(Reuters) – Penn Entertainment reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, as visitors return to its casinos and demand for online sports betting rises.
Shares of the company rose ~15% in premarket hours.
The company late on Tuesday announced a $2 bln deal under which it would rebrand its sports betting business, which is increasingly lucrative in the United States, with Walt Disney’s ESPN as ESPN Bet. Shares of rival betting firm DraftKings were down 4.8%.
Sports betting is live in 34 states and Washington, D.C. and is legal but not yet operational in another four, according to the American Gaming Association.
Revenue from Penn’s “Interactive segment,” which includes online sports betting, increased 66.2% in the second quarter ended June 30.
“The company experienced stable property level performance in the quarter with each month showing sequential improvement”, CEO Jay Snowden said in a statement.
Penn reported a net profit of 48 cents per share for the reported quarter, compared with expectations of 42 cents per share, as per Refinitiv data.
Revenue rose about 3% to 1.67 billion, in line with analysts’ average estimates.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
