Regional casino giant Penn National Gaming said Friday it struck a multi-year partnership agreement with NASCAR to become the authorized gaming operator for racing series, marking the company’s first deal with a professional sports league.
The partnership includes the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, where Penn operates the Hollywood Casino, a gaming facility that overlooks the racetrack’s second turn.
The title sponsorship for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, a NASCAR Cup Series race, was extended through 2026.
“Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway has been able to entertain thousands of their customers, not only from the Kansas City area, but also from around the country during the Hollywood Casino 400 the last several years,” said Kansas Speedway President Patrick Warren. “I’m excited that we have extended our title race sponsorship agreement.”
Penn National operates 41 casinos in 19 states. Last month, the company and media platform Barstool Sports struck a $163 million deal to utilize the Barstool brand for all of the company’s online and retail sports betting and iCasino products.
The NASCAR partnership is part of Penn’s strategy to create an omni-channel provider of retail and online gaming and sports betting entertainment. Penn promote NASCAR across its properties and on its soon-to-launch sports betting app.
Penn has operated the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway since 2012. However, Kansas is not one of the 20 states that have legalized sports betting, but it is one of the 17 states where the subject is being considered by state lawmakers.
Craig Neeb, NASCAR’s executive vice president of innovation, said the racing league reached a deal with Genius Sports in 2019, a sports data and technology company that provides licensed data to sportsbooks.
Neeb said Genius rolled out several in-race bet options last year and is looking to add eight additional options for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.
“This partnership (with Penn) also positions NASCAR to take advantage of the rapid expansion of legalized sports betting across the country,” Neeb said. “We’re thrilled to have Penn National on board as our first authorized gaming operator to strengthen our effort to increase fan engagement with a platform perfect for in-play experience.”
Penn National will create for NASCAR a free-to-play mobile game named NASCAR Finish Line, which offers users the chance to win a $50,000 jackpot every race. The app is expected to be available ahead of the Feb. 16 Daytona 500. Players can win the jackpot by accurately predicting the race winner and the highest finishers across six different groupings of six drivers.
“We are very excited to enter this long-term, strategic partnership with NASCAR,” said Penn National Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Weissman. “We look forward to the opportunity to provide NASCAR fans multiple outlets for their fandom, including our destination casinos and sportsbooks.”
NASCAR has three national series, the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
