Company to Acquire HitPoint Studios and LuckyPoint to Accelerate In-house Game Development and Content Creation
Penn National Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN)(“Penn National” or the “Company”) introduced at the moment that it has established Penn Game Studios (“PGS”), an in-house content material growth workforce centered on creating unique iCasino content material for its clients. To gas this effort, the Company is buying HitPoint Studios, Inc. (“HitPoint”) and its spun-off actual cash gaming firm, LuckyPoint Inc. (“LuckyPoint”). The acquisition is anticipated to shut within the close to time period, topic to the satisfaction of customary closing situations.
“We are extremely excited to be launching Penn Game Studios, which is one other essential step in our Company’s evolution into the main omni-channel supplier of retail and interactive gaming, sports activities betting and leisure,” mentioned Jay Snowden, President & CEO of Penn National. “We will now have the flexibility to create unique content material for our audiences, additional leverage the Barstool Sports model and our database of 20 million myselection clients, and create cross-marketing alternatives with our brick and mortar services.”
HitPoint is an unbiased sport design and growth studio based in Massachusetts in 2008. Since then, HitPoint has created greater than fifty video games for a number of the largest publishers and types within the business, together with Microsoft, Ellen DeGeneres, EA/PopCap, Disney, Google, and NBCUniversal. HitPoint has been a frontrunner in growing platforms for real-time multiplayer informal cellular video games and at the moment runs the day-to-day dwell operations for a number of video games utilizing their proprietary know-how stack.
In 2019, HitPoint spun out LuckyPoint to concentrate on real-money sport growth and the creation and operation of a distant gaming server (“RGS”). In addition to conventional on-line on line casino desk video games and slot machines, the LuckyPoint RGS brings quite a lot of gaming kinds to desktop and cellular units, together with retro-style arcade video games and puzzle video games.
“We are thrilled to be becoming a member of Penn National and bringing our experience to the Company’s interactive division,” mentioned Paul Hake, CEO of HitPoint. “We look ahead to including our creativity, design and engineering expertise to an already well-accomplished workforce at Penn National.”
Upon completion of the acquisition, the workforce of 30 staff from HitPoint and LuckyPoint will probably be built-in into Penn National’s wholly-owned interactive division, Penn Interactive. The workforce is comprised of highly-skilled designers, artists and engineers with a ardour for creating and enabling new play patterns by means of progressive design and know-how.
About Penn National Gaming
With the nation’s largest and most diversified regional gaming footprint, together with 41 properties throughout 19 states, Penn National continues to evolve right into a extremely progressive omni-channel supplier of retail and on-line gaming, dwell racing and sports activities betting leisure. The Company’s properties characteristic roughly 50,000 gaming machines, 1,300 desk video games and eight,800 lodge rooms, and function underneath varied well-known manufacturers, together with Hollywood, Ameristar, and
L’Auberge. Our wholly-owned interactive division, Penn Interactive, operates retail sports activities betting throughout the Company’s portfolio, as effectively on-line social on line casino, bingo, and iCasino merchandise. In February 2020, Penn National entered right into a strategic partnership with Barstool Sports, whereby Barstool is completely selling the Company’s land-based and on-line casinos and sports activities betting merchandise, together with the Barstool Sportsbook cellular app, to its nationwide viewers. The Company’s omni-channel method is bolstered by the mychoice loyalty program, which rewards and acknowledges its over 20 million members for his or her loyalty to each retail and on-line gaming and sports activities betting merchandise with probably the most dynamic set of presents, experiences, and repair ranges within the business.
Forward Looking Statements
This press launch comprises “forward-looking statements” throughout the that means of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements could be recognized by way of forward-looking terminology equivalent to “expects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “tasks,” “intends,” “plans,” “purpose,” “seeks,” “might,” “will,” “ought to,” or “anticipates” or the unfavourable or different variations of those or related phrases, or by discussions of future occasions, methods or dangers and uncertainties. Specifically, forward-looking statements embody statements relating to the potential advantages and anticipated timing of the closing of the Hitpoint transaction. Such statements are all topic to dangers, uncertainties and modifications in circumstances that would considerably have an effect on the Company’s future monetary outcomes and enterprise. Accordingly, the Company cautions that the forward-looking statements contained herein are certified by essential elements that would trigger precise outcomes to differ materially from these mirrored by such statements. Such elements embody, however are usually not restricted to: (a) the magnitude and length of the affect of the COVID-19 pandemic on basic financial situations, capital markets, unemployment, shopper spending and the Company’s liquidity, monetary situation, provide chain, operations and personnel; (b) the consummation of the Hitpoint transaction is topic to closing situations and could also be delayed or might not happen in any respect; and (c) different elements as mentioned within the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-Ok for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-Ok, every as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company doesn’t intend to replace publicly any forward-looking statements besides as required by regulation. In gentle of those dangers, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking occasions mentioned on this press launch might not happen.
View supply model on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210503005081/en/
Contacts
Eric Schippers
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Penn National Gaming
610/373-2400
