Over the past year or so, there have been several instances where gambling companies have joined forces with sports media companies. The goal of these partnerships has been to ensure that the stakeholders are able to grow their presence in the country’s sports betting market. These partnerships majorly foster the growth and retention of audiences across the country. So far, this move has worked for a number of gaming and media companies.
Now, more organizations are looking into emulating this business model. The latest one is Penn National Gaming which is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in sports media company Barstool Sports from The Chernin Group (TCG).
Barstool’s Sports Betting Ambitions
Even prior to the rumors of a possible acquisition by Penn National, Barstool Sports had already started pursuing sports betting. It has previously purchased a gambling-focused show. In addition to that, it has recently launched an online gaming site as well as a mobile betting app known as Barstool Bets. The app and the site offer players a ton of sports betting content as well as free games where they to wager and stand a chance of winning huge prizes.
To top it all off, Barstool Sports took everything a notch higher when it hired David VanEgmond to head its strategy and corporate development department – David VanEgmond is a former executive at renowned sports betting operator FanDuel. All these moves were mostly driven by the fact that up to 60 percent of the media company’s audience bet on sports.
How Penn National Can Help
Putting all of Barstool Sports’ ambitions into consideration, Penn National which already operates in 19 states is going to be a great partner for the media company. If everything goes as planned, Barstool Sports will receive a tremendous boost from Penn National in as far as growing its customer base is concerned. Furthermore, there is huge potential in the space which means both companies can use it to fuel other revenue streams through such things as exclusive content.
“I think that if we aligned ourselves with one company with a shared vision, that company would have an extraordinary advantage in the race to becoming the leading gambling company in the United States,” Barstool founder Dave Portnoy commented on the company’s plans.
According to the Barstool Sports founder, the company has been in talks with several companies including Penn Nation, of course. Other notable brands he mentioned include William Hill, PointsBet, Rush Street, The Stars Group and FanDuel. However, with so many signs pointing to Penn National, it is likely that an official announcement of the acquisition will be made very soon.