for 2022. By comparison, there have other U.S. sports betting operators that have also been reporting potential losses for the year ending 2022.

On the good news front, Snowden made clear that things were poised to turn around. He also stressed that the acquisition of the rest of Barstool would play a big role in turning things around. During a recent call with investors, Snowden stated:

“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.”

It’s with noting that PNG has its own online casino platform that is currently available in three states: Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Most likely, they will expand their online casino operations in conjunction with completing the acquisition of Barstool Sports.

Highlighting PNG’s activity in 2021 was the purchase of theScore BEt sports betting platform for about $2.0 million. The company is hoping this acquisition will give it a major presents in the Canadian sports betting community. in reference to this acquisition, Snowden said:

“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.”