Dave Portnoy: DraftKings And Penn National Should Merge Sportsbooks – US Bets

There has been a lot of chatter about consolidation in the sportsbook industry, but the chatter just put forward by Dave Portnoy, the face of Barstool Sportsbook well, it would shake the foundations of American sports betting.

In short: Portnoy believes Barstool Sportsbook, which is owned by Penn National Gaming, would be an ideal merger with DraftKings. (Penn National is also part-owner of Portnoys media site, Barstool Sports, with plans to become full owner.)

Like from and Im not involved in this I dont think there can be a more obvious synergy than between us and DraftKings, Portnoy said Tuesday on the latest edition of The Dave Portnoy Show with Eddie & Co. I think its game over if we merged. Honestly. I think that.

Im not involved in that, but if I looked around and my brains going, DraftKings, Barstool they have very good tech, they have the market share, they have to spend a ton, and theyre spending all this on marketing we could just erase that. All right, combine, were your marketing. I think its a total game changer. Who knows? Thats just me with no knowledge, no nothing, but to me its like, Oh my god, they have what we need, we have what they need, bang. Who knows?

Portnoys comments came during discussion of the gambling industry on his podcast with his co-host, Chicago Eddie.

It all started when Eddie asked Portnoy about DraftKings recent quarterly earnings report, a report that Wall Street didnt take kindly to.

You cant spend the money in this industry that is being spent on advertising and not get your f***ing ass kicked, Portnoy said. We dont do it, its a different model. DraftKings is saying, This is expected and just wait, because eventually companies will disappear and well have market share that is what theyre saying. They keep pushing the dates back [for achieving profitability].

Its just a brutal industry, and its hard to make money, and its hard to make money again, broken record when you have to spend so much to acquire your customers, Portnoy continued.

Notable: Before signing a deal to partner with Penn National, Portnoy had negotiations to team up with DraftKings, which he discussed during a Twitter Spaces conversation with Roundhill Investments last year. He did note, however, that Penn National was the only company to come forward with a solid offer.

DraftKings declined comment Wednesday on Portnoys comment/trial balloon/outrageous word salad, and emails to Penn National were not returned as of publication.

Photo: Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY

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Dave Portnoy: DraftKings And Penn National Should Merge Sportsbooks - US Bets