With the NFL season’s kickoff hours away, Barstool Sportsbook Thursday became the latest gaming provider to announce an agreement with Genius Sports, which will provide data and marketing support for Penn Interactive’s gaming platform.
Earlier this year, Genius paid the NFL to become its sole official gambling data provider, and it will give Barstool Sportsbook data for other sports as well, from NASCAR to the English Premier League. The NFL component is particularly notable though, given Barstool’s complex history with the league and commissioner Roger Goodell.
As Genius looks to profit off its exclusive NFL status, the company has expanded its relationship with gaming outfits to include more fan engagement solutions. In this case, the company’s announcement included mention of Barstool Sportsbook marketing on NFL digital properties.
“Delivering official data to our growing, loyal audience will provide tremendous wagering opportunities for our users,” Penn Interactive head Jonn Kaplowitz said in a statement. “We also look forward to reaching sports fans, who may not yet have experienced the Barstool Sportsbook through access to marketing inventory on NFL digital properties from Genius Sports.” The sportsbook is currently live in nine states.
In 2017, Barstool Sports’ credentials were pulled by the league. Then, Barstool founder Dave Portnoy was physically removed from the Super Bowl in 2019 after crashing that year’s media night for the big game. Last year, his efforts to watch Monday Night Football with Goodell by winning a charity auction were rebuffed when he failed the league’s background check, according to a spokesman.
“$250,000 to charity, I won it fair and square, and they say no,” Portnoy said at the time. “Why? Because they’re afraid of me. They’re afraid of the brain, and they’re not going to have some fun with it. So, f— you, Roger Goodell.” But Penn Interactive hasn’t let any personal animus prevent it from leveraging the country’s most popular league to help grow its app’s userbase, with multiple NFL promos running ahead of Week 1.
The Genius partnership will give the app access to the NFL’s real-time stats as well as its proprietary Next Gen Stats.
“Our partnership with Penn Interactive will provide one of the fastest growing and most innovative sports betting brands with unique content across the whole player experience,” Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke said in a statement.
