JERSEY CITY, N.J. — With all eyes this week on the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust tournament at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, Penn National Gaming’s Barstool Sportsbook New Jersey softly launched on Friday.
In its seventh state, Barstool becomes the 19th online sportsbook in New Jersey and the second one this week to launch.
Malta-based Betway New Jersey started its online sportsbook and casino on Aug. 16.
Launching From Monmouth County
Barstool launched through its license at Freehold Raceway in Monmouth County, co-owned by Penn National and Greenwood Racing. Freehold, one of two harness racing racetracks in the state, also has a small brick-and-mortar sportsbook thru Parx Sportsbook.
The New Jersey soft launch is only available to the first 500 people who sign up online or on Barstool’s mobile app, which also launched in Colorado and Virginia earlier this month.
Four-time major champion Brooks Koepka will play left-handed against Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy in a charity match for $250,000 after both had engaged in some trash talk on Twitter back in April. The showdown will take place at Liberty National GC on Sept. 7.
Koepka is playing for his charity foundation while Portnoy will play for the Barstool Fund. Koepka will have Pardon My Take hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter on the bag, while Portnoy will have Frankie Borelli, a member of Barstool’s Fore Play podcast, as his caddie. Penn National & Barstool.
Deal With Penn National
In January 2020, Penn National purchased a 36% interest in Barstool Sports. Penn National paid $163 million in cash and convertible stocks.
Since the deal, the Barstool Sportsbook app has gone live in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and now the soft launch in New Jersey. It is also expected to launch in Arizona and Tennessee soon.
On Aug. 5, PNG bought Score Media and Gaming’s theScore, a Toronto-based digital media and sports betting company, for about $2 billion in cash and stock. In July 2019, theScore and Penn National entered into a 20-year agreement that gave theScore online access to 11 states for its sports betting platform. The combination of Barstool Sports and theScore gives Penn National a much stronger North American media platform.
