TheScore Bet, the sports betting app from Score Media, which is live in New Jersey, took $6.7 million in bets during its fiscal first quarter.
That, obviously, is not a very high number. The total accounts for 0.5% of the $1.28 billion posted in NJ sports betting from September through November.
But theScore Bet, with a sportsbook powered by Bet.Works, also launched into a competitive market with 19 online sportsbooks. To be fair, most of its competitors had substantially more time to ramp up operations. TheScore app since only launched before this NFL season.
These earnings reports should look considerably different next year with launches in Indiana and Colorado pending for this year.
Score Media CEO not concerned on NJ sports betting
Score Media CEO John Levy seems plenty happy with the progress so far. He expects the Toronto-listed company’s share of New Jersey handle to only grow from here.
Levy hopes theScore Bet will get more than the 6%-9% of handle share previously forecasted based on how people have used the NJ sports betting app.
“It’s not about the competition crushing us,” Levy said. “… Bring it on. We’re not worried about the goddamn competition. We just want to continue to operate, get more people playing and playing more often.”
Early data shows that users love theScore Bet, and the app is showing great momentum, according to Levy.
TheScore media app production ‘verifies theory’
More than 75% of all bets made through theScore Bet originated in theScore’s media app, Levy said.
Users of the media app are proving to be more valuable in terms of handle, revenue and retention, so far, he added.
Those statistics help verify the hypothesis is coming into practice, Levy said, as the company expected strong betting interaction from its media users.
Better tech, growing user base
There’s also been more usage of the app since Score upgraded its technology. It allows users to create bet slips in the media app, COO Benjie Levy said.
The media app’s user base continues to grow with 523 million average monthly user sessions during the fiscal first quarter. That breaks down to 123 sessions for each of the 4.3 million average monthly users.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, theScore media app averaged 75 sessions for each 3.6 million users.
More technology changes coming
TheScore’s apps are just scratching the surface when it comes to technology, John Levy said. Deeper capabilities and further integration will come with time.
One upgrade for the near-term is getting official NBA data after signing a multi-year agreement to be one of the league’s authorized sports betting operators.
IN, CO sports betting launches this year
TheScore Bet plans to go live in at least two more states this year. The most recent announcement was for Colorado with Score Media signing an agreement with Jacobs Entertainment.
The app will also launch in Indiana this year as part of a larger market access agreement with Penn National.
Additional states that haven’t legalized sports betting included under the market access agreement:
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Texas
TheScore Bet’s priority to get a license in one of those states varies, however. Whether theScore Bet can enter will depend on how many licenses Penn National gets in each state.
Naturally, theScore Bet is actively exploring additional opportunities in other states that have recently legalized sports betting. Levy previously mentioned to Legal Sports Report that Iowa, along with Indiana and Colorado, will be considered this year.
Big bets breaking theScore Bet bank
It sounds like some big bets – relatively speaking, that is – hurt theScore Bet’s hold during the quarter.
The $6.7 million brought just $185,212 in gross gaming revenue, or 2.8% hold, according to the report. When factoring in promotions and fair value for unsettled bets, theScore Bet was about $20,000 in the hole for the quarter.
A handful of people had a particularly good run that led to an outsized impact on hold, Benjie Levy said. The bets of $10,000 to $20,000, that currently have a significant impact, won’t when volumes are 10 times higher, John Levy added.
