PENN National Gaming

I was recently sitting at a family gathering with my wife and her brother when he mentioned something to me about this new stock that he was purchasing. The company was called PENN National Gaming and he was really excited about the potential it had.

I asked him to tell me a little bit about the company...

Basically, across the united states, more and more places are starting to allow sports betting. In the past, this was only available in Vegas and at a few other select places. Even sovereign tribal casinos did not have a traditional sports book from what I understand.

With the recent move to legalize the betting, PENN is a company that is well positioned to be one of the leading backers of this type of betting. They already had a pretty substantial online casino system and they also just partnered with Barstool Sports to expand their reach.

The problem now is PENN has a couple of things working against it. The overall downturn in the market is not going to help any business out there. On top of that, the postponement or cancellation of most sports across the globe is going to eat into the very reason they exist.

If the NCAA tournament were taking place right now like it was supposed to be, I could see thousands if not millions of people placing wagers through their platform. Sadly, given the state of things, it could take a while for them to recover. Last I checked, their stock had fallen $30 or $40 per share and it is hard to say when it will recover.

I still think this was a good acquisition for him and if he is able to buy the dip he might be even better positioned when sports return and the social distancing has died down. The one thing PENN has going for them is the fact that most casinos are starting to shut down as well. People will be looking for alternatives to "in person" gambling and PENN might be able to fill that void.

this is not financial advice, always manage your money wisely