Editor
HG Vora Capital Management has succeeded in its effort to place two new members on PENN’s Board of Directors at the 2025 annual meeting of shareholders. Johnny Hartnett and Carlos Ruisanchez were the two nominees to the board to increase HG Vora’s influence on PENN’s interests. The new board members are expected to advance HG Vora’s goals of a more retail-centric focus for PENN, which could be to the benefit of live poker rooms at Hollywood Casinos.
A third nominee, William Clifford, also received majority support, according to HG Vora, but will not be on the board. Shortly before the meeting, PENN had reduced the number of seats up for election from three to two, a move that HG Vota criticized.
Parag Vora, Founder and Portfolio Manager of HG Vora, said, “PENN’s shareholders have voted overwhelmingly for genuine change, including for the election of William Clifford to the Board. There can be no mistake about the mandate from PENN’s shareholders that the status quo is simply unacceptable. We are grateful for the strong support the three independent nominees have each received from shareholders and are confident that Johnny and Carlos will work constructively with their fellow directors to drive shareholder value.”
The two new board members’ primary objective will be to increase PENN’s shareholder value, which, in their view, has been unacceptable. One of those objectives that HG Vora wants is to dial back PENN’s online aspirations or perhaps sell them off. PENN has spent a lot of money on ESPN Bet and its previous failed partnership with Barstool Sports, and has not produced enough return on that investment, in the eyes of the activist investors.
Retail Investments by PENN Could Be Good News for Poker
Instead, HG Vora wants PENN to put more focus and care into their regional casinos. While PENN does not offer online poker, it has recently begun making efforts to open poker rooms at some locations of its flagship Hollywood chain of casinos. The Hollywood Casino in Bangor, Maine, reopened its poker room about a year ago, followed by both Hollywood locations in Pennsylvania. These rooms are small, but the apparent shift in overall strategy is promising.
Hollywood faces some tough competition in the Keystone State from the likes of Parx, well-known for its poker room. Pennsylvania has also seen some significant recent changes in online poker for the state. Overall, it’s a good time to be a Pennsylvanian poker player at the moment.
There are multiple other Hollywood casino properties around the country, most notably in Missouri, Ohio, Louisiana, and Maryland. Hollywood Casinos in Columbus, OH and Washington, PA (the Meadows) were one-time hosts of the now-defunct Heartland Poker Tour. If small-scale regional focus is in the cards for PENN, there’s great potential to bring poker tournaments back to these properties.
Aside from the Hollywood chain, PENN also owns Ameristar casinos and a number of smaller non-chain properties.
If the new HG Vora board members can continue to impress their will and convince PENN to put more money into local retail casinos and less into online pursuits, then there could be more poker room openings and improvements to come.
