Penn National hires new chief compliance officer

Christopher Soriano recently joined casino and racetrack operator Penn National Gaming at its headquarters in Wyomissing, Pa.

Soriano, a business litigation and gaming law partner at Duane Morris in Cherry Hill, N.J., confirmed his new role, which has yet to be publicly announced, in a brief phone call Friday with Bloomberg Law.

The new Chief Compliance Officer, who specializes in casino regulation, also acknowledged his prior experience advising on sports betting matters, an area of increased importance to Penn as it paid $163 million in late January to buy a 36% stake in Barstool Sports.

That cash-and-stock deal valued the sports and pop culture media company at $450 million. It also gives Penn the right to use the Barstool brand for casino products and online and retail sports betting and makes the company Barstool’s exclusive gaming partner for 40 years.

Soriano is taking over Penn’s top compliance role from Frank Donaghue, a former of counsel at Ballard Spahr who joined the company in 2011. Donaghue, who is returning to private practice, did not respond to a request for comment about his timeline for leaving Penn.

At Penn, Soriano said he will report to general counsel Carl Sottosanti, who has spent the past half-dozen years leading the company’s law department, having initially been hired as deputy general counsel in 2003.