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PENN Entertainment plans to launch a standalone Hollywood Casino app in Pennsylvania at some point in “early Q1” of 2025, CEO Jay Snowden said during the company’s earnings call on Thursday.
There has been lots of news surrounding PENN in regards to ESPN BET. However, PENN is not losing sight on the PA online casino market, which is considered to be the US leader.
PENN has hinted at an investment into the iGaming market with an app of its own coming. Now that it has one on the way, with a targeted timeline, Hollywood Casino PA hopes to attract an even larger portion of market share. PENN will also be leaning on the four retail Hollywood facilities in the Keystone State, too.
PENN to leverage retail Hollywood locations
PENN has a huge presence in Pennsylvania, both in the retail and online space. That’s without mentioning the company’s headquarters is based in Wyomissing, too.
Snowden announced during the call that PENN is going to launch a standalone Hollywood Casino app in the Keystone State first. It could be as early as January, with other states to follow.
Pennsylvania players might find the news confusing, remembering that there already was a Hollywood app in the state, once upon a time. However, when ESPN BET launched last November, PENN discontinued the Hollywood platform and integrated it with the sportsbook.
Snowden is confident the relaunch of a standalone app will yield a considerable amount of market share.
“When we launched the Hollywood Casino app in Pennsylvania on that third party platform, we saw pretty strong market share. We were high single digits for most of that time.
And obviously the biggest reason is the cross sell opportunity with your land based casinos. Remember that we have four land based casinos in the state of Pennsylvania. They’re all flagged Hollywood.”
Cleaning up a ‘messy’ message for customers
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) does not break down revenue by operator. The Hollywood/ESPN BET app is mixed in on the same license as giants like DraftKings and BetMGM, making it hard to tell how much revenue it is earning, currently. However, PENN must believe it’s enough to launch a standalone app in the market-leading state.
The app is also going to cater to the predominant online casino player. PENN wants to separate sports betting and iGaming customers, according to Snowden.
“What we’re doing right now is messy, because you’re marketing to your land-based casino database at Hollywood properties, and telling them that they should download the ESPN bet app to play their favorite slot machine.
“We’ve watched our competition launch standalone iCasino apps with great success and many times it was the same brand.
“It’s not only leading with iCasino in that app, but it’s also the brand connection which is going to be, I think, will be pretty powerful for us.”
The messaging should be much clearer, avoiding any hurdles of confusion for customers.
What customers can expect from a standalone Hollywood app
Honestly, there’s really no telling what the app will look like, whether it will retain the aesthetics of the earlier Hollywood Casino or get a fresh coat of paint with the relaunch. However, players living close to retail Hollywood Casino locations can expect to see lots of crossover promotions, since a major strategy behind the launch is going to be cross-selling players between the two channels.
The current Hollywood Casino offering, which is a subsection of the ESPN BET app, has nearly 600 slots, table games, and live dealer titles. A standalone app will likely lead to a bigger game catalog, since download size is a concern for iGaming operators.
Either way, it should be much easier delivery for PENN to market the Hollywood app inside one of its retail locations. Having four across the state gives the company a massive database to start with.
Snowden said that the third-party app yielded in the “high single digits” of market share. Hollywood acquiring 10% of that share would likely be considered a win for the operator.
