You may not yet know about Barstool Sportsbook, but you will soon. Thanks to a recent 36% acquisition of the popular Barstool Sports brand by sports leading casino operator Penn National Gaming, Barstool Sportsbook is expected to soon launch in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana. Let’s get into what you should expect upon that launch, including how to score a Barstool Sportsbook promo code.
Barstool Sportsbook Launch Date
Barstool Sportsbook is expected to launch in August, 2020, according to statements made by Penn National Gaming CEO Jay Snowden. It will be available in all states where Penn National has approved online sports betting licenses.
Additionally, Barstool Sportsbook and other Barstool-related brands, such as “One Bite” pizza and others will have a presence on Penn National Gaming properties.
Barstool Sportsbook Promo Code
| Barstool Sportsbook | Promo Code Offer |
|---|---|
| Signup Bonus For Barstool Sportsbook | Likely to be risk-free bet, deposit bonus, or free bet |
| How To Sign Up | Visit the Barstool Sportsbook page, click sign up or register button, and enter your information. |
| Promo Code | Not known, but likely to be inside joke among Barstool audience |
| States Available | Barstool Sportsbook is available in all states where Penn National Gaming has an approved online sports betting license. |
Currently, Barstool Sportsbook is not taking sports betting action, and, thus, there is no promo code yet available.
It remains to be seen how Barstool Sportsbook will incentivize new users. Typically, legal online sportsbooks offer new-user promos such as deposit matches or risk-free bets. For instance, DraftKings Sportsbook and Fanduel Sportsbook are currently offering new users risk-free bets of up to $500, while FOX Bet offers a $20 sign up bonus and deposit match of up to $100.
Types of Promos Barstool Might Offer
Barstool Sportsbook is not yet accepting bets, so we don’t know precisely what type of promotions will be available to new and current users, but a look at industry standards provides some potential insight.
Risk-Free Bets
Other top legal online sportsbooks use offer bettors big risk-free bets up to $1,000 at sign up. Typically, such sportsbooks will match a user’s first bet up to a certain amount and refund losing wagers in the form of site credit. Some sites require a rather high play-through requirement, meaning the site credit must risked (possibly multiple times) in order to make a withdraw. While some sites will simply release the credit all at once, others will release smaller amounts for the user to play over multiple bets.
Risk-free bets aren’t limited to just new users as many sportsbooks will offer risk-free plays as an incentive for users to make a certain number of wagers or place bets on specific sporting events.
We could imagine Barstool, in leveraging its personalities, may offer risk-free bets that allow you to wager on action presented by the likes of El Pres, Big Cat, KFC, and others, and then refund the bet if it loses. FOX Bet does this with Cousin Cal.
Deposit Matches
Another common promotion comes in the form of deposit matches. FOX Bet, for instance, offers users a $100 deposit match in addition to a $20 sign up bonus, while DraftKings Sportsbook offers a deposit match of up to $500. Depending upon the sportsbook, these deposit matches may require a play through in order to make a withdraw.
It’s worth noting that deposit matches can cost sportsbooks a lot, since they’re effectively giving away free money. But Barstool believes it will have lower customer acquisition costs given its large database and following, and so Barstool may be able to offer bigger deposit matches as a result.
Odds Boosts
Almost every prominent legal online sports betting site offers odds boosts, but Barstool Sportsbook figures to take a page out of FOX Bet’s playbook and use its various personalities to brand special offers.
FOX Bet used the likes of Colin Cowherd, Charissa Thompson, and Cousin Sal to brand various promotional payouts throughout this past football season, and given the popularity of Barstool personalities like Big Cat, PFT Commenter, KFC, and Portnoy, we should expect to see a similar approach taken by Barstool Sportsbook.
Bet Insurance
Even the best and most seasoned bettors are susceptible to bad beats—blown leads, bad calls, and fluke plays have spoiled plenty of seemingly sure things over the years. That’s why several sportsbooks offer various types of bet insurance.
Some books will offer site credit for parlays with one losing leg, while others will wipe away late-game losses. Bet insurance not only takes some of the risk away from a potential wager, it’s also good PR.
Barstool Sportsbook Brand Power
In its current iteration, the “Barstool Bets” app integrates Barstool’s strong portfolio of blogs, streaming video, podcasts, and social media presence to support free-to-play cash contests, backed by free-to-play gaming provider Chalkline Sports. In time, Barstool is expected to transform into a full-fledged sports betting app that accepts traditional wager types on a wide-range of sports.
What makes the future of Barstool Sportsbook so intriguing is the brand’s meteoric rise in recent years, spurred by a rapidly increasing and extraordinarily loyal fanbase comprised of young male sports fans—the precise demographic targeted by sportsbooks. Moreover, the reach of Barstool’s many tentacles in the sports media landscape figure to power an ultra-effective organic brand promotion.
Barstool Sportsbook won’t be the first household name positioned outside of the sports betting realm to slap its brand on a legal online sportsbook, but Barstool’s lineup of popular and engaging talent figures to drive prospective sports bettors in droves to the app.
This is, in part, why casino and sports betting giant Penn National Gaming made the costly move to purchase a minority stake in Barstool Sports, a move that within three years could grow to a roughly 50% stake. Whereas Penn National Gaming had previously paved the way for companies such as DraftKings Sportsbook to enter states where online sports betting has been or will be legalized, now PNG can throw its own sportsbook into the fray. As we previously explained in a separate post on the merger:
“Why do this? Penn National was already exceedingly-well positioned in the sports betting space given their reach and market access. But there rumors they wanted to launch their own brand-not simply provide access for partners. Acquiring a piece of Barstool allows them to do just that. No one was playing a “Penn National Online Sportsbook,” not in Pennsylvania or elsewhere. But Barstool Bets? That will resonate everywhere.”
Sure will.
States Where Barstool Sportsbook in Available
Currently, Barstool Bets is available in all states because it is simply an extension of the Barstool Sports website that offers free-to-play cash contests. Certainly, Barstool will benefit by being early to the party because this current format allows for the collection of e-mail addresses and other valuable user information.
Ultimately, when Barstool Sportsbook’s switch is flipped to a fully operational sportsbook, we can assume, given Penn National Gaming’s already well-established presence across the legal sports betting landscape, that it will operate both via the retail and online sports betting space in the following states:
- Pennsylvania
- Indiana
- West Virginia
Pennsylvania
Barstool Sportsbook’s pathway to Pennsylvania is clear with Penn National Gaming currently operating two casino hotel properties in the state, including Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.
Read more about online sports betting in Pennsylvania.
Indiana
Legal online sports betting went live in the Hoosier State last October, and while major industry players such as DraftKings Sportsbook and Fanduel Sportsbook have thrived there, Barstool Sportsbook figures to become a factor, too, later this year. Penn National Gaming currently operates the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, which is located roughly 90 minutes from Indianapolis and 30 minutes from Cincinnati.
Read more about online sports betting in Indiana.
West Virginia
Legal online sports betting has been offered in West Virginia since September 2019, and Barstool Sportsbook is a good bet to launch there because of Penn National Gaming’s established presence within state limits. Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races is a popular casino hotel located in the upper Shenandoah Valley and is also readily accessible from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Coming Soon
In addition to the states above, it is expected that the rapid growth of both Penn National Gaming and Barstool Sports will bring the app to other states that are waiting to go legal. Those states include:
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- Illinois
- Ohio
- Massachusetts
- Maine
New Jersey
Penn National Gaming owns Freehold Raceway, but that location doesn’t currently take sports betting action. Although it’s less clear exactly how Barstool Sportsbook will launch in the Garden State, its launch remains a possibility.
Read more about NJ online sports betting.
Michigan
Legislation signed in December 2019 enabled the Michigan Gaming Control Board to bring sports betting to Michigan. While retail sportsbooks are expected to begin taking action as early as next month, online sports betting is not expected to launch in the state until early next year. When it does, Barstool Sportsbook will be well-positioned with Penn National Gaming’s Greektown Casino Hotel location in Detroit.
Read more about online sports betting in Michigan.
Sports Offered
While we don’t yet know specifics about Barstool Sportsbook, it’s safe to assume its sports betting platform will offer the same sports betting action as other big-time players. Those sports include:
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Cricket
- Cycling
- Darts
- Football
- Golf
- Hockey
- MMA and UFC
- Motor Sports
- Rugby
- Soccer
- Tennis
Barstool Sportsbook Deposit Methods
Barstool Sportsbook is likely to offer a plethora of deposit options to fund accounts, including:
- Online banking
- Credit Card
- eCheck
- PayNearMe
- Neteller
- Skrill
- PayPal
Is a Promo Code Needed for Barstool Sportsbook?
Barstool Sportsbook is likely to offer competitive (and potentially lucrative) promotions that rival other top legal online sportsbooks, but it is not yet known what those promotions will be, or if a promo code will be required. It is widely assumed that Barstool Sportsbook promos will come in the form of industry-standard risk-free bets and/or deposit matches.
Barstool Sportsbook History
The power merger of Barstool Sports and Penn National Gaming has been more than 15 years in the making.
Founded in 2003 by Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports was initially a weekly newspaper disseminated to public transit commuters in and around Boston. In its infancy, the paper had a heavy focus on fantasy sports and sports betting, and soon grew to also include commentary on items of public interest.
In 2007, Portnoy took Barstool Sports online, moving the content from a print tabloid handed out at Boston T stations to the internet. Soon after, Portnoy began hiring new writers that would grow the network in cities such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
Popular posts included commentary on sports, women, gambling, and pop culture items, helping to build a big enough following that Barstool soon began selling merchandise and hosting events.
In January 2016, Barstool Sports sold 51% majority stake of the company to The Chernin Group at a reported valuation near $15 million, prompting a move of its headquarters to New York City. In a subsequent restructuring, Portnoy maintained control of content, and former AOL CMO Erika Nardini was hired as CEO of Barstool.
That move, along with a 2018 court ruling that repealed the ban on United States sports gambling, each served as a precursor to the January 2020 sale of a 36% stake in Barstool Sports to Penn National Gaming. The reported deal was for a massive $163 million, meaning Barstool Sports’ current valuation currently sits in the neighborhood of $450 million.
In the coming months, Penn National Gaming will parlay its deal with the increasingly popular Barstool Sports to launch a sportsbook that is expected to create a bit of buzz thanks to the brand’s large and loyal following.
