Jay Snowden
5 QUESTIONS
Penn Entertainment is one of the largest casino companies in the industry , with 43 casinos across the
U . S . Jay Snowden has been CEO since 2017 , and has led the Penn charge into the online sports betting and iGaming space . After a first misfire arrangement with Barstool Sports , Penn recently partnered with ESPN , and their ESPN BET has quickly become one of the leading online sportsbooks in the nation . He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros at the East Coast Gaming Congress in April . To see and hear a full version of this interview as a GGB Podcast , visit GGBMagazine . com .
1
GGB : Do you consider any one of your 43 casinos as your flagship ?
Snowden : It ’ s an interesting question . I think for a lot of companies , our competitors , the answer ’ s more obvious . Caesars Palace for Caesars , and Bellagio or MGM for MGM Resorts . For us , we don ’ t have that prime Las Vegas Strip asset , but we ’ ve got all of these amazing properties across the country . The only one we have in Las Vegas is a beautiful property , M Resort , where we just broke ground on another 400-room hotel . But I don ’ t know if I would say we have a flagship .
2
Let ’ s talk about Louisiana . You ’ ve got beautiful properties in that state . How are those properties performing ? Louisiana has been a stellar market for us . We have some premier assets in Lake Charles and Baton Rouge . The other one in that market that is a great asset is the Margaritaville property in Bossier City , which we acquired . Two of those were built ground-up , and one was done through acquisition . And all three of those are best in market , best in class .
3
You ’ ve got a property in Illinois , where they also have the video gaming terminals . How did that impact the slot drop at Penn casinos there ? This is a really , really interesting topic . In Illinois , the games that you see at bars and taverns are regulated and the entities that run those operations are licensed . There ’ s a regulatory system in place . They make more money on VGTs now than we do in the casinos , which is pretty amazing . So there has been an impact .
We decided pretty early on to get involved in the route operation business , because it ’ s legal , because it ’ s regulated , and it was impacting our casinos ’ double-digit percentages . So if it ’ s going to impact your casino revenue , we wanted to at least try to protect them , so we got involved in the route operation . We bought a company called Prairie State Gaming , and we have a really good team that ’ s running that for us now . It ’ s in growth mode — we ’ re in the top five in terms of operations in the state of Illinois .
4
In your home state of Pennsylvania , they just had a court decision which held skill games are legal . What are you looking for the state to do now ? We think that was a bad interpretation . Obviously , if you sit down at one of these machines and you play them , you realize it ’ s a slot machine . So you can defend them all day calling them skill and showing how it ’ s skill . But if it ’ s not something that you feel when you ’ re sitting there , I think that has to be something that is considered , but it wasn ’ t . So we ’ ll continue to fight it legally .
5
Jay Snowden
President and CEO , Penn Entertainment
Tell us how the ESPN sports betting deal came together .
It ’ s very interesting . I think ESPN really was looking for a while at how they wanted to get involved or engage with online sports betting . And I think that it took them a while to come to the conclusion that they wanted to actually jump in . ESPN did a lot of research , now that it ’ s legal in so many states , and concluded that betting on sports is just part of the entertainment experience for a sports fan . It ’ s fun , it ’ s exciting . And so they got to a point where they had come to the conclusion that they were ready to lead with their brands . Then it was , “ Who do we want partner with ?” They went through a process . They really liked our team . They liked our technology stack , they liked that we owned it all . We controlled that roadmap . And so we struck a deal ; we announced that in August . We went live in November . It ’ s early days .
“ They Said It ”
“ Thailand is interesting ... The cost to do business there , the margins that could be had would be compelling , very .”
— Bill Hornbuckle , CEO , MGM Resorts International , on a proposal now under review to bring legal casinos to Thailand
CALENDAR
July 16-19 : iGB L ! VE 2024 , RAI Amsterdam , Amsterdam , Netherlands . Produced by Clarion Gaming . For more information , visit igblive . com .
July 17-20 : National Council of Legislators from Gaming States Summer Meeting , Rivers Casino , Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . Produced by Spectrum Gaming Group . For more information , visit nclgs . org .
August 12-14 : Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association ( OIGA ) Conference and Tradeshow , Oklahoma City Convention Center , Oklahoma City , Oklahoma . Produced by OIGA . For more information , visit oiga . org .
August 13-15 : Australasian Gaming Expo , ICC Sydney , Sydney , Australia . Produced by the Gaming Technologies Association . For more information , visit austgamingexpo . com .
September 16-19 : TribalNet Conference & Tradeshow , Westgate Las Vegas , Las Vegas , Nevada . Produced by TribalHub . For more information , visit tribalnetconference . com .
September 24-26 : SBC Summit , Feira Internacional De Lisboa , Lisbon , Portugal . Produced by SBC Events . For more information , visit sbcevents . com / sbc-summit .
October 7-10 : Global Gaming Expo ( G2E ), The Venetian Expo , Las Vegas , Nevada . Produced by Reed Exhibitions . For more information , visit globalgamingexpo . com .
November 27-28 : Eastern European Gaming Summit , Inter Expo Center , Sofia , Bulgaria . Produced by the Association of Gaming Industry in Bulgaria . For more information , visit eegamingsummit . com .
8 Global Gaming Business JUNE 2024