Penn Entertainment’s Barstool Sportsbook Tranfers to In-House Platform

Article ByDavid Weir

July 17, 2023

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Posted in: US Sports Betting News, US Gambling News

Penn Entertainment has successfully completed the full-scale migration of its Barstool Sportsbook & Casino to the company’s proprietary online gaming technology platform.

It now brings all components of its online gaming operation in-house.

The migration was carried out during the MLB All-Star break over the weekend. It simultaneously deployed across all 16 US states where Barstool Sportsbook operates. The entire operation’s platform was offline for 72 hours during the merger process.

This move marks the completion of Penn’s long-term strategic objective to achieve technology independence, which also included the $2 billion acquisition of theScore.

Barstool Sports started as a print newspaper in Boston by founder Dave Portnoy in 2003, and rapidly grew to become one of the fastest-growing (if sometimes controversial) sports media operators. Penn Entertainment finalized its $551 million buyout of the company in 2020, looking to expand into the sportsbook space.

Related: The best sports betting apps in the US, reviewed and rated

Milestone Achievement for Penn

The new technology platform, custom-built for the North American market, claims to increase platform stability and improve user experience. It is designed to be easily scalable to expand into new markets and meet evolving regulatory requirements.

As a result, the Barstool Sportsbook product claims streamlined navigation and search across sportsbook markets and casino games, more wagering markets, greater personalization capabilities, enhanced promotions, faster load times, improved cash-out availability, and deeper integrations with theScore media app.

Jay Snowden, CEO and President of Penn Entertainment, expressed his satisfaction with the migration.

“Migrating onto our proprietary technology platform and introducing a fully upgraded Barstool Sportsbook is a milestone achievement,” he said.

“Having full control of our product and roadmap will lead to improved operational efficiency and the ability to quickly introduce new features, bespoke promotions and wagering markets.”

Significantly Enhanced

Benjie Levy, head of Penn Interactive and president and COO, theScore, praised the team behind the upgrade, who successfully completed the upgrade in the 72-hour time frame.

“A technology migration of this scale requires an enormous amount of coordination and planning, and I’m extremely proud of our Interactive team, who stepped up to the challenge to execute this complex project on time and with minimal disruption to customers,” Levy said.

He added that the developers who built the new Barstool platform would now be working with the team that maintains and upgrades it, giving the company full control over the user experience.

“With this proven technology powering a significantly enhanced Barstool Sportsbook, we are primed to deliver a world class online sportsbook and casino experience to customers in the U.S.”

Penn Entertainment’s purchase of theScore, which is now integrated into Barstool’s sports offering, did not come without controversy. One former back-end developer discovered inside information on the deal before it went through, from which he profited $560,000 before being caught.

Two insider traders in New York (unconnected to Penn) also made hundreds of thousands off of confidential information on the deal before being busted by the feds.