Barry Jonas of Truist this week upgraded Penn Entertainment to buy from hold after downgrading the stock in August following the ESPN Bet announcement.
Jonas previously recommended holding on Penn after the announcement until timelines and expectations for ESPN Bet were fully understood. His target is unchanged at $23.
Since announcing its transition to the ESPN brand for sports betting from Barstool Sportsbook on Aug. 8, though, PENN was down 41.6% at Monday‘s close of $16.93.
Monday’s close included the beginning of a rally that continued Tuesday after Penn announced it was hiring Walt Disney Company chief technology officer Aaron LaBerge to the same role effective July 1.
No value implied for interactive
The biggest reason for the upgrade back to buy is that the current price assumes no value for PENN’s interactive segment, Jonas said.
The market values Penn’s land-based casino business at 6.4 times next year’s expected EBITDAR. That ranks at the bottom end of its historical range of 6.0 to 8.5 times.
Jonas forecasts $455 million in additional losses for ESPN Bet over this year and next, but the interactive segment is more than just the sportsbook. Even if ESPN Bet failed, Penn has online licenses that bring in $50 million to $70 million of recurring, high-margin access fees, Jonas said.
Its online casino business comes without the high-cost structure of online sports betting (the Disney partnership costs $150 million annually) and can be profitable even with a smaller scale, he added. Penn has a double-digit market share in Ontario through theScore Bet, for example.
Big upside if ESPN Bet hits, though
Jonas noted the potential for “meaningful upside” if ESPN Bet succeeds “to any degree.” Penn gave three examples of estimated adjusted EBITDA potential based on market share in 2027, with 15% of online sports betting and 12% of iGaming leading to $700 million in annual adjusted EBITDA.
At a multiple of 10 times, that would be worth around $40 per share, Jonas said.
Plenty of bettors could take to ESPN Bet if Disney can nail the sports betting integration into the main ESPN app. In a recent Truist survey, 52% of frequent ESPN users that want to see that integration said ESPN Bet would likely become its primary wagering platform, while another 45% said it could become their primary platform.
That said, Jonas expects Penn to maintain current levels of market share until ESPN Bet can improve its parlay offering, which Penn CEO Jay Snowden hopes is strong enough to truly compete in NFL betting.
ESPN Bet top 4 in cash handle
The hardest part about determining where a new brand stands shortly after launch is sifting through all the noisiness of promotions.
ESPN Bet holds an 8% market share on a cash handle basis, according to Jonas. While that leaves the brand significantly behind FanDuel at 40% and DraftKings at 31%, it is just behind BetMGM at 9% and in front of Caesars at 5%.
Promos accounted for 30% of gross handle in November and 12% in December. That fell to 4% in March, which is in-line with the 2023 promo spend averages for DraftKings and FanDuel, Jonas said.
The post Truist Upgrades PENN To Buy, Expectations For ESPN Bet ‘Too Low’ appeared first on Legal Sports Report.
DraftKings has hired former lobbyist Lori Kalani to head its responsible gaming efforts.
According to a DraftKings press release Monday, Kalani will join the company’s executive leadership team as its first Chief Responsible Gaming Officer. Kalani previously worked at Cozen O’Connor in Washington, DC, where she helped clients deal with state attorney generals and regulatory agencies, as well as gaming matters, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“I have long admired DraftKings’ impact as an entertainment and engagement platform that brings a community of gaming enthusiasts together,” Kalani said in a statement. “Joining DraftKings represents an exciting opportunity for me to bolster the efforts of the company and look for opportunities to reinforce our responsible gaming initiatives.
“I am eager to partner with colleagues, regulators, industry leaders, and community advocates to further demonstrate DraftKings’ commitment to responsible gaming and promote a healthy gaming environment for all customers.”
Responsible gaming at forefront of news
The hiring news comes a month after DraftKings and several other operators announced the formation of the Responsible Online Gaming Association.
The group committed $20 million to responsible gaming initiatives thus far and says it is developing an “independent data clearinghouse” to facilitate industry-wide consumer protection information sharing.
It also comes as Congress considers whether to take up a bill that would place severe restrictions on gambling ads, limit how frequently some Americans bet, and place guardrails on gambling companies acquiring customers with AI. Meanwhile, the NCAA continues to deal with betting scandals and is calling for a national ban on college player props.
DraftKings adds state attorney expert
Before she co-chaired the state attorneys general practice at Cozen O’Connor for nearly a decade, Kalani spent the better part of three years at Dickstein Shapiro, a law firm known for cultivating relationships with state attorneys general.
DraftKings notes her “extensive background” includes dealings in gaming, social media, telecommunications, hospitality, and healthcare. The press release also notes her experience “in consumer protection law and proven accomplishments in developing working relationships with regulators, attorneys general, and other key stakeholders.”
She will report directly to CEO Jason Robins, according to the press release.
The post DraftKings Taps Former Lobbyist To Head Responsible Gaming Effort appeared first on Legal Sports Report.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Capitol News Illinois) – Illinoisans who need a notary public can now access those services online through a new “E-Notary” portal launched by the secretary of state’s office.
This process is one of the latest initiatives of Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias’ ongoing effort to modernize the office and its services.
Notaries are state-appointed officials who administer oaths, certify documents and act as witnesses to document singings for things like affidavits and bills of sale. Until now, notary services could be performed remotely so long as the parties involved were in Illinois and the notary physically signed and sealed the notarized document.
Now, the process can occur fully online through one of 12 notarization service providers listed on the Illinois secretary of state’s website, ilsos.gov. All parties can now participate remotely and notaries are allowed to use electronic signatures and seals. Individuals using e-notary services must have a valid ID and access to a device supporting audio-video communication.
The office is also in the process of moving other functions online, including by creating an electronic lien and title system allowing drivers to manage vehicle titles online instead of through the mail. That system is slated for rollout this summer, according to a “modernization report” published by the secretary of state’s office last week.
Illinoisans can already file incorporation and court of claims documents, access business service and lobbyist databases, search for jobs and locate archived records through the office’s updated website.
The office rolled out “Skip-the-Line” and “Do-it-Online” initiatives last year in an effort to unclog DMV services by extending facility hours and online services and allowing Illinoisans to schedule appointments online.
Read more: State driver services facilities to require appointments in more than 40 locations | As online DMV services plagued by no-shows, secretary of state launches changes
More than 1.5 million appointments have been scheduled since the “Skip-the-Line” initiative was rolled out last fall, according to the office’s modernization report. The state has also opened four senior-only facilities in Bridgeview, Calumet Park, Evanston and Westchester.
The office is also going to start rolling out kiosks that would allow Illinoisans to renew their licenses, IDs and vehicle registrations at various community institutions, like libraries and grocery stores.
Giannoulias said they will start with 10 locations – including one on the second floor of the state Capitol – and “hopefully” expand to 150 within a year.
The report also indicates the office is cross-training over 2,000 DMV staff on all offered services to minimize the number of different people a customer might need to speak to during a visit.
(Reporting by Alex Abbeduto, Capitol News Illinois)
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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By ALEX ABBEDUTO
Capitol News Illinois
abbeduto@capitolnewsillinois.com
Illinoisans who need a notary public can now access those services online through a new “E-Notary” portal launched by the secretary of state’s office.
This process is one of the latest initiatives of Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias’ ongoing effort to modernize the office and its services.
Notaries are state-appointed officials who administer oaths, certify documents and act as witnesses to document singings for things like affidavits and bills of sale. Until now, notary services could be performed remotely so long as the parties involved were in Illinois and the notary physically signed and sealed the notarized document.
Now, the process can occur fully online through one of 12 notarization service providers listed on the Illinois secretary of state’s website, ilsos.gov. All parties can now participate remotely and notaries are allowed to use electronic signatures and seals. Individuals using e-notary services must have a valid ID and access to a device supporting audio-video communication.
The office is also in the process of moving other functions online, including by creating an electronic lien and title system allowing drivers to manage vehicle titles online instead of through the mail. That system is slated for rollout this summer, according to a “modernization report” published by the secretary of state’s office last week.
Illinoisans can already file incorporation and court of claims documents, access business service and lobbyist databases, search for jobs and locate archived records through the office’s updated website.
Alexi Giannoulias announces updates to his “Skip-the-Line” program in July 2023. That program moved driver services to either an appointment-based system or online. (Capitol News Illinois phot by Andrew Adams)
The office rolled out “Skip-the-Line” and “Do-it-Online” initiatives last year in an effort to unclog DMV services by extending facility hours and online services and allowing Illinoisans to schedule appointments online.
Read more: State driver services facilities to require appointments in more than 40 locations | As online DMV services plagued by no-shows, secretary of state launches changes
More than 1.5 million appointments have been scheduled since the “Skip-the-Line” initiative was rolled out last fall, according to the office’s modernization report. The state has also opened four senior-only facilities in Bridgeview, Calumet Park, Evanston and Westchester.
The office is also going to start rolling out kiosks that would allow Illinoisans to renew their licenses, IDs and vehicle registrations at various community institutions, like libraries and grocery stores.
Giannoulias said they will start with 10 locations – including one on the second floor of the state Capitol – and “hopefully” expand to 150 within a year.
The report also indicates the office is cross-training over 2,000 DMV staff on all offered services to minimize the number of different people a customer might need to speak to during a visit.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
By HANNAH MEISEL
Capitol News Illinois
hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com
Nearly 200 years after Native Americans were forced out of Illinois, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation has become the first federally recognized tribal nation in the state after a decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior last week.
The move represents the first victory in the tribe’s larger effort to regain the approximately 1,280 acres of its ancestral land in Illinois via legislation in both the General Assembly and Congress.
But the tribe first had to spend $10 million over the last 20 years to repurchase the first 130 acres of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation, located in what is now DeKalb County, that the federal government illegally sold out from under Chief Shab-eh-nay around 1850.
Nearly two centuries later, Prairie Band Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick – a fourth-great grandson of Chief Shab-eh-nay – signed paperwork on Friday that allows the Department of the Interior to place those 130 acres into a trust, which gives the tribe sovereignty over the land.
Rupnick said he’d heard the story of his ancestral land in Illinois “ever since I was a child” from his grandparents, and said his mother started the push to reclaim the Prairie Band’s land three decades ago when she was the tribe’s chairperson.
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick (left) signs over the title to 130 acres of land the tribe had repurchased from its original reservation in DeKalb County to the federal government, making it the first federally recognized tribe in Illinois. (photo provided)
“For me to actually get it accomplished and signed, honestly, words couldn’t describe the feeling that I had that, you know, when I actually completed that task,” he told Capitol News Illinois on Monday, adding that the credit should be shared with his entire counsel and tribal membership more broadly. “And now the real work begins.”
Read more: Native tribe seeks return of ancestral land in Dekalb County
Prairie Band leaders initiated the process with the federal government 30 years ago, Rupnick said, even before the tribe made the three purchases of private land that make up the 130 acres signed over on Friday. In 2004, the tribe purchased a house located on the historic reservation, then in 2006 it bought a 128-acre farm. More than 13 years passed until the tribe could buy another house in the area.
After a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Native American tribes still have a claim to their reservations unless Congress took specific actions to disestablish a reservation, the Prairie Band re-filed its land trust application with the Department of the Interior last year.
A bill pending in the Illinois House would also give the Prairie Band tribe the title to the approximately 1,500 acres that make up Shabbona Lake State Park, located a little less than 20 miles southwest of DeKalb. Shabbona Lake State Park is named for Chief Shab-eh-nay and covers much of the Prairie Band’s original reservation.
A map of the 130 acres of land the Prairie Band purchased in DeKalb County that now makes up the tribe’s federally recognized reservation. (image provided)
But other parts of the Prairie Band’s ancestral lands are now occupied by private homes, the titles to which are “clouded” due to old treaty disputes, Rupnick said.
“Right now, if you did a title search, and you had a house that was within the boundaries of that reservation, that title search would come back and say that sale is subject to the concurrence of Shab-eh-nay and/or his descendants,” Rupnick told Capitol News Illinois earlier this year.
To clear up those claims, the Prairie Band tribe has proposed federal legislation that would allow the current occupants of those homes to keep those properties, and even to pass them on to their descendants. But if those homeowners ever choose to sell, the federal legislation would give the tribe a right of first refusal to purchase.
In a podcast interview with Capitol News Illinois released in March, Rupnick told the story of how the Prairie Band lost its land over time – and how the federal government betrayed Chief Shab-eh-nay in a land grab.
Capitol Cast: Prairie Band Potawatomi seek to reclaim land
In 1833, the Potawatomi signed the Treaty of Chicago, ceding nearly all its Illinois land along the western shore of Lake Michigan except the two square miles in DeKalb County preserved for the tribe in an earlier treaty.
Though the Potawatomi had bought a 30-by-30-mile reservation in what’s now Kansas with money they received for ceding their Illinois land, Chief Shab-eh-nay and about 20 to 30 other members of his extended family stayed behind in Illinois.
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick poses with members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. (photo provided)
But when the chief took a trip to the Prairie Band’s new home in Kansas to see how the tribe was settling in, the General Land Office of the U.S. government pounced.
“Once he got back here (to Illinois), that’s when he discovered that people were living in his house,” Rupnick said. “They actually picked up his house and moved it to another location, and people were living in it.”
Rupnick said Chief Shab-eh-nay tried to fight the land grab in the court systems, but the courts ruled he had abandoned his land, giving the General Land Office authority to sell it.
“And they allowed the settlers and whoever else to live there,” Rupnick said.
Rupnick told Capitol News Illinois on Monday that the Prairie Band would pursue agreements with existing fire protection districts and police departments to continue delivering services to the 130 acres that are now controlled by the Prairie Band.
If the land transfer of Shabbona Lake State Park is approved by the General Assembly, Rupnick said the general public wouldn’t notice much difference, as the tribe would pursue agreements with the state’s Department of Natural Resources for management responsibilities of the park.
But the Prairie Band would have to file another application with the Department of the Interior to get any additional acreage added to the land trust so the tribe would have sovereignty over it.
“Kind of ironic, isn’t it?” Rupnick said. “The land that was carved out by treaty, that was owned by the federal government for Shab-eh-nay and his descendants, was sold by the federal government, then the nation had to go back, repurchase that land and now we signed over title to the federal government again.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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image/jpeg Rod-Hissong-WAND.jpgSPRINGFIELD (WGEM) - Needing nearly 300,000 affordable rental homes and apartments, Illinois has one of the largest housing deficits in the U.S. according to the Illinois Housing Council (IHC), which estimates the state has lost about 20% of its low-rent apartments since 2011.
State lawmakers are proposing a new tax credit to help reverse that trend.
“Our housing crisis demands immediate attention. Illinois now has one of the highest deficits in housing across the country and it’s grown 64% in the last decade,” said IHC Executive Director Allison Clements.
The state’s housing deficit is why lawmakers have proposed the Build Illinois Homes State Tax Credit.
“Illinois needs to prioritize affordable housing,” said state Rep. Dagmara “Dee” Avelar, D-Bolingbrook.
Avelar is sponsoring the plan in the state House of Representatives.
She said her constituents tell her buying and renting are getting too expensive.
“They are being priced out of their homes or apartments,” she said.
If the proposal became law, the state would put $20 million annually into the program over the next six years. The program would mirror the federal low-income housing tax credit, albeit smaller. Investors would build affordable apartments and receive tax credits after construction is completed and qualified tenants move in.
Though the program wouldn’t come close to eliminating Illinois’ affordable housing shortage, Avelar thinks the tax credit program would be a solution that could last.
“We need to find long-term solutions to affordable housing. We can’t just do it in grants. Grants are band-aid solutions. Very much needed, but they help us in the short term, and we need long-term solutions,” Avelar said.
The IHC estimates the program could lead to investors building up to 1,150 affordable homes and apartments creating more than 7,000 jobs and more than $650 million in economic benefits over a decade.
Though Avelar and state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, filed stand-alone bills creating the program, it would be passed into law through the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
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Senior forward Coleman Hawkins entered his name into the NBA draft he announced on Tuesday via Instagram. After four years in Champaign, the three-time Big Ten champion will make the jump to the next level and join the professional ranks.
Arriving in Champaign from Sacramento, California, Hawkins patiently waited his turn with the Illini. As the program earned its first No. 1 seed in March since 2005, Hawkins sat behind a loaded frontcourt including Kofi Cockburn, Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Jacob Grandison. Playing time improved as a sophomore, and the forward began to show his potential in the latter half of the season.
Hawkins started in all 68 games in his last two seasons, improving statistically in both. While turnovers plagued him at times, Hawkins remained the heart and soul of the Illini, averaging 12/6/3 while adding elite floor spacing ability from a 6-foot-10 player. He shot 37% from beyond the arc on 4.6 attempts per game this past season, including multiple memorable logo shots during the team’s Elite Eight run.
After entering his name in the 2023 NBA draft and later withdrawing it, Hawkins doesn’t seem to have any interest in doing the same this year. He proclaimed in a statement on social media, “I am 100% set in the 2024 NBA draft. Fighting for this program for the last 4 years has been an honor, but all good things must come to an end!”
In most recent NBA mock drafts, Hawkins is projected to be a very late second-round pick. If he is chosen where most expect him to be, or if he goes undrafted, the potential of Hawkins signing a two-way contract and spending part of the season in the NBA G League is very high.
@benfader7
The post Coleman Hawkins declares for NBA draft appeared first on The Daily Illini.