Penn Entertainment – FairOdds Network

March 20, 2025

Penn in peril? theScore founder says “execution”, “unified approach” lacking for ESPN Bet

With the future of ESPN Bet seemingly in question, criticism of Penn Entertainment is coming from many corners.

Ever since Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden in late February addressed the idea that his company or ESPN could exit their 10-year deal for ESPN Bet in 2026, the wagering world has been raining negatives. Some analysts have downgraded Penn stock and, on 18 March, the founder of theScore and theScoreBet had his say.

Prior to that, two investors had accused Penn of mismanaging its interactive strategy. In May 2024, the Donerail Group said “guidance misses” by Penn executives had “damaged the credibility of the management team and board of directors”. And in January, HG Vora accused the company of “reckless spending” on digital projects.

John Levy was the founder of theScore and theScoreBet, which Snowden called a “very good story for us in Canada” as a result of Penn acquiring them in 2021. Levy, however, this month shared his not-so-warm-and-fuzzy thoughts about his compan..

February 28, 2025

Penn’s ESPN Bet struggles continue; Snowden addresses plans if progress stagnates

Penn Entertainment's Jay Snowden pointed to “lower loss sequentially” coming every quarter in 2025 as well as better ways to “optimise spend” with ESPN in the company's quarterly earnings conference call. But Penn fell short of some expectations and beat others for the last quarter of 2024.

Saying once again on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday (27 February) that the future is bright, Penn’s CEO placed heavy focus on what is to come versus what has already happened Snowden said Penn is seeing “green shoots” throughout its departments while “we have more work to do to unlock the full potential and value of our partnership with ESPN”.

For digital gaming overall, the company reported revenue of $275 million (£218 million/€$264.7 million) for the fourth quarter. Its $109.8 million in adjusted EBITDA loss was a $224 million improvement compared to the same quarter for 2023, but those numbers still pulled down Penn’s overall performance and were below analys..

January 22, 2025

ESPN Bet enters 20th market with Washington DC launch

Penn Entertainment has reached a significant milestone by announcing the launch of ESPN Bet in Washington DC, with the latest rollout meaning the brand is now live in 20 markets across the US.

DC players can now access and place bets with ESPN Bet via mobile and web platforms. The brand offers wagering across major league sports in the US and other competitions from around the world.

Betting options include live betting and featured parlays, while users will also have access to features such as daily odds boosts, custom offers and exclusive promotions and integrations with ESPN content and personalities.

In addition, customers in DC will have the option to link their ESPN Bet and ESPN accounts. This will allow them to track upcoming, live and settled bets within the ESPN app and on ESPN.com.

ESPN Bet joins other leading names such as BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook and FanDuel in DC.

“We’re thrilled to launch ESPN Bet in our nation’s capital and expand ..

January 14, 2025

ESPN Bet secures DC market access with Monumental Sports partnership

Penn Entertainment is to launch ESPN Bet in Washington DC after securing market access in the US capital through a new partnership with Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE).

Effective immediately, the long-term deal enables ESPN Bet to join several other approved online operators already established in DC. These include BetMGM, FanDuel, Caesars, Fanatics and DraftKings.

According to a 14 January statement, ESPN Bet will also become a sports betting partner of MSE and its various sports teams. MSE owns and operates NHL ice hockey team the Washington Capitals, NBA basketball team the Washington Wizards and the Washington Mystics of the WNBA. It also counts several multi-purpose venues among its portfolio of assets.

As part of the agreement, ESPN Bet will work with MSE to enhance the fan experience via an integrated marketing partnership. This multi-channel collaboration will include in-arena and media components, such as features in game broadcasts on MSE-owned Monumental Sports Ne..

December 16, 2024

ESPN Bet leans into ESPN as it seeks to differentiate itself

ESPN Bet and ESPN believe that the gambling platform's newest functionality – account linking to the media site – is a game changer.

When it comes to sports betting platforms, a key driver of success is differentiation. Some platforms lean into massive bet menus. Others lean into high limits. And still others lean into microbetting. ESPN Bet is leaning into… ESPN.

And it believes connecting the Worldwide Leader in Sports with a like-branded betting app gives it a serious advantage.

“The assumptions you can draw are that the individual who links is betting more often,” Mike Morrison, vice president of ESPN Bet and ESPN Fantasy, told iGB. “Perhaps some of the bets are of higher value and we’re able to identify different kinds of betting behaviour. This group of fans that are playing fantasy or betting are a high-value player… they’re going to be a very valuable customer for ESPN, so we want to find ways to engage them.”

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To that end, ESPN Bet announced on 1..

November 7, 2024

“Unfavourable hold” a drag on Penn earnings, but new products, tech are things to look forward to

As expected, Penn Entertainment reported a third-quarter loss on Thursday (7 November), but CEO Jay Snowden said the latest sports betting integration, impending launch of a stand-alone digital casino app and continued focus on land-based projects means there is much to look forward to.

During the presentation Snowden pointed to “unfavourable hold” in the northeast and a decline in the number of customers visiting casinos in the south due to weather and construction as drags on revenue. He said that retail customer demand remained stable. With regard to hold, Snowden said the low hold in the third quarter was industry-wide and not unique to Penn. The third quarter includes two of the slowest wagering months of the year in the US.

At least one analyst, Joseph Greff from JP Morgan, had lowered expectations ahead of the release. On Thursday morning Jefferies Equity Research released a note saying the numbers were “in-line with expectations”.

In terms of hard numbers, Penn has $1.8 bi..

October 9, 2024

With ESPN Bet live in New York, Penn executives bullish and focused on ESPN-ESPN Bet integration

Penn Entertainment presented a positive outlook for the Penn Interactive digital business at its Investor Day on 7 October. Highlights included green shoots already showing in New York, merely a week after ESPN Bet’s launch, and continued efforts to integrate the app with ESPN to up-sell users and cut down on time spent away from the ESPN Bet product.
Despite criticism from analysts and investors earlier in the year and claims that a Boyd takeover was on the horizon, CEO Jay Snowden is sure ESPN Bet can turn its luck around.

“Net-net, we remain positive on the ESPN Bet opportunity,” Truist analyst Barry Jonas said of the presentation.

Early signs of success in New York
New York is already showing signs of success for ESPN Bet in its first week. The presentation showed daily handle per ESPN Bet user in New York is already 296% higher than any other state it operates in.

In the first three days, ESPN Bet took $3m in bets, according to the New York State Gaming Commission. For com..

September 27, 2024

ESPN Bet now live in New York

Penn Entertainment launched ESPN Bet in its biggest market yet on Friday (27 September) when it went live in New York state. The platform is now available in 19 US jurisdictions.
The platform, a partnership between the casino company and ESPN, went live in 17 US jurisdictions in November 2023. Prior to Friday’s New York launch, Pennsylvania was the biggest state in which the platform was live.

The New York launch was later than Penn executives had pointed to, as CEO Jay Snowden said he was hoping for a late August launch during the company’s second-quarter earnings call in early August. But the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) didn’t have a meeting at which to approve the application until 23 September.

Penn was able to get into New York because WynnBet left earlier this year. The state has a cap of nine platforms, and all licences were accounted for at the beginning of the year. But Wynn Resorts has been unwinding its digital betting business and exited New York over the ..

September 23, 2024

ESPN Bet aiming to launch within days after getting NYSGC licence approval

On Monday (23 September) the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) voted to transfer the Wynn Resorts digital sports betting licence to Penn Entertainment. This means that ESPN Bet could be live in the state by the weekend.
Penn Entertainment and ESPN have been waiting for the vote and the go-ahead to launch. Executives from both companies had previously pointed to a launch by the end of August. But the NYSGC declined to call a special meeting to vote and the last meeting was in June.

The state of New York has a cap of nine digital wagering licences. All nine were accounted for at the beginning of 2024, but WynnBet decided to get out of the digital betting business and exited the state in July. In February, Penn made a deal to buy WynnBet’s NY licence for $25m (£18.7m/€22.5m).

At Monday’s meeting, Penn executive vice-president, chief strategy and legal officer and secretary Chris Rogers told the commission that his company still has “a couple of boxes to check” on technology. But ..

August 8, 2024

Penn CEO Snowden: “Don’t believe everything you read” on M&A, points to late August NY launch

Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden refused to comment on speculation of competitors teaming up to acquire the operator during Thursday's quarterly earnings call. Instead, he talked up deeper and deeper integrations with partner ESPN.
On Thursday’s (8 August) earnings call, Snowden said the company will be live in the biggest legal market in the US – New York – by the start of the college football season. He also addressed the controversial winners’ surcharge that DraftKings is floating. But his main focus was acquisition rumours.

The ESPN Bet launch last November brought the premier sports media brand into the betting sector. Snowden said it was a milestone moment. But it hasn’t yet translated into a podium position for Penn Entertainment.

Blended market share across six states averaged 6% for March, and investors have started to question Penn’s digital strategy. This led to rumours of a sale, suggesting Boyd Gaming would bite. Those rumours evolved into a joint approach with ..

July 19, 2024

State of the Union: ESPN Bet layoffs, SEC should be ‘vigilant’ to protect athletes

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.

Penn lays off some ESPN Bet employees

Less than a year after launching its ESPN Bet platform, and about three years after buying Canadian-based theScore, Penn Entertainment announced layoffs.

Front Office Sports on Wednesday (17 July) tweeted a letter from Penn CEO Jay Snowden to employees. In the letter, Snowden says the company will be “implementing changes” to “streamline the reporting lines”. He also wrote that this process will “result in a limited number of team member separations”.

PENN Entertainment—the gambling company behind ESPN Bet—had a round of layoffs, including multiple employees who focused on ESPN Bet, a source tells @FOS. (Layoffs first reported by @DustinGouker)
Here's an email that was sent to employees this afternoon from the company's CEO: pic.twitter.com/zW7LKOVI9U
— A.J…

March 27, 2024

Leading US operators launch Responsible Online Gaming Association

Seven of North America's largest operators have joined together to launch the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) in a bid to promote responsible gaming (RG).

ROGA is aiming to promote best RG practices among the industry. BetMGM, Bet365, DraftKings, Fanatics Betting & Gaming, FanDuel, Hard Rock Digital and Penn Entertainment are all collaborating.

According to the launch announcement, the companies involved represent over 85% of the legalised online sports betting and igaming industry in the US. They have pledged more than $20m (£15.8m/€18.5m) to support ROGA’s objectives over the first year of its existence.

Dr Jennifer Shatley will serve as ROGA’s executive director, tapping into her 25 years of experience within the industry and extensive work as an RG executive to facilitate widespread education on the topic.

Shatley’s work with ROGA will take place alongside her role as president of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, as well as her position as a member of t..

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Tag: Penn Entertainment