Jay A. Snowden

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

Achievements from Snowden include being appointed as President and CEO in March 2017. He was then appointed to the board of directors in August 2019.

The company recently announced four new growth projects including the relocations of Hollywood Casinos in Aurora and Joliet (Illinois). Penn Entertainment plans to launch new hotels as well at the Hollywood Casino Columbus (Ohio) and the M Resort in Nevada.

In February 2023, Penn Entertainment reported $1.6bn in Q4 revenue, with Snowden adding: "2022 was a solid year for Penn despite ongoing macroeconomic headwinds. I’m proud of Penn’s numerous financial and operational achievements in the past year as well as our continued progress on the ESG front."

AWARDS

Penn Entertainment is regularly nominated at the Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas, also for its customer loyalty program 'mychoice.'

EMPLOYMENT

Before becoming a member of the company, Snowden was the SVP and General Manager of the Caesars Atlantic City and Harrah’s Atlantic City casinos in New Jersey.

He also held top positions with Caesars Entertainment Corporation in Las Vegas, Nevada; St. Louis, Missouri; and San Diego, California.

PRODUCTS LAUNCHED

Under Snowden Penn Entertainment acquired Barstool Sports, as well as Score Media and Gaming, also known as theScore. The operator has also developed the 3C’s: cashless, cardless and contactless technology.

While Snowden was COO, he led the company’s integration efforts following the acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment.

In August 2023, it was announced that Penn Entertainment would be partnering with ESPN and would be relaunching Penn’s Barstool Sportsbook as ESPN Bet, which went live in November 2023.

Snowden was quoted at the Bank of America Securities 2023 Gaming and Lodging Conference saying the relaunched ESPN Bet will “make a lot of noise, [and] get a lot of attention”, and Penn Entertainment’s market experience and knowledge offers the “recipe for success” in this ESPN's collaboration.

ESPN Bet launched with a "so far, so good" reception among analysts, but the key question remains as to whether the operator can convert its massive audience into active bettors.

“If you don’t have an omnichannel approach, or aren't at least thinking about your digital business, you’re probably going extinct. Look at what Amazon did to Walmart and Target – those retail providing companies had their heads in the sand for some time as they didn’t think Amazon was going to work.” Jay A. Snowden

Interviews and public speeches

At G2E Las Vegas 2022, Snowden spoke with Bally's Chairman Soo Kim as part of a keynote speech.