Nicasio Conti, former anti-corruption commissioner, urges the Philippines to ban online gambling ads, warning of rising addiction and harm to vulnerable communities.
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Q1 2025: Penn Sees Online Growth as Proxy Battle Heats Up
On May 8, Penn Entertainment reported Q1 2025 gains in online gaming, while land-based growth stalled. Tensions rise as HG Vora sues ahead of a key shareholder vote.
Total revenue for the quarter rose to $1.67 billion, up from $1.61 billion a year earlier. Penn’s net income hit $111.5 million, or $0.68 per share, reversing a net loss of $114.9 million in Q1 2024.
CEO Jay Snowden highlighted the company’s ability to bounce back:
“Penn’s properties demonstrated strong resilience in the quarter following severe weather challenges earlier in the year, as gaming volumes rebounded in March and remained consistent through April and early May.
In our Interactive segment, we generated record gaming revenue and significant year-over-year improvements in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA despite industry-wide unfavourable sports betting hold.”
Penn’s Interactive segment brought in $290.1 million in revenue, improving from a $196 million loss last year to a smaller $89 million adjusted EBITDA loss.
Snowden called it “significant growth” and said it showed stronger performance in both revenue and efficiency, despite customer-friendly sports betting results that hurt margins across the industry.
Meanwhile, Penn’s land-based casinos reported $1.4 billion in revenue, with adjusted EBITDAR of $457 million and 33.1% margins.
Penn continued buying back shares, spending $25 million in Q1 and another $9.6 million after the quarter ended. The company remains committed to buying back at least $350 million worth of shares in 2025.
As of 31 March, Penn had $1.5 billion in liquidity, including $591.6 million in cash, and $2.1 billion in net debt.
Analysts at Citizens pointed out:
“Last quarter, the company, for the first time, brought up the notion of exiting the ESPN Bet partnership if certain expectations were not met. While no incremental information was provided on the call, we believe there was a further shift in tone in regard to the strategic path forward.”
Penn recently launched standalone iGaming apps, and analysts believe this shows a move toward digital gaming and less focus on sports betting, especially as the ESPN Bet opt-out period in late 2026 approaches.
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