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Barstrool Sportsbook

“Can a sports media brand's loyal audience be converted into a durable sportsbook customer base before better-capitalized operators capture the market?”

Founded2003
HQNew York, New York, United States
FoundersDave Portnoy
Total raised$178M
IndustryFintech / Sports Betting
The story

Founded in 2003 as a Boston-area print sports paper, Barstool Sports evolved into a major digital media brand under CEO Erika Ayers Badan starting in 2016. The sports betting arm — Barstool Sportsbook — launched in 2020 through a partnership with Penn National Gaming (later Penn Entertainment), which acquired a majority stake. In 2023, Penn pivoted the sportsbook brand to ESPN Bet following an ESPN partnership deal, and sold the Barstool Sports media brand back to founder Dave Portnoy for $1, effectively separating the media and sportsbook businesses. The Barstool Sportsbook as a distinct product was discontinued/rebranded.

Last 12 months
2023-11
Product timeline
2003
Barstool Sports founded by Dave Portnoy as a print sports newspaper in Boston.· pivot
2016
Erika Ayers Nardini (Badan) became CEO, overseeing expansion into multimedia, merchandising, streaming and pay-per-view programming.· pivot
2020
Penn National Gaming acquired a 36% stake in Barstool Sports; Barstool Sportsbook launched in Pennsylvania.· banking
2021
Genius Sports signed major partnership with Penn Interactive to power Barstool Sportsbook with official data and fan engagement solutions.· pivot
2021
Barstool Sports announced Sezzle as its exclusive Buy Now, Pay Later partner for the Barstool Store.· lending
2023
Penn Entertainment rebranded its sportsbook from Barstool to ESPN Bet following a deal with ESPN; Dave Portnoy reacquired the Barstool Sports media brand from Penn Entertainment for $1.· acquisition
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Barstrool Sportsbook
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
3 layers disclosed in Barstrool Sportsbook’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Stripe
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
3 more providers across 2 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.