Penn Entertainment‘s plan to transition Barstool Sportsbook to its in-house operating system is underway, well ahead of schedule.
On Sunday evening, Barstool Sportsbook — one of seven legal Illinois sportsbooks — initiated a temporary, nation-wide shutdown of its online platform while the site is fitted with improved technology. The company informed users of the scheduled maintenance on Friday night via email. The upgrade may take 72 hours to complete.
Those attempting to log into the app during the maintenance period will see an “Under Maintenance” message reading:
“We are currently upgrading the Barstool Sportsbook to bring you an improved app experience with more markets and wagering options.”
Barstool Sportsbook currently ranks sixth amongst Illinois sports betting operators in both lifetime handle (5.5% of the total market) and revenue (4.3% of the market), per a PlayIllinois report from earlier this year.
Several upgrades coming to Barstool Sportsbook’s mobile app
When Penn announced the revamp project in May, initial projections pegged this fall as a realistic completion window. Now, a mere two months later, Barstool’s updated mobile app will be ready for play in a matter of days.
It is believed Penn is taking advantage of the Major League Baseball All-Star break to complete the upgrade.
In the same email notifying customers of the overhaul, users also learned of the additional features designed to upgrade their betting experience.
The updated features coming to Barstool Sportsbook include:
- Faster load times for deposits and withdrawals
- More player props
- More Barstool Sportsbook exclusives
- Seamless navigation search for any betting market
- Enhanced promotions
- More integration with theScore media app
Such upgrades will allow users to build better bet slips and monitor betting activity more thoroughly, according to Barstool Sports. Additionally, the improvements will also offer unique promotions and help users receive live match updates from theScore media app.
Barstool’s new tech stack to follow theScore Bet model
Prior to implementing Penn’s in-house technology, Barstool Sportsbook had been run by European sports betting technology provider Kambi since the operator first launched in Pennsylvania in September 2020.
The switch from Kambi to a homegrown platform become a foregone conclusion when Penn acquired theScore, a Toronto-based sports media and betting company, for $2.1 billion in October 2021.
In doing so, Penn was able to successfully transition theScoreBet brand in Ontario to its in-house risk and trading platform. That’s significant because it enabled theScore Bet to operate on its own technology stack in one of North America’s most competitive iGaming markets.
TheScore Bet uses its own Player Account Management system and Promotion Engine, which grants the operator dominion over its own lines in Ontario. With that, it can enhance its catalogue of offerings, including more in-play markets and props.
The same tech stack will soon apply to Barstool Sportsbook Illinois, now that it falls under the Penn umbrella. Essentially, Barstool will operate on an all-encompassing system where all components are custom-built to maximize speed and efficiency. As such, the operator will be able to introduce new features, wagering options, and innovations more seamlessly.
What users need to know ahead of relaunch
Luckily, there are no major changes that users need to be aware of ahead of Barstool’s highly anticipated return. However, there are a few important notes to pass along.
The company said that user balances will be 100% secured throughout the upgrade process. In addition, customers will not have to redownload the app or update or change their account information.
For users who have existing bets, Barstool noted that any pending wagers will automatically transfer over to the new app once it goes live.
One procedural change, although incredibly minor, is that users will login with their email address as opposed to their usernames.
