Barstool Sports officially signed a multi-year sports betting deal to promote DraftKings, Founder and CEO Dave Portnoy announced on social media minutes after the Super Bowl on Sunday night.
First rumored last month, it is the first Barstool gambling partnership since Penn Entertainment sold the company back to Portnoy in August in favor of a deal with ESPN worth up to $2 billion. DraftKings is expected to pay Barstool a “low-eight-figure” sum per year under the agreement, according to a Sportico report.
“I just bought my company back for $1,” Portnoy says in the DraftKings promotional video.
“And now we can do gambling partnerships again,” Barstool’s Dan “Big Cat” Katz chimes in right after.
Barstool back in betting after months away
That last part is notable. When Portnoy repurchased the company, it was revealed that he would owe Penn 50% if he sold it again. The deal, however, only prevented Barstool from partnership in the space for six months.
Less than a year ago, Penn completed a $550 million purchase of Barstool Sportsbook. It now runs ESPN Bet and remains one of DraftKings chief competitors in online sports betting and iGaming.
DraftKings to hold earnings call Friday
DraftKings did not release any formal news on the deal. It will likely address the parameters of the agreement during its earnings call on Friday.
“DraftKings has a portfolio of advertising deals and our exclusive agreement with Barstool represents another valuable, high-reach addition to our marketing mix,” Stephanie Sherman, chief marketing officer at DraftKings, said in a statement.
Portnoy talks DraftKings deal
Sporting a sleeveless DraftKings shirt, Portnoy spoke about the deal in a video interview with Fox News Monday:
“Hopefully it’s what we’re going to do for them. They’re the exclusive partner of Barstool Sports for gambling. So we’re a gambling company at heart,” Portnoy said in the interview. “We’ve been doing it since we’ve started, and whenever we place bets, either daily fantasy sports or gambling, we’ll be using DraftKings. We’ll be promoting it.”
Since launching ESPN Bet, Penn has accounted for roughly 7% of online sports betting handle in the US, according to a note from Citizens JMP Securities. That is up from the 4% range Barstool had, though still quite a large distance away from the 33% DraftKings has held since ESPN Bet launched last year.
