Ontario remains PENN Interactive’s top market despite its U.S. expansion. Company executives hope to soon be seeing similar success with theScore Bet in Alberta.

On an earnings call with investors and analysts on Thursday, when ESPN Bet’s slow going south of the border was a big topic of discussion, PENN CEO Jay Snowden sang the praises of the company’s made-in-Ontario mobile brand.

“theScore and theScore Bet continue to be a very good story for us in Canada,” Snowden said. “Ontario is our number one market in North America in terms of revenues, gross profit and contribution margin today.”

In the last quarter, from October 1 to December 31, 2024, theScore Bet saw strong growth in revenues (+22%) and adjusted gross profit (+36%) compared to the same period in 2023. That seems to be partly because significantly more people are playing on its platforms now than a year ago. Monthly active users grew 16% for online sports betting and 43% for online casino gaming from Q4 2023 to Q4 2024.

theScore Bet, which offers both sports betting and online casino across Ontario, subsequently began 2025 with record monthly net gaming revenue in January.

Ontario does not publish operator-by-operator data that provides conclusive insight into brands’ market share. But in October, PENN execs said theScoreBet held down double-digit market share in Ontario’s online sports betting market in the first half of 2024, while its slice of the province’s more lucrative iGaming market was at a high single-digit mark.

While Snowden admitted that the ESPN Bet brand in the U.S. has seen “not as much progress as we planned to make,” theScore Bet’s position in Ontario continues to light the way for the company’s digital arm.

Snowden confident brand affinity will reap rewards in Alberta

Snowden has high hopes that theScore Bet’s success in Ontario as a sports-turned-gaming brand will translate well to Alberta whenever that province opens up to commercial operators. Snowden said last year he would expect Alberta to be a top three or four market for PENN Interactive.

An official update from the Alberta government on the timeline for that happening has not been forthcoming so far in 2025. When that province does open, Snowden said it will provide another big boost to PENN’s operations in North America, “given the affinity for and loyalty to theScore brand across the country.”

“We have a brand that resonates with not just people who love sports, but we also have a great casino product,” he added. “Our iCasino business in Ontario has been ramping quite nicely. The monthly active user growth in iGaming in 2024 over ’23 was great now that we have a better product.”

In Ontario, operators are restricted in advertising inducements such as sign-up bonuses, meaning they typically have to compete on brand strength and product differentiation. “We like that,” said Snowden.

Whether Alberta would impose similar limitations is uncertain, but Snowden is confident of succeeding in a similar battle to the west.

“Our expectations for Alberta would be very similar to where we are currently in Ontario. From a market share standpoint, we were not an operator pre-legalization, so we really did have to fight against incumbent operators who had been operating when it was more of a grey market … It’s performed very well against all of the same operators that have maybe larger share here in the U.S.

“And we would expect that dynamic to be the case in Alberta, as well.”