Score Media and Gaming (theScore) has reported record handle of CAD$137.4m (USD$109.5m) for the six months ending 28 February 2021, the first half of its financial year, but the operator’s net gaming revenue remained negative.
This handle figure represents a dramatic increase from the $22.6m from the same period last year.
Overall revenue decreased from 2020 to $14.1m (down from $15.9m), including negative net gaming revenue of $4.4m, a 20-fold increase in NGR losses from H1 of 2019-20. This net gaming revenue – after accounting for promotions and unsettled bets – came on gross gaming revenue of $96,000, down 86.0%.
Media revenue, however, increased 15.5% to $18.6m.
Most of theScore’s overall revenue, at $8.3m, was from Canada, while US revenue declined by 39.6% to $5.8m.
Significant operating costs, totalling $39.2m, contributed to an overall loss of $25m; $6.0m was spent on developing new products and content, while sales and marketing, administrative costs and technology accounted for $10.0m each.
The introduction of theScore Bet in Iowa in February extended the reach of the company’s mobile sports betting platform to four states, creating an entirely new source of revenue.
theScore chairman and CEO John Levy said: “We’re successfully building our user base and leveraging our media audience, while simultaneously welcoming new users to our platform as demonstrated by the year-over-year and quarterly sequential increases in gaming handle this quarter, including a nearly 200% increase in our New Jersey handle compared to the year-ago period.
“Through our recent agreement with Caesars Entertainment we now have sports betting market access in Illinois, the sixth most populous US state.”
Despite this, there was a decrease in revenue from non-Canadian sources during 2021 – down to $5.8m from $9.6m the previous year.
Canadian sources pulled in $8.3m ($2m more than 2020), and the pending introduction of single-event sports betting in Canada may see this figure increase going forward. Levy and theScore have shown support for the bill to permit single-event betting.