Entertainment <\/p>\n
Penn Entertainment’s Jay Snowden pointed to “lower loss sequentially” coming every quarter in 2025 as well as better ways to “optimise spend” with ESPN in the company’s quarterly earnings conference call. But Penn fell short of some expectations and beat others for the last quarter of 2024. <\/strong><\/p>\n Saying once again on the company\u2019s fourth-quarter earnings call<\/a> on Thursday (27 February) that the future is bright, Penn\u2019s CEO placed heavy focus on what is to come versus what has already happened Snowden said Penn is seeing \u201cgreen shoots\u201d throughout its departments while \u201cwe have more work to do to unlock the full potential and value of our partnership with ESPN\u201d.<\/p>\n For digital gaming overall, the company reported revenue of $275 million (\u00a3218 million\/\u20ac$264.7 million) for the fourth quarter. Its $109.8 million in adjusted EBITDA loss was a $224 million improvement compared to the same quarter for 2023, but those numbers still pulled down Penn\u2019s overall performance and were below analyst estimates.<\/p>\n The company overall beat Truist\u2019s adjusted EBITDA forecast with $320.7 million, but that was 1% below general expectations. Penn\u2019s stock price dropped from $20 at the opening bell to $19.28 immediately after the call. It settled at $20.39 when the market closed. <\/p>\n The $461.2 million of adjusted EBITDAR on the land-based side beat the street, while digital losses of $110 million were even with expectations. Net revenue was also a mixed bag, but within 1% in either direction of the Truist and general projections. <\/p>\n Snowden also announced that Penn has plans to buy back \u201cat least\u201d $350 million in stock in the coming year as a show of confidence. <\/p>\n Since ESPN Bet went live in November 2023<\/a>, it has been unable to crack the top tier of sports betting platforms. FanDuel and DraftKings continue to have a stranglehold on the top two positions by market share with BetMGM a distant third. The stated goal when the platform replaced Penn\u2019s Barstool Sportsbook was to reach 20% market share by 2027, but ESPN Bet still has less than 5% \u2013 the number executives are hoping to hit later this year. <\/p>\n A main challenge for ESPN Bet \u2013 beyond several football months that favoured bettors across the industry \u2013 is its struggle to capitalise on parlays. The multi-leg bets make up at least 50% of bets placed on DraftKings and FanDuel, according to Axios<\/a>. They account for just 30% on ESPN Bet. This is relevant because parlays are the most lucrative markets available to operators. <\/p>\nGrowth slow and parlays not paying<\/h2>\n
Snowden: More improvements coming<\/h2>\n