Dave Portnoy won Covid. In January 2020, a 36% stake in Barstool Sports, the company he founded, was sold to Penn (PENN) for $163 million of cash and stock. They eventually bought all of it for a total of $550 million. Instead of losing his audience while sports were mostly shut down, Portnoy pivoted to other topics, including stocks and crypto. Then, after six months of Penn totally controlling Barstool, Penn sold it back to its founder for $1. Penn had reached a deal with ESPN, so needed to rebrand. Portnoy has some limitations — he signed a non-compete for sports betting, and Penn gets 50% of any future Barstool sale. Still, he came out on top after every step.
He knocked down all of the walls between sports, stocks, crypto, entertainment, and even charity. He is always fun to watch. He is a master at connecting with his over three million Twitter followers and four million Insta followers as well as ~66 million monthly users on Barstool Sports. He constantly comes up with new ways to monetize this following. Fans skew heavily male and young, with a plurality of 18–34 years old. There is a big market for a brash bro in an era dominated by androgynous and apologetic HR types who frown on loose talk and risk-taking.
Crypto.com is a distillation of the world Portnoy ushered in — a seamlessly integrated world of betting on crypto, stocks, and sports. Americans in all fifty states, regardless of state gaming regulations, can bet on the Super Bowl. This is the first time that such platforms have moved into sports at this scale. There’s no turning back. You can get $50 for a $5k deposit and then bet it on the game. A bet against a Chiefs win currently costs $49.24, and a bet against an Eagles win currently costs $48.50. So you can basically get a freeroll that could double if you make the right bet. Even without the signup bonus, this is a cheaper rake than the overt betting sites; with the signup bonus, it is a cinch.
