Penn Entertainment has released its Q4 2023 results, with total revenue coming to $1.4bn. Falling 12% from the $1.59bn reported in the previous year's Q4, the drop in revenue was not Penn’s only metric decrease, with both adjusted EBITDAR and net income reporting a loss. This is notable as in Q4 2022, both of these metrics saw a profit.
Northeast
Penn’s Northeast segment includes properties such as Ameristar East Chicago, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course and Hollywood Casino Toledo, among several others. The quarter made only slightly less than Q4 2022, down 0.6% for revenue of $662.9m. Adjusted EBITDAR was $192.5m, down 6.1% from the previous quarter.
Despite this, the Northeast segment made more across the entirety of 2023 than 2022, generating $2.74bn, up 1.6% from last year.
South
The South segment includes properties such as Boomtown New Orleans, Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast and Margaritaville Resort Casino among others. The decrease in revenue from this segment was more substantial, down 6.3% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDAR faired slightly better, down 4.6%.
Yearly revenue was also down from 2022, reporting $1.22bn compared to last year's $1.31bn.
West
The West segment includes four casinos: Ameristar Black Hawk, Cactus Petes and Horseshu, M Resort and Zia Park Casino. Statistics also account for Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, which was sold in September 2022. Of the five segments, the West was one of two that reported a quarterly revenue increase from last year, up 2.3% year-on-year with revenue of $133.7m. Adjusted EBITDAR was also up, making $50.8m to last year's $48.7m.
Despite this, yearly revenue for the segment was down 9.2%, making $528.5m in 2023.
Midwest
The second segment to report a Q4 revenue increase over 2022, Penn’s Midwest segment includes properties such as Ameristar Council Bluffs, Hollywood Casino Aurora and River City Casino. Revenue for the quarter was $290.6m, up 3%. Annual revenue was also up, making $1.17bn to last year's $1.16bn.
Adjusted EBITDAR for the quarter was $120.1m, up 4.4% year-on-year.
Interactive & ESPN Bet
Penn Entertainment launched ESPN Bet in August 2023, but despite the successes seen by the online sportsbook, Penn Interactive’s quarterly revenue has dropped sharply from last year. Making $208m in Q4 2022 and $31.5m in 2023, this reflects a dip of 84.9%.
Penn’s split with former partner Barstool and the promotional costs of relaunching as ESPN Bet are a likely cause for the segment’s share revenue decline. In August the company entered a stock purchase agreement which saw it sell 100% of outstanding Barstool shares to David Portnoy, despite only completing the 100% acquisition of the company in February of the same year (it had owned a stake in it since 2020).
ESPN Bet has shown promise despite its infancy, being the third-most popular online sportsbook in Ohio in November where it generated $12m in taxable revenue, falling behind only DraftKings and FanDuel. Penn also acquired Wynn Interactive’s New York sports wagering licence in February with plans to launch in the Empire State later this year, paying $25m for the licence despite the revenue drop from the Interactive segment.
Since then, Barstool has gone on to partner with DraftKings. DraftKings gave Gambling Insider no comment on the story in late January.