Penn National Gaming, Inc. reported optimistic financial results for Q1 of 2021, even as its stock price dropped to the lowest dollar value since the first week of the year.
The gaming company, based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, reported revenues of nearly $1.3 billion and earnings of of $90 million. Their adjusted EBITDAR is $447.0 million, and adjusted EBITDA comes in at $336.6 million.
The gaming company continues to show growth in Michigan, a new market in 2021, which has embraced online sportsbook and casino gambling. Penn’s focus in Michigan and Illinois, two lucrative markets, is on optimizing online gaming revenue.
“Penn National kicked off the year with record results in Q1 2021 from our land-based business and the launch of our online Barstool Sportsbook in Michigan and Illinois,” said Penn president Jay Snowden. “In addition, we fully integrated our mychoice player loyalty program across all our retail and digital offerings, which bolsters Penn National’s ecosystem and further expands our competitive advantage.”
Penn’s earnings brings the company slightly above its earnings in the same quarter in pre-pandemic 2019.
Penn’s Share Of Michigan Gaming Is Growing
Penn operates 43 facilities in the United States and Canada, including the Greektown Casino-Hotel in downtown Detroit.
In a prepared slide deck detailing 2021 Q1 results, Penn reveals that they currently hold 13.8% of the Michigan handle, 18% of gross gaming revenue, and slightly more than 30 percent in net gaming revenue in the state.
Penn states that the “introduction of Barstool-branded retail sportsbooks has re-energized our properties and introduced new customers into our ecosystem.” They go on to predict that they “expect to have 10 Barstool-branded sportsbooks by the end of 2021.”
The release of the Barstool iCasino app in Michigan has been encouraging, according to Penn. With the recent announcement of the creation of Penn Games Studio, in-house gaming-specific content will be fed to that app in the future in an effort to enhance engagement.
Success In Illinois Market
In March, Penn launched their Barstool Sportsbook application for the first time in Illinois. When Illinois re-instated mobile sports betting in-person registration in early April, Penn and Barstool used social media marketing to attract new registrations. According to the new report, more than 20,000 new registrants occurred in Illinois within 36 hours.
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