Canada-based theScore Bet mobile sports betting app will be discontinued in four states, effective July 1, it was announced Wednesday.
The app no longer will be available in New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana and Iowa.
It will be integrated with Barstool Sportsbook by the end of this year. Barstool Sportsbook is live in all four of those states.
Barstool became the 19th online sportsbook in New Jersey when it launched last August. The brand launched through its license at Freehold Raceway in Monmouth County, which is co-owned by Penn National and Greenwood Racing.
Penn National purchased a 36% interest in Barstool Sports in January 2020 by paying $163 million in cash and convertible stocks. Last August, it acquired Score Media and Gaming for around $2 billion in cash and stock.
Company President Explains Decision
“Since Penn’s acquisition of theScore, the company’s plan has been to lead with Barstool Sportsbook in the U.S. and theScore Bet in Canada, given our strong brand equity there,” said Benjie Levy, president and chief operating officer of theScore, in an official statement.
“With theScore Bet launched and thriving in Ontario, and as we approach a major undertaking this summer with the launch of our proprietary risk and trading service, the timing is right to focus our U.S. efforts on marketing Barstool Sportsbook and our Canadian efforts on marketing theScore Bet.”
Levy elaborated on the strategy.
“This move enables us to maximize the value of both brands through our organic media and gaming approach,” Levy said. “Key to our strategy is integrating theScore media app with Barstool Sportsbook in the U.S., which we’re currently working towards. Bringing together theScore’s powerful sports media platform with Barstool Sportsbook, supported by our in-house technology, will strengthen the overall U.S. product offering and broaden its reach.”
Toronto-based theScore Bet now will focus primarily on its home country of Canada, where it is considered the most downloaded mobile sports betting app in the newly launched Ontario market. The media app called theScore will still be available in U.S. markets.
Ontario officially launched mobile sports betting April 4 and the market appears to be thriving.
New Jersey Couldn’t Buck Seasonal Trend
It is common for the handle for mobile sportsbooks in states in the U.S. market to take a dip this time of year, with no football, college basketball and less offerings in general. Nicer weather has to be a factor, too.
That trend certainly was evident in New Jersey as it reported its monthly handle and revenue for April a few weeks ago.
New Jersey reported a total sports betting handle of $927 million in April, which is short of the $1 billion and above the state has posted often recently, including in March, when the handle reached $1.12 billion. That is a decrease of 17.3%.
Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) was down as well. It dipped 24.2% to $50.346 million after being at $66.404 million a month earlier.
New Jersey remains one of a handful of state to have real money online casinos.
