Penn National Gaming and DraftKings Benefit from Record-Breaking Sports Betting in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania announced its sports-betting handle reaching a record-breaking $548.6 million for the month of December 2020. Among the beneficiaries are the digital sportsbook providers DraftKings and Penn National Gaming.

According to the report recently released, Pennsylvania is moving up the ladder for sports betting. After the record-breaking handle, the state is now on third place, while New Jersey is first and Nevada is the second state.

Sports betting seems to be evolving in Pennsylvania since the last record was reported in November 2020, meaning that each month, it appears to be accelerating.

In November the handle was $525.8 million. An important detail is the fact that a total of 97.5% of December’s figure consisted of online sports betting, because the physical outlets were closed due to the coronavirus restrictions in the state.

Penn National Gaming and DraftKings Beneficiaries

Out of the record-breaking amount, Penn’s online sportsbook Barstool gained $71.8 million worth of wagers, racking up $13.9 million in revenue. This significant amount is about 42% of the total revenue gained by all gambling apps.

DraftKings only made $5.4 million in revenue, which is less than half of Barstool’s profit. Aside from that, DraftKings made more than $100 million in sports betting in Pennsylvania for the forth month in a row at $131.5 million, which means that the profit is not so small after all. In wagers DraftKings made twice as much as in revenue.

Penn acquired Barstool last year. It seems that it was a strategic decision, based on the fact that Barstool’s demographic are mostly young males, who are the most avid sports better.

The investment started paying off almost right from the start when Barstool sportsbook debuted in Detroit’s Greektown Casino. It happened in the very day the casino started operating again after the state-mandatory shutdown lasted for a month.

As part of the Barstool’s expansion plan, around the Christmas holidays, the sportsbook debuted at two casinos in Indiana.

Penn is planning to continue its expansion to other states starting with Michigan now that the state legalized online sports betting.

DraftKings is another one of the reported companies to enter Michigan’s recently opened online gambling market.
DraftKings is currently partnering with Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, which is situated in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The company’s mobile betting products are already available in several states, including Colorado, Indiana, Iowa and soon Michigan.

Source: “DraftKings, Penn National Profit From Record-Breaking Pennsylvania December Sports Betting”, Rhian Hunt, January 20, 2021