The first East Coast Barstool Sportsbook and bar is planned for Penn National’s Hollywood Casino York. The mini-casino is scheduled to open in late August in a repurposed section of the York Galleria Mall.
The Hollywood Casino York General Manager Ruben Warren mentioned Barstool Sportsbook & Bar’s pending arrival a few weeks ago in his welcome greeting on the mini-casino’s website.
Warren wrote:
“The casino will include a new concept Barstool Sportsbook and Bar with exciting interactive experiences…”
Penn National Gaming acquired a stake in Barstool in Jan. 2020. In Pennsylvania, Penn National Gaming (PNG) operates:
- Hollywood Casino in Grantville
- The Meadows in Washington
- Hollywood York mini-casino. PlayPennsylvania broke the news about plans for Hollywood Casino York.
Big Barstool brand coming to PA mini-casino
Last week, in a social media tease, Hollywood York posted a large Barstool sign on the unopened property’s Facebook page.
Coming soon… Pennsylvania’s first Barstool-themed Sportsbook & Bar! How great does the new sign look?
Other than providing the address, 2899 Whiteford Rd, York, PA 17402, no details were provided. A few days later on June 9, Hollywood Casino York posted two more images teasing the pending arrival of the new retail PA sportsbook.
Besides adding the word “late” to August, the company has said nothing about its planned opening target. Reps for Penn National Gaming haven’t responded to PlayPennsylvania’s request for comment.
Barstool Sportsbook at casinos always a part of Penn’s plan
Adding Barstool online casino and Barstool sportsbooks online and in brick-and-mortar casinos has been an objective for Penn since buying just more than a third of the sports media company. Barstool sportsbook locations are currently open in a number of other states.
Barstool boasts a fervent contingent of followers dubbed “Stoolies.” PNG sees an opportunity and competitive advantage to cross-sell younger players attracted to Barstool’s online sportsbooks and at brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in its regional casinos and then convert them to play casino games both in physical casinos and on its PA online casino.
PNG CEO Jay Snowden said sportsbooks that already completed the Barstool-themed rebrand have experienced “very strong results.” Indiana‘s retail sportsbooks reported record handle, revenue and EBITDAR in the fourth quarter in 2020. Ameristar East Chicago had a 35% increase in handle in the four weeks after its rebrand compared to the previous six weeks. Table games and slots adjacent to the Barstool Sportsbook saw handle rise 27% and 26%, respectively.
Jon Kaplowitz, a senior vice president and the head of Penn Interactive for Penn National, said during a webinar on June 10 that the company should have Barstool Sportsbooks in eight or nine states by the start of the NFL season and 12 states by the end of the year.
Penn National’s other retail sportsbooks in PA
The sports betting lounge at Penn’s Hollywood Casino in Grantville closed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. And while you can bet at kiosks or a sportsbook window, the lounge remains idle. Penn has said the space would be re-themed as a Barstool operation. A customer service rep said there is no set timeline for reworking the space and reopening the second-floor lounge.
PNG’s second mini-casino, Hollywood Casino Morgantown, is slated for a November opening. However, a Barstool Sportsbook & Bar seems unlikely. BetMGM PA operates their online sportsbook in Pennsylvania through their partnership with Hollywood Morgantown.
How’s Barstool Sportsbook doing in PA?
Barstool launched its online sportsbook in PA last September. At the time it was the tenth PA sports betting app. Barstool online sportsbook soon rose to third place for handle and revenue behind FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings PA.
Dave Portnoy, the founder of the Barstool brand and also known as “El Presidente,” blustered that it was “just step 1 of our world domination plan.”
Well, not quite.
PA sports betting figures for April (May is due next week), still had Barstool in third for revenue. However, the numbers require a closer look. Handle went down to $57 million in April. Gross revenue was $2.6 million, but with $2.7 million worth of promos, Barstool’s taxable revenue was in the red (-$102,568).
In April, Barstool handed out the most promos of any Pennsylvania sportsbook, slightly out-giving FanDuel, the top app in the state which had a handle of $167.6 million and revenue of $13.7 million.
Barstool is not a publicly traded company. Penn National Gaming ($PENN) is, and since being acquired, Portnoy (aka Davey Trader), talks up PNG and other gambling stocks almost every day on Twitter.
Penn National peaked at about $142 earlier in the year and has been around $80 or lower since May. The close Thursday was just below $82 a share.
