Penn National Gaming is having an interesting week leading up to its earnings call. On Monday, Penn announced it is establishing an additional in-house content team.
Penn also launched a new Barstool online casino app Monday, which joins the existing Barstool Sportsbook app in Pennsylvania.
And late last week, the company confirmed what we at PlayPennsylvania told readers two weeks back: They plan an August opening for their Hollywood York mini-casino.
Penn has earnings call Thursday
Not coincidentally, Thursday is Penn’s quarterly earnings call. Stock in the Pennsylvania-based company ($PENN) has drifted down to around $91 a share recently. Shares hit a 52-week high in mid-March of $142. Still, the 52-week low was just $14.31 last May.
We’ll cover the earnings call on Thursday but for now we’ll focus on the new news, Penn Game Studios or PGS, creating exclusive content.
Penn National buying two related companies
Jump-starting the plan, Penn is acquiring HitPoint Studios, Inc. and its spun-off real money gaming company, LuckyPoint Inc.
The acquisition should close in the near term, subject to the usual conditions.
The buys mean creating exclusive content for Penn National
According to Penn president and CEO, Jay Snowden:
“We are incredibly excited to be launching Penn Game Studios, which is another important step in our Company’s evolution into the leading omni-channel provider of retail and interactive gaming, sports betting, and entertainment. We will now have the ability to create exclusive content for our audiences, further leverage the Barstool Sports brand and our database of 20 million mychoice customers, and create cross-marketing opportunities with our brick-and-mortar facilities.”
Details about the companies
HitPoint is an independent game design and development studio founded in Massachusetts in 2008. The studio has created more than 50 games for clients, including Microsoft, Ellen DeGeneres, EA/PopCap, Disney, Google, and NBCUniversal.
The company develops platforms for real-time multiplayer casual mobile games. Currently, it runs the day-to-day live operations for multiple games using a proprietary technology stack.
LuckyPoint spun off in 2019 to focus on real-money game development. And also the creation and operation of a remote gaming server.
In addition to traditional online casino table games and slots, LuckyPoint brings a variety of gaming, including retro-style arcade games and puzzle games.
Penn Interactive expands with new acquisitions
Paul Hake, CEO of HitPoint, said of the arrangement:
“We are thrilled to be joining Penn National and bringing our expertise to the company’s interactive division. We look forward to adding our creativity, design, and engineering skills to an already well-accomplished team at Penn National.”
When the purchase locks in, the team of 30 new employees joins Penn National’s interactive division, Penn Interactive.
According to Penn’s announcement, the team comprises designers, artists, and engineers “with a passion for creating and enabling new play patterns through innovative design and technology,” according to Penn’s announcement.
Lead image via Dreamstime.
