Penn National Gaming Completes Purchase Of Barstool Sports
Alright Frankie, Barstool Sports is no longer a free man. After Penn National Gaming spent $163 million for 36% of the company back in 2020, they purchased the remaining 64% for $388 million at the end of February 2023. This makes the PA online casino darling, Penn National the sole owner of one of the biggest sports media conglomerates in the country, as well as some of their marquee employees (Dave Portnoy, Dan “Big Cat” Katz, and Kevin “KFC” Clancy) millionaires.
Starting from humble beginnings, Barstool Sports is the brainchild of one David Portnoy, who is referred to by many ‘stoolies’ as El Pres. Barstool Sports started as a simple gambling newspaper back in the early 2000s, and now, they are one of the biggest sports media presences in the country, and have one of the most popular online sportsbooks on the market.
The Barstool Sportsbook first launched in Pennsylvania on September 18th, 2020, but is now available in the following states:
- Michigan
- Illinois
- Colorado
- Virginia
- New Jersey
- Tennessee
- Arizona
- West Virginia
- Iowa
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Ohio
- Louisiana
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Barstool Sports fully into the Penn Entertainment family,” Penn Entertainment CEO and president Jay Snowden said in a statement. “Barstool is a proven, powerful media brand with an authentic voice and vast, loyal audience that provides us with a strong top of funnel for new customer acquisition and organic cross-selling opportunities across our growing interactive division.”
Pizza man Dave Portnoy had some thoughts on the acquisition as well, saying: “Barstool Sports is bigger than ever and has become more than I ever dreamed of. I’m very thankful to the Barstool team and Stoolies who have been along for the ride. I’m looking forward to this next chapter with Penn.”
Since Penn first acquired their first part of Barstool in 2020, Barstool reports that its audience has grown by 194%, thanks to shows such as “The Yak,” “The Dozen,” “Pick Central,” “A New Untold Story,” and many, many more.
Barstool has over 200 million followers across all social platforms, including 1 million plus followers on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. Barstool produced and broadcasted their first live college basketball and college football games this year, and those events could be bet on through any of these online casinos.
“The vision of what Penn wants and the vision that Dave and I had for the business are really very closely aligned,” said Barstool CEO Erika Ayers on the “Strictly Business” podcast.
“The way we’ve talked about sports betting is to make it very conversational, and to really make sports betting an organic, authentic and integrated part of what we do.”
