It's Been a Good Week for theScore

Score Media and Gaming Inc. is having a good week. One of the new kids on the block of the US legal sports betting scene, Toronto-based media and gaming company theScore made two significant announcements this past few days that will impact their brand in the competitive US market and hopefully thrust the company into a bigger light.

On Tuesday it was announced that theScore was in the process of being designated as an official betting operator of the PGA Tour across the U.S. and Canada. On Monday it was learned that the sports betting brand has secured market access to offer mobile sports betting in Illinois, thanks to an agreement with Harrah’s Joliet Hotel & Casino, a Caesars Entertainment, Inc. resort.

First, the PGA Deal

The announcement of theScore's newfound relationship with the PGA Tour comes at a perfect time - right before the Tour's signature event, The Masters, which will be contested April 8-11 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. theScore becomes the fifth official betting operator of the Tour in the US and the first of its sort in Canada.

“The PGA Tour is focused on engaging sports fans and Score Media and Gaming is one of the global leaders in delivering highly personalized scores, news, statistics and sports betting information,” Scott Warfield, vice president of gaming at the PGA Tour, said in the release. “Leveraging theScore’s vast reach via this relationship will allow the Tour to engage fans in unique and creative ways.”

The Fine Details

theScore/PGA deal is not unlike the other "official sports betting operator” agreements that the PGA has signed the last six or so months. theScore will provide daily odds updates which will be supplied by the company's theScore Bet brand and have a widespread presence everywhere the PGA Tour happens to be.

The stats will be used in live audio play-by-play of the PGA Tour, will be heard on a SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio programs and will be distributed to all of the PGA digital platforms. theScore will gain rights to advertise on all of those platforms going forward and will give the betting provider every opportunity to advance the PGA Tour and their own theScore betting app.

“The PGA TOUR is focused on engaging sports fans and Score Media and Gaming is one of the global leaders in delivering highly personalized scores, news, statistics and sports betting information.,” said Scott Warfield.

Illinois Access

theScore announced this week that it has gained market access to one of the more exciting, up-and-coming legal sports betting states, Illinois via a previous agreement the sports betting provider had with Caesars Entertainment, Inc. It is seen as a coup for a betting brand hoping to make major inroads into the US legal sports betting scene.

“Gaining market access to Illinois is a significant development that will bring our award-winning mobile sportsbook to one of the most populous states,” said John Levy, Chairman and CEO, theScore. “Caesars is a giant in the casino-entertainment industry and we’re thrilled to have reached this agreement to extend theScore Bet’s footprint into another key new market.”

theScore will benefit from a market that is quickly ascending up the ranks of bet-friendly states. The Illinois legal sports betting market, while still in relative infancy, has landed in the “Top-4” producing states and could reasonably be “Top-3” in the not-too-distant future. Caesars will gain a percentage of revenue from theScore's profits in the state while costs of operation and licensing fees will be up to theScore, under the 10-year agreement.

Where it Puts theScore

theScore will now be live in five states after their Illinois announcement in addition to New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana and Iowa. All are elite betting markets. theScore currently has 3.9 million monthly users on its app for live scores, sports news, and stats and puts itself in a good position to grow.

The growth plan is further emphasized by Score Media and Gaming Inc.'s announcement of the $186 million they had raised by offering Class A shares of the company in the U.S. and Canada. That revenue infusion will be used to fund the desired expansion in the exploding US scene and potentially lucrative Canadian market that gets closer every day to reality.

theScore, if not already, is on its way to becoming a more recognizable name in the US legal sports betting industry. If they keep making the right moves as they have done so far, that goal will come sooner rather than later.