Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden has committed a $20 million investment to Alberta’s newly regulated online market, following strong performance in Ontario.
Ontario has emerged as Penn’s single biggest online market, generating roughly 2 to 2.5 times more sports betting revenue than its home state of Pennsylvania.
That multiple would suggest Penn generated somewhere between $11.6 million and $14.5 million in Ontario sports betting revenue during Q2 2026 alone.
Online casino performance in Ontario is also notable, with Snowden revealing to investors that it runs roughly level with Pennsylvania for online casino revenue generated.
The operator has endured years of difficulty in the online space, forcing it to consolidate its interactive division and absorb sustained losses.
Penn’s Q2 2026 results showed a welcome return to overall net profit, though the interactive division remained loss-making with a $9.5 million deficit.
That figure does represent meaningful progress, shrinking sharply from a $62 million interactive loss recorded in Q2 2025.
With Alberta’s regulated online market launching on 13 July with 50 approved operators, Penn is entering an intensely competitive environment and spending accordingly.
Chief Technology Officer Aaron LaBerge expressed confidence in the Alberta opportunity, stating: “First of all, our product has never been better. We’re going into a competitive market, but we’re spending aggressively relative to what we did in Ontario. And early results from a handle perspective, even though it’s a slow sports calendar, are very encouraging.”
Snowden offered an encouraging early read on performance in the province, telling investors that “it’s looking good” based on data seen so far.
CFO Felicia Hendrix cautioned that the Alberta spending push will drive the interactive division’s largest quarterly loss of the year in Q3 2026.
However, Hendrix signalled a swift turnaround was expected, adding: “We expect the fourth quarter interactive segment adjusted EBITDA to be positive.”
Penn has trimmed its full-year interactive revenue guidance slightly from $1.6 billion to $1.57 billion, while holding its EBITDA loss expectation steady at $20 million.
The broader retail-heavy group continues to dwarf the interactive division, with full-year retail segment guidance raised to $5.87 billion in revenue and $1.96 billion in adjusted EBITDAR.
Alberta’s population is considerably smaller than Ontario’s, meaning Penn cannot simply assume identical revenue multiples will materialise in the newer market.
