Penn National Gaming reported its first quarter revenue declined $166.5 million to $1.2 billion on a year-to-year basis. While the company cited COVID-19 effects on its operations, executives remain bullish on Penn National’s long-term outlook, thanks in part to Barstool Sports.
CEO Jay Snowden said the Barstool Sportsbook betting app is still on track for release in the third quarter of this year. Recent weeks have “reinforced our investment thesis in Barstool Sports,” Snowden said on an earnings call. Penn bought a 36% stake in Barstool for $163 million in January.
Snowden said Barstool’s blog traffic increased over 20% in April, while video views rose over 50% and social media accounts saw meaningful growth.
“Barstool’s highly diverse and engaging content is proving to be more relevant than ever in the key demographics we will be targeting, and we continue to believe Barstool’s growing, loyal audience will lead to meaningful reductions in customer acquisition and promotional costs for our sports betting product,” he said.
