Penn Entertainment was encouraged by the midterm election results in several states, with a new opportunity for Texas gambling emerging.
Several key Texas leadership positions shifted as a result of Tuesday’s voting, including Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa unseating Republican Greg Abbott as governor and Rep. Vikki Goodwin defeating Dan Patrick, a noted opponent of gambling expansion, in the lieutenant governor race.
The changes could bring significant repercussions for Texas gambling in the coming years.
Speaking on a third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden said the company intends to “play offense” in Texas as it advocates for gambling expansion in one of the hardest states to crack for the commercial gaming industry.
“We do not talk about it every call because it just hasn’t been a topic of conversation — not even hot, it hasn’t even really been warm for a variety of reasons — but we’ve been making investments in the state of Texas for decades,” Snowden said. “We have been operating in the gaming space through horse racing in Texas for a long time.
