Latest market entrant
theScore Bet has become the latest operator to launch in the legal sports betting market in Colorado. Canada-based gaming and sports company theScore announced its subsidiary’s sportsbook app rollout in the state on Wednesday.
theScore Bet tweeted out a video to celebrate the news:
theScore Bet was able to enter the state through a partnership deal it signed in January with Gilpin Casino, a subsidiary of gaming company Jacobs Entertainment. It will see the casino operator getting an annual fee, as well as a cut of the sports betting revenue.?
The mobile sportsbook will allow users to place pre- and in-game bets on different sporting events. The operator will also be leveraging its highly popular theScore sports media app, already present in Colorado, to further its reach in the state.
A unique approach
theScore CEO and founder John Levy described how the company is taking a different approach with its Colorado market access, avoiding the sponsorships, commercials, and media partnerships commonly used by operators to acquire customers and gain exposure.
it’s not just about the betting”
Levy expressed a preference for organic growth by integrating betting into the company’s existing content arm. “We’re a sports media company first. So it’s not just about the betting. We’re not out there doing the big, splashy deals that everyone else is doing, like the other big media companies are doing,” he explained in a Forbes report.
According to Levy, theScore Bet offers a “totally unrivaled product” through its unique fusion of media and gaming. “theScore is already the sports app of choice for a huge number of fans in Colorado, and we’re confident theScore Bet is going to quickly become their favorite sportsbook too,” the CEO added.
According to Comscore data reported by Forbes, theScore media app received the second-highest average monthly unique visitors across North America from December 2018 to February 2020.
Expansion plans
Colorado is a competitive market for sports betting, with a total of 25 online sports betting licenses up for grabs. theScore Bet got the green light to offer sports betting from the Colorado Division of Gaming at the beginning of August. This makes Colorado the second state that theScore Bet launched in after going live in New Jersey in September 2019. More than half of its customers in New Jersey originate from theScore media app.
plans for the operator to power an online casino
There are also plans for the operator to power an online casino in New Jersey through its partnership with Twin River Worldwide Holdings. It is also looking to offer its mobile sportsbook in Indiana in the near future.
Through a 20-year partnership with Penn National Gaming, theScore has the right to online and mobile betting plus iGaming market access through the first available skin in Mississippi and Louisiana. It also has access to the second skin in Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana; plus access rights to the third available skin in Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, and Missouri.
There is also the hope that Ontario, Canada will have fully legal sports betting in the near future, with theScore Bet positioning itself to capitalize on such a move.