Penn Entertainment may have sold back Barstool Sports to Dave Portnoy for $1 but the company nonetheless made what might be its final appearance before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Monday.
When Penn initially applied for its online sports betting license in the state, Barstool Sportsbook was its brand. As a condition of its temporary license approval, the MGC’s Investigation and Enforcement Bureau was tapped to conduct an in-depth look at the history of Barstool Sports as it relates to suitability and specifically what Portnoy’s role in the company is after the acquisition.
Since Penn is still using the Barstool brand until the company is ready to switch to ESPN BET, IEB presented some of its findings to the commissioners on Monday.
The IEB’s Zachary Mercer discussed findings around Portnoy’s role that indicated he might not be the hands-off content contributor Penn has said he is. While Portnoy posted on Twitter that the firing of Ben Mintz for saying a racial slur on air during a Barstool broadcast was out of his hands, in other instances he had spoken publicly in a manner that suggested he did, in fact, have control over employees at Barstool.
Mercer cited a June 5 incident when Portnoy spoke on a podcast about playing a role in Barstool employee Jeff Nadu’s salary negotiations. Penn told the IEB that Portnoy did not have the authority to act on Nadu’s employment status at the company.
Penn also said that Portnoy’s Twitter claim that the company had been denied licenses in some jurisdictions because of the baggage that comes with the Barstool brand was also inaccurate and that they have never run into such an issue.
Now that Penn is switching over to ESPN BET, these issues are in the past, however, the Barstool College Sports Show could prove to be an issue of the moment.
As a condition of its temporary license approval, Penn agreed not to let anyone under the age of 21 attend live tapings of The Barstool College Football Show. Now that Portnoy controls the company again, the brand has done two live events in Nebraska and Alabama where the filming was open to the entire public.
Commissioner Nakisha Skinner was particularly concerned about this issue, especially because the website for Barstool Sportsbook still features Barstool personalities like Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat’ Katz and encourages users to tail their bets.
“I’m concerned about this interim period where Penn is still utilizing this Barstool brand on its sportsbook platform,” she said.
Penn’s Chief Compliance Officer Chris Soriano told the commissioners the company is working quickly to staff up and mobilize for the full relaunch as ESPN BET. He also said the company felt the path for the smoothest transition is to just keep the Barstool Sportsbook brand until everything is fully in place for the relaunch. However, he did acknowledge her concerns and reaffirmed that Barstool Media is doing nothing to promote the sportsbook right now.
In the meantime, Penn could have to submit a revised application for a mobile betting license given the switch to ESPN BET and the substantial change in the company’s marketing plan around the product.
