Mass Mess: $25M a Day But Barstool Sports Still Causing Heartburn for Regulators
Ben Mintz has been let go by Barstool Sports after making a racial slur while apparently reading lyrics from a rap song.
Bill Speros, Senior Betting Analyst at Bookies & GDC Group offered his insightful perspective on the matter via Twitter. He also posted a video of Barstools founder Dave Pornoy explaining the situation.
"Speaking as someone who has covered more than 400 hours of @MassGamingComm meetings, has interviewed Cathy Stein on the record, and personally met all the regulators ... @stoolpresidente is in saying this would have been an issue at least in Massachusetts."
Speaking as someone who has covered more than 400 hours of @MassGamingComm meetings, has interviewed Cathy Stein on the record, and personally met all the regulators ...@stoolpresidente is 100 in saying this would have been an issue at least in Massachusetts
— Bill Speros (@billsperos) May 4, 2023
-MORE- https://t.co/MzTReXnVb8
Portnoy says he has been "fighting tooth and nail" to keep Ben but Penn National, the company that now owns Barstool, felt differently.
"Penn operates in a world we don't operate in," Portnoy explained. "They're highly regulated by the government. They are issued licenses for gaming that, just as easily as they are issued, they can be pulled back."
Portnoy added: "If you have followed any of the states and Penn trying to get legalized, one thing is clear, a lot of people hate my guts. They fucking hate me. They hate Barstool. They look for any lever, any excuse, anything to cause problems for us and to pull the licenses."
Penn is convinced there is a legitimate chance that states would pull their license over the Mintz incident.
That's what Speros is referencing when he says Portnoy is correct as it relates to Massachusetts. That state was initially reluctant to license Barstool Sports and therefore destroy a billion dollar company.
"Without their licenses, they are a zero dollar company," Portnoy points out.
He adds in regard to the potential for alienating Barstool Sports personalities that "there may be nothing more to protect if you go through with this."
"But again, Penn is a multi-billion dollar company. We (Barstool Sports) are a small part of it. I hate the decision. I don't agree with the decision. But it's not my decision to make."
Of course, Portnoy and Penn did get into bed with one another and one would have had to be deaf, dumb and blind not to realize this would become an issue down the road. Actually, even the deaf, dumb and blind would have been able to comprehend this. No offense to the deaf, dumb and blind. We love the deaf, dumb and blind....but...
The Barstool Army likely won't accept this. And the comments suggest we are right in this assertion.
One tweet reads:
"This is it. It’s all over. Everything we loved about Barstool has been taken from us. A stoolie was rational, and expressly loyal because of what the brand represented. It represented the 80% in the middle. Penn has just curtailed to the 10% outlier, and what was great about Barstool, is now gone."
But the one that really caught our attention?
"Cost of selling out Davey."
Ouch!
Penn ain't going to risk having their license pulled in Massachusetts. That much is for sure.
After online sportsbooks opened for business on March 10, Massachusetts sports fans wagered more than $548 million using the six online sportsbook apps available in the state.
That’s a total of $24.9 million wagered per day from March 10-31.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
