Penn Entertainment has underlined the importance of its proprietary technology stack in sustaining market share in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The integrated entertainment, sports content and casino gaming operator entered the regulated market upon its launch in April 2022, with subsidiary theScore Bet launching its mobile sportsbook and casino.

Penn subsequently announced in July that the brand had officially launched its proprietary risk and trading platform, the culmination of a strategy to bring its sportsbook technology in-house and operate on a vertically integrated technology stack, enhancing its offering in Ontario.

The effect of this became clear in February, when Penn revealed Ontario had become its top market in North America for sports betting and online casino, with revenues of $1.59bn (+8%YoY) and adjusted EBITDA of $483.3m (+18.8% YoY) in Q4 2022, aided by “better than expected” results in the online casino division.

Meanwhile, reporting its Q1 2023 results earlier this week, when Penn declared total revenues of $2.25bn (USD$1.67bn) to mark an increase of 7% year-over-year, CEO Jay Snowden paid tribute to the success of its tech stack in Ontario, and reiterated that the platform will roll out in the US in Q3 when its deal with Kambi concludes.

Snowden said: “In Ontario, we are seeing the benefits of our proprietary technology stack, which has led to our sustained market share in one of the most competitive markets in North America.

“Having full control of our product roadmap in the US, which remains on track for July, will enable us to connect with our customers on a more personalized level and quickly add new features and betting markets to the Barstool Sportsbook, while also enhancing our iCasino product with new content and bonus mechanics.

“In addition, with an improved guest experience post-migration, we will be well positioned to drive stronger loyalty and retention, while offering seamless cross-play in our omni-channel ecosystem.”

theScore media, too, is delivering “strong results”, according to Snowden, with improving revenue and engagement metrics, whilst total user sessions improved by 22% YoY.

Snowden concluded in Penn’s report: “We are pleased to report that Penn delivered another solid quarter in what remains an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

“Our proprietary sports betting and icasino technology platform, which is live in Ontario, continues to drive compelling results and market share. As previously announced, on February 17th we completed our acquisition of the remainder of Barstool Sports.

“Accordingly, we are raising our prior 2023 revenue guidance range to $8.57bn (USD$6.37bn) ‒ $9.16bn (USD$6.81bn) to reflect the Barstool acquisition, which is neutral to Adjusted EBITDAR.”