Operator News
US – Penn National Gaming changes name to Penn Entertainment
By Phil - 4 August 2022
Revenues of $1.6bn for its second quarter, marking an increase of 5.2 per cent year-over-year, made it a good day for Penn National Gaming to announce its rebrand to Penn Entertainment.
Jay Snowden, Chief Executive Officer and President, announced: “Today is an exciting day for us as we become PENN Entertainment, Inc. Over the past few years, PENN has transformed our business through a highly differentiated strategy focused on organic cross-sell opportunities, which is reinforced by our investments in market-leading retail casinos, sports media assets, owned technology, including a state-of-the-art, fully integrated digital sports and online casino betting platform, and an in-house iCasino content studio. Our new name maintains ties to our legacy while better reflecting our evolution into North America’s leading provider of integrated entertainment, sports content and casino gaming experiences.”
Mr. Snowden further commented: “We are pleased with our second quarter results. PENN generated revenues of $1.6 billion and Adjusted EBITDAR of $504.5m. Despite economic headwinds, we delivered consistent performance across our retail portfolio in the quarter and into July. In addition, last month, we successfully transitioned theScore Bet in Ontario to our own fully-integrated, proprietary tech stack – reflecting a key achievement in our strategic roadmap. Our strong operating performance and balance sheet enabled us to opportunistically repurchase $167.0 million of stock in the quarter under our $750m share repurchase authorization. Based on our second quarter performance and our outlook for the remainder of the year, we are reiterating our 2022 revenue and Adjusted EBITDAR guidance range of $6.15bn to $6.55bn and $1.875bn to $2bn, respectively.
“Our mychoice database has increased by over 1.2 million registrations over the last four quarters, driven by both our retail properties and new interactive offerings, providing significant opportunities for future growth. We continue to enhance the guest experience at our properties with new hospitality offerings including hotel remodels, new restaurant concepts, and Barstool branded sportsbooks which have especially benefited our destination properties. We are encouraged by the ongoing visitation and engagement of our high worth segment as well as continued growth from all but our oldest demographic. Our unrated segment trends reflect strong conversion of non-rated players into our mychoice loyalty program. Our industry leading cashless, cardless and contactless technology (“3C’s”) enables omni-channel engagement and remains a growth driver. 3C’s is now live at nine properties in three states. We expect to roll the technology out to twelve additional properties by the end of 2022, pending regulatory approvals.
theScore Bet in Ontario now operates on our vertically integrated proprietary tech stack, including the risk and trading platform, player account management system and promotion engine
“Our Interactive Segment further expanded its reach with the launch of theScore Bet mobile app in Ontario on April 4th. In July, we successfully deployed our proprietary in-house risk and trading platform in Ontario, which significantly enhances theScore Bet’s online betting capabilities, mobile product offerings and overall integrated media and betting ecosystem. This fall, we will introduce our new Parlay+ feature on theScore Bet for all major league sports. Following the successful transition to our player account management and risk and trading platforms in Canada, we remain confident in our ability to migrate the Barstool Sportsbook in the U.S. onto our new tech stack in Q3 2023, and we are working with our existing providers to ensure a smooth transition process. Post-migration, we will begin to realize the full benefits of our in-house technology stack, including meaningful cost synergies and improved marketing and promotional capabilities.
“Our Barstool branded retail sportsbooks resonate with the younger demographics and create meaningful cross-sell opportunities. Our recently converted Barstool sportsbook in Lake Charles, Louisiana, set a new standard for retail sportsbook experiences, and we are seeing encouraging results in visitation and spend. We are on track to convert our existing temporary sportsbook to a Barstool sportsbook at L’Auberge Baton Rouge this fall where we expect to have a similar positive impact. Based on our ongoing success in Louisiana, we are optimistic about our upcoming Barstool branded retail sportsbook launches in Kansas and Ohio where we operate similar market-leading properties bolstered by large casino databases that should augment our omni-channel strategy. Additionally, with the passage of sports betting in Massachusetts earlier this week – the birthplace of Barstool Sports and home to our Plainridge Park Casino – we are excited to add yet another possible retail launch by the end of this year while mobile wagering is anticipated in 2023.
