Penn National Gaming to purchase sports betting company

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Penn National Gaming recently agreed to purchase theScore, a digital media and sports betting and technology company, for approximately $2 billion in cash and stock.

theScore is the third-largest sports app in North America and the top app in Canada. Its purchase allows Penn National to eliminate fees and expenses currently being paid to third party technology and service providers.

“Importantly, the transaction provides us with a path to full control of our own tech stack,” Jay Snowden, Penn National president and CEO, said. “theScore has developed a state-of-the-art player account management system and is finalizing the development of an in-house managed risk and trading service platform. This should lead to significant savings in third party platform costs and allow us to broaden our product offerings – providing the missing piece for operating at what we expect to be industry leading margins. In addition to the synergies, we’ll be gaining access to theScore’s deep pool of product and engineering talent and data-driven user analytics, which will help drive our customer acquisition, engagement, retention strategies, and cash flows.”

The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal.

The deal is currently expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.