PENN Entertainment reports solid results during Q3 2023

(PRESS RELEASE) -- PENN Entertainment, Inc. reported financial results for the three and nine months ended on 30 September 2023.

“Our property level performance was stable in the third quarter reflecting solid results from our rated traditional core customer,” said Jay Snowden, Chief Executive Officer and President. “We continued to see relative strength in several locations, including our casinos in Ohio, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Missouri, which highlights the benefits of our geographically diversified portfolio of premier regional gaming assets and the addition of retail sports betting offerings at many of our properties. Third quarter Interactive segment results reflect curtailed marketing in the U.S. as we prepared to transition our online sportsbook to the ESPN BET brand. Finally, we are excited to announce that we plan to simultaneously launch ESPN BET on Tuesday, 14 November across the 17 states in which we operate online sports betting, subject to final approvals. This strategic alliance is expected to further expand our digital ecosystem and drive re-engagement with the millions of customers in our digital and retail databases, leading to compelling cross-sell opportunities.

Stable Retail Performance
Property level highlights:

• Revenues of $1.42 billion
• Adjusted EBITDAR of $523.4 million
• Adjusted EBITDAR margins of 36.8%

“Retail performance this quarter was supported by a slight uptick in volumes from our rated customers, offsetting softness in our unrated segment in the South region, the continued return of our 65+ demographic, and moderate growth in our spend per visit trends,” said Snowden. “Additionally, our portfolio benefited from new and sustained engagement driven by our market leading retail sportsbook concepts. With the recent launch of our enhanced customer loyalty program, PENN Play, we have continued to drive database growth and customer engagement. Our database now has over 27 million members, with approximately 40% of our growth for the quarter coming from our online offerings. Our continued investments in technology to improve the customer journey has led to 2.2 million app downloads, and we are seeing a double-digit premium in retail theoretical from guests that engage with us through the PENN Play app versus non app users. Finally, the adoption of our industry leading cashless, cardless and contactless technology (“3C’s”), which is now deployed at twenty-one properties, with more on the way, has resulted in approximately $225 million in deposits into the PENN Wallet.”

“We are also pleased to announce that we expect to break ground on our four growth projects throughout November and December of this year. These investments in the aggregate will create long-term shareholder value driven by their attractive return profiles and also contribute to our strong free cash flow generation upon opening in late 2025 and early 2026.

ESPN BET Planned Launch on 14 November
Interactive Segment highlights:

• Revenues of $196.3 million (including tax gross up of $102.6 million)
• Adjusted EBITDA loss of $50.2 million

“We are extremely excited to announce the planned launch of ESPN BET prior to the active Thanksgiving week sports calendar that includes the NCAA college football rivalry week and the Super Bowl rematch of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles televised on ESPN’s Monday Night Football,” said Snowden. “ESPN BET will be powered by our proprietary and proven technology platform, which continues to drive impressive performance in Ontario under theScore Bet brand for both online sports betting and iCasino. Our ESPN BET product will include a wide array of popular betting options, including featured bets, quick bets (micro-markets), player props, same game parlays and more. In connection with the launch, ESPN will be implementing an initial wave of exclusive integrations targeting their 200 million loyal fans across their linear and digital platforms, including an advertising campaign headlined by SportsCenter anchors Scott Van Pelt and Elle Duncan. Looking ahead, we will be introducing even deeper platform and media integrations with ESPN over the upcoming months, providing an unmatched and seamless media/betting experience that will appeal to sports fans across the country.”

ESG – Caring for our People, our Communities and our Planet
“Reflective of the continued strides we have made to date on the ESG front, Forbes Magazine once again named PENN as one of ‘America’s Best Employers for Diversity 2023’ and ‘America’s Best Large Employers for 2023,’” said Snowden. “In addition, Newsweek added PENN to their list of ‘Greatest Workplaces for 2023’ and Time Magazine named PENN one of the ‘World’s Best Companies.’ Finally, on 4 October, our company was once again honored by the Women’s Forum as a 2023 Champion of Board Diversity. During the quarter we updated our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions inventory for 2022 and are finalizing our 2022 Scope 3 inventory, the results of which will be included in our Corporate Social Responsibility Report in April 2024. In addition to alignment with the Casino and Gaming industry standard of the SASB reporting framework, we are working toward alignment with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”). We also recently submitted our inaugural CDP climate-change disclosure.”

Liquidity Remains Strong
Total liquidity as of 30 September 2023 was $2.3 billion inclusive of $1.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Traditional net debt as of the end of the quarter was $1.3 billion and the lease-adjusted net leverage ratio was 4.7x.

Additional information on PENN’s reported results, including a reconciliation of the non-GAAP results to their most comparable GAAP measures, is included in the financial tables below. The Company does not provide a reconciliation of projected Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDAR because it is unable to predict with reasonable accuracy the value of certain adjustments that may significantly impact the Company’s results, including realized and unrealized gains and losses on equity securities, re-measurement of cash-settled stock-based awards, contingent purchase payments associated with prior acquisitions, and income tax (benefit) expense, which are dependent on future events that are out of the Company’s control or that may not be reasonably predicted.