Penn Entertainment has issued a formal statement, slamming activist investor HG Vora Capital Management and accusing it of spreading “false claims and mischaracterisations”.
The ongoing saga was directly addressed in a letter issued to shareholders on 27 May, ahead of the firm’s AGM on 17 June.
That recent communication from Penn was in direct response to a 116-page investor presentation, in which HG Vora outlined its issues with the company.
HG Vora has been damning of the strategic decisions made, especially Penn’s investment in online gaming. The group argues that almost $4 billion has been wasted trying to break into the online sports betting market, most recently through its operation of the ESPN Bet website.
There have been accusations made on executive compensation, insider stock sales, and corporate jet usage, but all of this has been dismissed by the entertainment and gaming operator as misleading and incorrect.
HG Vora also asserts that the direction of the company has resulted in shares being significantly undervalued, pouring further scorn on executive remuneration, which it described as “excessive”, given the underlying performance metrics.
As reported by Next, Penn Entertainment detailed in the shareholders’ letter that it simply could not agree to the demands of HG Vora, due to incompatibility with the directives of gaming regulators.
Despite this, the shareholder group was successful in securing changes to the Penn board, with two of its backed nominees – Johnny Hartnett and Carlos Ruisanchez – expected to take seats at the table at the June annual meeting.
The incoming duo will make up 25% of the board personnel.
Penn Entertainment says HG Vora presentation full of “false claims” 📢✍️
👉 https://t.co/JqgqRIzzc5 $PENN
— NEXT.io (@nextdotio) May 28, 2025
Consistently disregarded the gaming regulatory regime
Penn Entertainment felt compelled to issue an addendum to its earlier-released fact sheet, such is the extent of this impasse.
It was designed to “set the record straight”, going on to accuse HG Vora of ignoring gaming industry compliance rules. They said the motivation for this was the goal of controlling Penn Entertainment.
“Penn’s gaming licences are our most valuable assets – we understand and take our regulatory obligations seriously and, over our 30-year history in the industry, Penn has earned a reputation of trust with our regulators and the communities in which we operate,” said the board statement.
“HG Vora, on the other hand, has consistently disregarded the gaming regulatory regime in its pursuit to exercise control and influence over Penn without all necessary licences.”
On the claims made by HG Vora, Penn sought to quickly shut those down.
It said allegations of excessive executive pay and stock selling were not backed by documents in the public domain. The company specifically stated that CEO Jay Snowden’s “realisable pay presents only 45% of his reported compensation and is in the bottom quartile relative to Penn’s proxy peer group.”
HG Vora had also blasted Snowden and Felicia Hendrix (CFO) for using the company jet “as their personal Uber service,” but this was also rebuked.
Penn outlined that only 1.5% of the jet’s total flight hours since 2020 were used for personal travel, adding the claim “mistakenly includes hours when our aircraft were leased by third parties.”
HG Vora has been labelled as the cause for the company to abandon its digital strategy, with further retail growth plans required to be cancelled or paused, so that share buybacks could be prioritized.
This ongoing corporate spat is set to continue, but despite the acrimony, Penn Entertainment is recommending the investor group’s two nominees for the board at the 17 June AGM showdown.
Image credit: Penn Entertainment
