Q&A: TheScore CEO John Levy reflects on its Ontario launch

When Canada legalized single-event sports betting in August 2021, many US operators were justifiably rubbing their hands together with glee at the market’s prospects and its 38 million potential new customers. Given the explosive growth in sports betting in the US, Canada ­­­­— which previously was only reserved for those brave enough to work in the gray market, but almost as lucrative — represented a tempting target.

Toronto-headquartered theScore also had much to be positive about, with the legalization serving as a catalyst for a $2bn acquisition by Penn National Gaming. With a media pedigree going back more than a decade in the Canadian market and a nascent US business, theScore slotted easily into Penn’s long-term strategy. Six months on, and with an Ontario license under its belt, theScore has just made its debut in its home market. EGR North America spoke to CEO John Levy to find out more.

theScore CEO John Levy
EGR North America (EGR NA): How important is it to be first to market in Ontario? In what ways do you think this will aid your quest for market share?
John Levy (JL): First to market is pretty important, particularly for us because we’ve been in this market forever. We started with a cable TV business that we launched in the mid-90s called Headline Sports, which morphed into theScore, where we started to build our brand and audience. That’s where we began to tap into the younger sports-craving audience and gained our voice. That eventually led us into the digital landscape, which has blossomed with the introduction of the app and a product that resonated across the US and Canada.

Part of that love for sports obviously involves betting. So, when this all became legal in Canada, it was important for us to be prominent. Our fan base and users are expecting us to be there because they’ve been using our app for years. What will that do in terms of the end result? We have lofty expectations; this is our home turf, and we’re going to build on this strong brand that we already have in the market.
EGR NA: How will you stand out and how powerful will your media brand and the fact it is homegrown prove to be?
JL: It is going to be a crowded environment. What will help us stand out is our brand, our product, and our overall approach toward sports betting, blending media and betting. We have this amazing media-based app with users accessing our content 140/150 times on average a month. We offer an integrated experience that makes it easy for them to access bets when they access sports media content. Those integrations, powered by our own technology, makes for a best-in-class user experience.
EGR NA: What lessons have you learnt from operating theScore Bet in the US?
JL: Be very responsive to the consumer. Make it easy for them and anticipate their needs. In other words, do not force them to act unnaturally in the context of how to place a bet. Sports bettors are different everywhere you go. You must be responsive to their needs and think of them in the context of a long-term relationship, not just putting a huge promotion in front of them to get their business that day. It’s all about maintaining a relationship.
EGR NA: Some operators have chosen to focus on a localized approach for Ontario, but how would you characterize your launch strategy?
JL: You won’t get an argument from me about how important it is to be authentically Canadian. That’s something we’ve been building for the last 20 years. I think it’s smart to appreciate what the market is and who your key demographic is. It’s important to understand the user and tap into who they are. That’s been our mantra from day one, engaging fans with an entirely different offering.
EGR NA: In what areas have you strengthened your business in anticipation of the launch?
JL: Since day one, we’ve been building out our technology and engineering team. We didn’t just build the most successful sports app in Canada and the third most-used sports app in North America overnight. That’s taken significant investment, including building a product team and team of engineers.

We’re up to more than 500 employees and our business is growing dramatically. A big percentage of those employees are in our product and engineering group. We’re opening a new office on the lake in Toronto in the fall with more than triple our current space.
EGR NA: What are your overall hopes for the Ontario market?
JL: We all know how big the market is, it’s equivalent to the fifth largest US state, so we’re all going after a slice of the $1.5bn-$2.5bn market. From our particular perspective, we intend to be one of the leaders. What that number is exactly remains to be seen, but this is a long-term business and we intend to be a leading player.
EGR NA: TheScore has been a Penn National Gaming subsidiary since November 2021, what’s it been like coming into a business like this?
JL: The timing has been remarkable. Let me just backtrack a little bit because our relationship didn’t just start three months ago. We’ve built a relationship with Penn over the last number of years.

When PASPA fell in the US, we decided not to be just a marketer through our media app and throw all of our customers to everybody else, but instead do it on our own. There were a couple of things that we had to do. First was to start to build the gaming technology so we could integrate it into our app. We did that with Bet.Works. The other major deal we did right off the bat was with Penn National to get access into 11 states in the US. That’s when our relationship with them really began. We got to know them and how smart they are, and they got to know how smart we are and what we were building. Back then, we talked to everybody in terms of the gaming space, including all the big operators, and there seemed to be a clear alignment between how Penn viewed the customer, how they were looking at the future, and how we were looking at the future.

Over the last couple of years, as we’ve grown and as they’ve grown, those talks have continued. Timing is everything, and we decided that in order to continue to execute on both our plans, the best option was to bring the two organizations together. Since the deal, we’ve been really focused on the Ontario market and continuing to build our technology. That was one of the big reasons why Penn made the acquisition which brought our two amazing teams together. The way they think and the way we think is very similar. Quite frankly, it’s kind of unique in the whole industry, and that’s why this deal is working and will continue to work.

An artist’s rendering of the new Toronto office opening fall 2022
EGR NA: How has theScore’s transition into its wholly owned tech stack aided your longer-term business strategy?
JL: We’ve always been a tech company. When we started in the digital landscape, we didn’t get the success in building our apps by doing it with a third party. It was always our belief that you have to be the master of your own destiny and control your own tech stack. We built our own app, originally for BlackBerry interestingly, and had success there before it moved to iOS and then to Android. What those learnings taught us was to be adaptive and responsive to your users and the fan base you’ve built. We can’t be dependent on a third party because this space is always going to evolve.

We actually believed the same thing when we got into the sports betting business, when PASPA fell in the states. We said, okay, we’ve got this amazing media app with millions of people, a high percentage of whom are going to be betting on sports, so how are we going to go about this? I went to my head engineer and said we’re going to build our own sports betting app, just as we did with the media app, and he said okay, we can do that.

We did a deal with Bet.Works to get started and we built it as a modular deal. Right from the get-go, we challenged our engineers to start to build our own technology. And, over the course of the last couple of years, which is going to culminate in the next couple of months, we will have built the whole platform and will soon migrate off the third party. The truth of the matter is, from day one, we’ve always been a technology company and that’s what has allowed us to succeed.
EGR NA: What are your objectives for the rest of 2022?
JL: Being able to finally offer theScore Bet to our users in Ontario. We are finally going to be able to give our fans a chance to legally bet right inside the brand and media app they love, the brand they grew up with. This is the app they are now going to be able to continue to grow with and get involved in sports betting with, right here in Ontario. Our relationship with the customers is open and authentic. We never shied away from the fact that sports betting is an integral part of why people love sports, and now they’re actually going to be able to do it with us. It’s a completely natural transition. We’re very excited.