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Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden spent a lot of time during the company’s most recent earnings call talking about how Penn’s investments and transactions from 2023 will pay off for the company. Given the bottom line for Penn for the final quarter of 2023 and the entire year, it’s easy to see why that was the approach.
Amid full-year revenues of $6.3 billion during 2023, Penn’s operating loss for the year came to $690.2 million. The final quarter of the year represented an operating loss a little less than half of that size. During the earnings call, Penn executives highlighted the business components they believe will get the company back in black.
Some of that emphasis focused on Penn’s interactive division and its online gambling products. Snowden pointed to existing statistics from the performance of those platforms to support his argument for better days ahead.
A look at the raw numbers for Penn’s Q4 and entire year in 2023
According to Penn’s earnings release, Penn recorded net losses for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the entire year. Those sums came to $358.8 million and $491.4 million respectively. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $1.3 billion.
The company’s brick-and-mortar casinos accounted for the vast majority of those revenues. Revenues there stayed quite consistent for both the fourth quarter and the full year. For example, Penn’s Northeast segment saw $662.9 million in revenue for Q4 2023, a drop of just 0.6% compared to Q4 2022.
During the call, Snowden shared updates on four development projects in three states. Those include the transition of the Hollywood Aurora (Illinois) to a new inland siteand eventually in North Carolina, pending regulatory approvals. While Penn did not share any figures of what share of those new markets they expect ESPN Bet to command upon entry, Snowden did express that they expect to be competitive.
Overall, Snowden expressed confidence that investments in online gambling “will create significant long-term shareholder value.” Those investments were significant during 2023 and the numbers reflect that. Snowden and others likely hope that the benefit of those investments will become more tangible in the bottom line moving forward.
