PENN Hopeful Hollywood Casino Standalone App Ready By Early 2025 – US Bets

PENN Entertainment expects its new standalone mobile casino app to be available by early 2025, PENN CEO Jay Snowden said during Thursdays Q1 earnings call.

Were probably the only major player that doesnt have a standalone iCasino app at this point, Snowden said. We will have that ready to go in very early 2025.

Currently, PENN operates retail Hollywood casinos and its online casino product can be accessed through the ESPN BET platform in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia. Previously, PENN operated Barstool Sportsbook and Casino in a joint app, although Pennsylvania customers had access to a standalone Hollywood Casino platform. Following ESPN BETs launch in November, Pennsylvania online casino customers were moved from the standalone casino app to the current model of accessing the casino through ESPN BET.

You can imagine when youre talking about activating your land-based casino database, and theyre sitting in a Hollywood property and they have to download ESPN BET in order to play with you the messaging gets a little bit cluttered or confusing, Snowden said.

Snowden says progress on building the standalone Hollywood Casino app is positive, but itll likely not be ready to launch before 2025 in part due to needed enhancements for ESPN BET. Given a lower-than-expected hold in Q1, PENN is highly focused on improving ESPN BETs parlay offerings and overall product in the coming months.

Aaron LaBerge will take over as the companys chief technology officer on July 1, and hes expected to spearhead ESPN BET changes in addition to the eventual online casino development.

Once a standalone casino app is offered, PENN believes itll better be positioned to compete with casino operators like BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel, which account for roughly 80% of online casino market share.

If you look over the medium and longer term, we would expect our online casino market share to be right there with our online sports betting market share, Snowden said. It trails today. It has trailed. Weve got the right people and the right plans in place to be able to close that gap.

Screenshot from PENN Entertainments website

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PENN Hopeful Hollywood Casino Standalone App Ready By Early 2025 - US Bets