Penn Entertainment shareholders were more accepting of CEO Jay Snowden‘s 2026 pay package than they were last year.
Last week, 77.5% of shareholder votes approved the executive pay package, which only included changes to Snowden’s compensation, at Penn’s annual meeting. That is up significantly from less than 33% approval received at last year’s meeting.
Penn announced in April that Snowden could earn up to $17.4 million this year, down from a maximum of $25.3 million last year.
Penn’s stock closed Monday at $20.83, up nearly 21% from late April when the proposed pay reduction was first announced.
Penn investors spoke up on pay
The 2025 annual meeting resulted in two new board members suggested by HG Vora, which launched a proxy battle in the hopes of forcing change. While that issue was mostly put to bed then, the compensation vote showed the company another big problem and vowed to talk to shareholders about executive compensation in the follow-up press release.
The details were laid out in a 152-page proxy statement. Penn acknowledged shareholder frustration but also noted Snowden had taken home just 42% of his potential pay from 2021 through 2025, or $12.5 million.
Director Maria Kaplowitz was appointed to lead the compensation committee shortly after the vote and immediately went to work. In all, the company conducted meetings with nine investors holding 36% of outstanding shares. Penn had invited 17 investors holding 48% of the company for discussions.
One main change investors wanted to see was Penn’s performance more closely tied to Snowden’s compensation. That led the performance-based portion of Penn’s long term incentive plan to make up 80% of the total, up from 70%.
Focus shift to online casino paying off
Penn dropped the ESPN Bet brand last December, with it and Disney both deciding to opt out in the third year of a 10-year, $1.5 billion agreement.
After years of losses fighting for sports betting market share that two strong sports brands could not help it meet, the regional casino operator decided to shift its focus to online casino.
That change has already been felt, Snowden said during April‘s Q1 earnings call. Its five iGaming jurisdictions saw net gaming revenue jump 362% from the prior year.
That number of markets grows to six next month when Alberta online casinos and sportsbooks launch on July 13. Penn will have all three of its brands – theScore Bet, theScore Casino and Hollywood Casino – in the province and hopes to replicate the success its seen in Ontario.
According to Chief Technology Officer Aaron LaBerge, Penn holds a “very nice” market share in Ontario, which does not report results by operator. There are as many people that use theScore media app in Alberta as there are in Ontario, he said on the Q1 call.
