The company also holds a 36% stake in Barstool Sports, a digital media company headquartered in New York that focuses on sports and pop culture.
Penn National Gaming has spread widely from its humble roots as Pitt Park Raceway Inc, a local company started by several Erie businessmen. They formed the group after Pennsylvania legalized horseracing and pari-mutuel wagering in 1967.
After they were awarded a license by the Turf Club they began construction on the Penn National Race Course. This racing track is still operational to this very day, seeing plenty of business under the management of Hollywood Casino.
After some growing pains, the company rebranded as Mountainviewside Thoroughbred Racing and began to see far more success, running 100 nights of racing at the venue each year. In 1982 they were purchased by Carlino.
The companies involved in Penn National Racing Course were then reorganized in 1994 into a public group PNRC Corporation. This put them onto the Nasdaq for the first time where they raised $18m and paid off their debts and fund construction. Carlino’s son, Peter M. became the company’s first official CEO, serving in this post until 2013.
Peter M’s tenure ushered in an age of expansion for the company, as they acquired Pocono Downs, Charles Town Racing, Freehold Raceway and operations of Garden State Park in New Jersey. The 90s was the decade in which Penn National Gaming expanded from a state to a national brand.
They followed this by dipping their toes into retail casinos, buying out Hollywood Casino Corp. for $328m which saw them gain gaming outlets in Illinois, Mississippi and Louisiana. This single acquisition doubled Penn National’s revenue and signaled their shift from horseracing to brick-and-mortar casinos.
What followed in the new millennium was the beginning of a franchise as Penn National bought out Argosy Gaming Company for $1.4bn in 2005 and the Tropicana Las Vegas for $360m in 2015 (just two of their many lucrative dealings).
Penn National Gaming is still going strong in the 2020s, having bought Score Media and Gaming for $2bn. This once again emphasizes the company's propensity for modernization as it prepares for the digital gambling age; it has come a long way from a single racetrack in Pennsylvania.
Locations:
Washington, Columbus, Toledo, Biloxi, Lake Charles, Alton, Aurora, Henderson, Harlingen, Houston, Longwood, Hobbs, Dayton, Riverside, Joliet, Lawrenceburg, Kansas City, Bangor, Fort Washington, Vicksburg, Tunica, St. Louis, Grantville, Charles Town, East Chicago, Plainville, Bay Saint Louis, Clementon, York, Morgantown, Selma, Toms River, Baton Rouge.
Key personnel:
Senior VP & Chief Marketing Officer: Jennifer Weissman
Executive VP & Chief Financial Officer: Felicia Hendrix
Senior VP, Chief Human Resources Officer: Wendy Hamilton
Sr. Vice President , Chief Information Officer: Richard Primus
Number of employees:
18,321
