Unite Here Pushes Penn Entertainment to Declassify Board Elections
Posted on: April 30, 2026, 10:54h.
Last updated on: April 30, 2026, 10:54h.
- The hospitality labor union wants the regional casino operator to declassify board elections
- It’s also urging Penn to move to annual elections
- Penn holds its annual meeting in June
Unite Here, one of the largest hospitality labor unions representing casino workers, is pushing Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) to declassify the results of its board elections and move to annual elections for all of its members.
The union says Penn investors already supported a similar proposal in 2010, but the regional casino behemoth never implemented it. In the years since then, more companies have transitioned to enhanced transparency in director elections, leaving Penn as an outlier.
In 2025, declassification proposals were reported to have seen average shareholder support of 77.9%, resulting in a passage rate of 86% across 14 proposals,” notes Unite Here. “Today, maintaining a classified structure places PENN increasingly out of step with shareholder preference.”
The union has documented success in pushing for change in how casino operator boards are elected. In 2019, Unite Here pitched five non-binding proposals, including majority votes, for the Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR) board. That company adopted a majority vote standard for uncontested director elections in 2022.
Penn Previously Endured Board Criticism
HG Vora, the hedge fund and activist investor that previously waged a proxy fight against, criticized the company for what it claimed was an unlawful shrinking of its board and while it’s accurate that some Penn directors stand for election in one year and others do so in another year, Vora wasn’t necessarily pressing for annual elections.
Unite Here is and the labor group argues Penn’s reasoning for not holding yearly board elections is flimsy. According to the union, Penn believes that due to the highly regulated nature of the gaming industry, the operator would struggle to attract talent to the board if it conducted yearly elections. To that the union points out that Penn rivals such as Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD), Caesars, Full House Resorts (NASDAQ: FLL), Golden Entertainment (NASDAQ: GDEN) and MGM Resorts International all conduct yearly board elections.
Unite Here also points out that Penn cites its sprawling geographic exposure as a reason to not conduct annual elections because some of the states in which the company does business require directors to be licensed prior to voting on board matters. The union says that argument doesn’t hold weight because Caesars’ regional exposure is comparable to Penn’s and the former holds annual elections.
Penn runs land-based gaming venues in 19 states, just one more than Caesars and the Ameristar operator offers sports betting in 28 North American jurisdictions compared to 34 for Caesars.
“PENN does not explain why its regional footprint would be more of a hindrance to holding annual elections than Caesars’ regional footprint,” says Unite Here.
More Unite Here Criticisms
Last year, two of the three candidates Vora pushed were elected to Penn’s board and in February, the casino company added three more directors, which is to say a significant portion of its director slate hasn’t been there a year. Still, Unite Here says board refreshment and shareholder engagement aren’t replacements for voting rights.
“While engagement is important and refreshment is positive, they are not substitutes for shareholder rights. Shareholders’ ability to vote annually on directors is a direct implementation of the shareholder franchise, and helps ensure that refreshment is aligned with shareholders’ priorities,” according to the labor group.
The union also believes Penn’s view that a classified board structure is good for “long-term strategic decision-making and continuity” is faulty because it’s possible for companies to identify capable, dedicated directors that are elected yearly, adding that board elections of that nature “enhance long-term value by ensuring that directors remain continuously accountable for execution.”
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