PENN Entertainment lauds Ontario market growth on one-year anniversary

PENN Interactive head and theScore president and COO Benjie Levy has welcomed the first anniversary of Ontario’s sports betting market, lauding it as an “incredibly successful” debut.

Regulated sports betting and igaming began in the province precisely one year ago on April 4, and has quickly grown into a large and competitive market of more than 60 licensees, including theScore, which PENN Entertainment purchased in October 2021 for $2bn.

TheScore was one of the first operators to launch in the market on opening day and has since become one of the largest firms in the market.

Addressing theScore’s growth over the period, Levy was full of praise for his colleagues and the Ontario regulatory authorities, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and iGaming Ontario.

“We’ve enjoyed an incredibly successful first year of operation, in which Ontario has become PENN’s top-performing market in North America,” Levy said.

“theScore Bet resonated with customers in the same way our sports media app has for years, resulting in consistent, strong performance across sports betting and online casino.

“Delivering a superior and safe customer experience remains our top priority, and we will continue to enhance and innovate our products to provide users with the ultimate integrated media and betting offering,” Levy added.

In February 2022, PENN began the migration of theScore brand onto its own proprietary technology stack, a process it would later complete in July of that year.

TheScore’s Ontario marketing arsenal includes a localized marketing campaign called ‘Get Into Bet Mode’, which aims to educate bettors on how to place bets and avoid gambling-related harms.

Outside of marketing, theScore’s emphasis on the Canadian market has seen the total shutdown of its US operation, as well as a move to an 80,000 sq ft space in the Waterfront Innovation Centre, an office and retail development property in downtown Toronto.

Following a period of initial operation, regulatory authorities in Ontario opened a grace period in which previously unregulated operators could apply for licenses in the newly regulated market, a period which ended on October 31.

Ontario operates on a dual regulation system, with AGCO responsible for overall regulation, licensing, and sanctioning of operators, while iGaming Ontario ostensibly functions as AGCO’s ‘conduct and management’ entity to which all licensees must report to.

Speaking about the role of the regulators in administering the market, Levy lauded both entities as well as the potential for other Canadian provinces to follow Ontario’s lead.

“Ontario has quickly become one of the most robust and competitive online gaming markets in North America,” Levy said.

“As Canada’s first province to establish a legal market for private operators, Ontario has distinguished itself, while proving the widespread benefits that derive from a consumer-friendly and commercially minded framework.

“We believe Ontario’s successful model provides a roadmap for other provinces to modernize their online gaming frameworks and stamp out the illegal grey market,” theScore’s president and COO concluded.