Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. may own nearly 70 casinos but the company doesn’t operate any.
Nonetheless, the real estate investment trust (REIT) is taking a stance on iGaming.
The group is the newest member of the National Association Against iGaming (NAAiG), per the Central Penn Business Journal. Given the company’s reliance on the health of the land-based casino industry, it makes sense the organization is taking a position on online gaming.
The organization joins a list of members that includes Churchill Downs, Cordish Companies and Jack Entertainment. GLPI works with Cordish on three properties.
While the company works with Cordish, GLPI’s primary partners are heavily invested in iGaming. Nearly half of GLPI properties are managed by PENN Entertainment. PENN is not as overtly pro-online casino as some other companies and has opposed versions of online gaming legislation that it views as unfavorable to the land-based industry.
However, as the recent proxy battle with HG Vora indicated, the company is still heavily invested in its digital arm, particularly its expensive partnership with ESPN for ESPN Bet.
Other major partners for GLPI include Bally’s and Caesars, two other groups that remain advocates for online casino expansion.
“iGaming threatens the entire value chain of in-person entertainment—undermining jobs, weakening local revenues and diminishing the long-term appeal of destination gaming. We’re encouraged to see more industry stakeholders stepping up to protect the future of physical gaming infrastructure and advocate for responsible, community-first policies,” Churchill Downs Senior Director of Government Relations Shannon McCracken said of GLPI’s membership.
McCracken was at the front and center of the iGaming debate earlier this month during a panel at the National Council of Lawmakers from Gaming States (NCLGS) summer meeting. Online casino advocate John Pappas questioned McCracken about the cannibalization of live horse racing as a result of Churchill Downs’s popular TwinSpires app.
After the panel, the NAAiG released a statement about the conversation.
“Not all forms of online wagering are the same. Equating regulated pari-mutuel horse racing with 24/7 casino-style iGaming misrepresents both the law and the lived experience of gambling harm,” it noted.
