A new standalone online casino platform is coming to Michigan early in 2025. PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden announced on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Thursday morning that its Hollywood casino app is expected to launch in Michigan early in the new year.
Currently, PENN online customers access the Hollywood MI online casino as part of the company’s ESPN BET sportsbook site.
“By early 2025, we expect to introduce our first standalone casino app, which will allow us to better leverage the strength of the Hollywood brands and our robust casino database,” said PENN CEO Jay Snowden.
“We are continuing to improve our high casino product offering by adding exciting new game titles from PENN Game Studios, while increasing the breadth of our third party content and expanding our promotional capabilities.”
Hollywood online casino steadily losing market share in Michigan
The Hollywood online casino and ESPN BET launched in Michigan in mid-November of last year.
Since that time, Hollywood has consistently battled DraftKings’ Golden Nugget online casino for sixth spot in the Great Lakes State by online casino revenue.
PENN’s Hollywood online casino has averaged $4,962,194 per month in revenue in since December, when it topped out at a market share of 3.5%. For context, BetMGM, Michigan’s leading online casino operator, typically hovers around $50 million in monthly revenue in the state — 10 times higher than Hollywood.
And, the Hollywood online casino has been steadily losing market share ever since it launched in the Great Lakes State.
June was the platform’s worst month. It commanded only a 2% share and finished ninth in Michigan behind BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, BetRivers, Caesars, Golden Nugget, Four Winds and Fanatics. Perhaps a standalone casino app would help reverse that trend as it did for Caesars which launched a separate Caesars Palace online casino app in August of 2023.
PENN operates the Hollywood Casino at Greektown, which is on the upswing
There was better news for PENN’s retail casino in Michigan: the Hollywood Casino at Greektown.
“Our recent hotel room renovations and the introduction of our first ESPN BET retail sportsbook have delivered impressive revenue and market share growth at the downtown Detroit property,” said Snowden (above).
Through the first six months of 2024, the Hollywood Casino at Greektown had revenue of $148.8 million to finish third among the Detroit casinos behind the MGM Grand Detroit ($301 million) and the MotorCity Casino ($195 million).
In April, just before the start of the NFL Draft held in Detroit, PENN opened its first ESPN BET-branded retail sportsbook in the nation to great success.
The Greektown led the three Detroit casinos in June sports betting handle by a wide margin. In fact, despite a much slower sports betting calendar, the ESPN BET retail sportsbook at the Greektown casino nearly matched its May numbers.
For June, the retail sports betting handle at the Detroit casinos was as follows:
- Hollywood Casino at Greektown: $4.1 million (down from $4.4 million in May)
- MotorCity Casino: $2.2 million (down from $3.6 million in May)
- MGM Grand Detroit: $2.1 million (down from $3.1 million in May)
“Revenues at the [Greektown] property are up more than 6.5% year over year,” Snowden said. “And, we saw a 90 basis point increase in year over year market share growth during the quarter.
“This quarter, we benefited from strong market share growth in several markets… including Hollywood Casino in Greektown,” Snowden said.
PENN stock trading up following earnings call
PENN Entertainment stock was trading up following the company’s earnings report and call.
The stock began trading at $18.14 and was up 8% to $18.67 by 1 p.m.
