TheScore Bet hasn’t been having a good year. Once again, it posted a $300,000 loss in gross gaming revenues in the 3 months leading up to August 31st. Net gaming revenue dwindled into the red after all the bonuses and value of open bets were taken care of. The operator blamed their continuing expansion of the gaming operations as well as the pandemic for these poor results.
Total revenue for theScore Bet’s Q4 F2020 came in at $2.5 million compared to the $6.4 million that was recorded during the same period last year. The total revenue for the same period last year was higher at $31.1 million compared to this year’s $20.7 million.
The year 2020 was slated to be a good one for theScore Bet with the grand launch of its gaming operations in New Jersey as we’ve covered here. However, theScore Bet has been forced to contend with forceful disruptions of sports caused by the outbreak. Like many operators in the space, theScore Bet has taken quite a hit and will take some time before it fully recovers.
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But it’s not all bad news for theScore Bet
The good news is that that the industry is seeing great momentum, which should make it a little bit easier for theScore to find its footing once things stabilize. Notwithstanding the obvious challenges, theScore Bet has also made some major moves towards progress. Case in point, it has seen through the successful multi-state launch of the business in both Colorado and Indiana.
With sports leagues slowly getting their groove back, theScore and other operators should look forward to a more flourishing Q1 F2021. TheScore already has a unique product that fuses media with gaming that customers are loving. The total gaming handle has already seen a boost exceeding 500% year over year in September that should carry forth in the coming months as well.
TheScore’s position in Colorado and Indiana should also give the operator a much-needed lift. This will contribute to a much healthier start of the coming fiscal year across gaming, as well as media. Although Q4 audience and revenue are still being affected by the outbreak, media app users and the level of engagement they bring is slowly coming back up to pre-outbreak levels.
Furthermore, views on esports platforms are on the rise across the board. And because the video gaming scene is one of the fastest-growing today, there is a lot that theScore Bet has to look forward to especially in 2021. All the operator has to do is to continue leveraging its strong position in media and gaming.
It will also need to look towards expanding into more states as legalized sports betting continues to sweep the nation in 2021. This means that there are countless opportunities to explore and add to theScore Bet’s current market access footprint.
So what exactly has theScore Bet been up to this year?
TheScore Bet has had to endure some rough patches lately, but it hasn’t all been bad news. Just recently, it secured market access to operate in the biggest online casino market- New Jersey. This was made possible by its multi-year partnership with Twin River Worldwide Holdings.
Despite the setbacks, theScore Bet still has plans to debut its online casino product in New Jersey. The online casino is expected to launch in the 2nd half of the calendar 2021 as long as it manages to secure regulatory approval and all the necessary licenses from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. The launch is also subject to the pending acquisition of Bally’s Atlantic City by Twin River.
TheScoreBet already has an established sportsbook app that arrived in the New Jersey betting market through a different market access deal with Monmouth Park. This effectively made theScore Bet the 1st digital sports media company to join the booming legal sports wagering sphere.
Running an online casino in the same sphere, however, requires that an operator have a partnership with a land-based AC casino, which is where Bally’s stepped in. As the newest property owner, Twin River, which runs Bally’s now has the power to build an online portfolio that consists of up to 5 online casino apps, as well as 3 sports betting skins. TheScore’s online casino will fill up one of these slots come 20121.
Online casinos and sportsbooks work in tandem. As such, it makes sense that theScore Bet would want to launch an online casino where its sportsbook already exists. TheScore has an advantage as it is the 2nd app in North America behind ESPN to build its own sportsbook from scratch. As such, it is hoping to leverage its large customer base to convert media users into regular bettors.
When sportsbooks thrive, the benefits often trickle over into the online casino game, which is now more commonly being referred to as iGaming. Once the online casino is launched, it will complete theScore’s offering in the New Jersey gaming market, which will allow it to proceed with expansion into other states that are already enjoying regulated sports betting such as Illinois, New York, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and more.
Final Thoughts
Although the adoption of theScore Bet app has been relatively slow hampered by the recent outbreak, things still look bright for the operator. Soon enough, it will be able to launch its online casino in New Jersey. The biggest challenge it has to deal with right now is the state by state nature of legislation when it comes to online casino betting.
As you may already know, only 4 states in the country are currently allowed to offer online casino games- Delaware, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. TheScore Bet has a market access deal in 11 more states with Penn National, but none of them offer legalized online casinos as of yet.
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