{"id":321876,"date":"2024-06-06T18:03:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T23:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=321876"},"modified":"2024-06-07T09:13:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T14:13:45","slug":"penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been nearly a week since Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) investor the Donerail Group sent a scathing letter to the gaming company\u2019s board of directors urging it to consider a sale following a series of costly missteps in the online sports betting industry. Penn management doesn\u2019t appear moved by the missive.<\/p>\n

\"ESPN
The ESPN<\/em> and Penn Entertainment logos. Analysts say Penn is staying the course with ESPN Bet and doesn’t appear moved by a recent investor letter calling for a sale. (Image: Barrett Sports Media<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In recent meetings with sell-side analysts, Penn executives appeared willing to stay the course with ESPN Bet, which makes sense because the operator launched that mobile sports betting application last November. Donerail criticized the capital expenditures the regional casino operator has directed toward sports betting, including the $1.5 billion Penn is paying ESPN<\/em><\/a> over 10 years for use of that brand, plus another $500 million in equity warrants.<\/p>\n

Management was understandably limited in how they could address the letter during the meetings, though our sense based on historical commentary is PENN remains committed to proving out the ESPN Bet thesis at minimum through 2024\/25 football season when they expect betting product to be closer to parity with more enhanced ESPN integrations,\u201d wrote Stifel analyst Steven Wiecyzinski in a note.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The analyst, who rates Penn \u201chold\u201d with a $19 price target, said the Donerail letter<\/a> facilitated a short squeeze on the stock, but it probably isn\u2019t enough to bring new investors into the shares at this point.<\/p>\n

Penn Focusing on Bolstering ESPN Bet<\/h2>\n

Much of Donerail\u2019s criticism of Penn, and that of other investors for that matter, boils down to the point that company\u2019s widely publicized forays and missteps into online gaming have overshadowed the operator\u2019s attractive portfolio of land-based regional casinos.<\/p>\n

\n

In other words, many investors now view Penn as a digital gaming play when in reality, the company is the largest regional casino operator<\/a>, and land-based venues drive a substantial portion of its earnings and revenue. Recent data indicate that ESPN Bet ranks fifth in terms of market share in most of the states in which it operates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The gaming company \u201ccontinues to be focused on top-of-funnel acquisition from the ESPN<\/em> database and reiterated its laser focus on ESPN BET product improvements and ESPN<\/em> ecosystem integrations ahead of the football season, which management believes will ultimately grow its wallet share,\u201d noted JPMorgan analyst Joseph Greff in a report.<\/p>\n

Greff recently met with Penn CEO Jay Snowden, CFO Felicia Hendrix, and Treasurer Mike Nieves, saying their commentary on the Donerail letter, which included ample criticism of Snowden\u2019s compensation, was \u201climited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Optimism on ESPN Bet<\/h2>\n

Penn executives aren\u2019t in the business of talking down any of their units, including ESPN Bet. Rather, they appear somewhat optimistic that with the online betting segment being operational for the entirety of the 2024 football season, some market share gains are possible.<\/p>\n

Additionally, management is bullish on the addition of former Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) executive Aaron LaBerge<\/a> as chief technology officer (CTO).<\/strong><\/p>\n

LaBerge \u201cwill likely bring an experienced team with him and sees increased integrations with ESPN<\/em> properties improving the user experience and increasing engagement,\u201d concluded Greff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been nearly a week since Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) investor the Donerail Group sent a scathing letter to the gaming company\u2019s board of directors urging it to consider a sale following a series of costly missteps in the online sports betting industry. Penn management doesn\u2019t appear moved by the missive. In recent meetings with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":289782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,33810,1074],"tags":[81903,81898,80968],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPenn Not Alarmed By Call For Sale, Sticking With ESPN Bet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Penn Not Alarmed By Call For Sale, Sticking With ESPN Bet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T23:03:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T14:13:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/\",\"name\":\"Penn Not Alarmed By Call For Sale, Sticking With ESPN Bet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-06T23:03:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-07T14:13:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"The ESPN and Penn Entertainment logos. Analysts say Penn is staying the course with ESPN Bet and doesn't appear moved by a recent investor letter calling for a sale. (Image: Barrett Sports Media)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Penn Not Alarmed By Call For Sale, Sticking With ESPN Bet","description":"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Penn Not Alarmed By Call For Sale, Sticking With ESPN Bet","og_description":"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-06-06T23:03:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-07T14:13:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/","name":"Penn Not Alarmed By Call For Sale, Sticking With ESPN Bet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg","datePublished":"2024-06-06T23:03:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-07T14:13:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/penn2.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"The ESPN and Penn Entertainment logos. Analysts say Penn is staying the course with ESPN Bet and doesn't appear moved by a recent investor letter calling for a sale. (Image: Barrett Sports Media)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/penn-not-alarmed-by-call-for-sale-sticking-with-espn-bet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Penn Management Not Rattled by Investor Demand for Sale"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321876"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321943,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321876\/revisions\/321943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}