theScore Bet Canada Review: The Only Sportsbook Born from Canada’s Sports Media Empire

No sportsbook in Ontario has a more authentically Canadian origin story than theScore Bet. Long before it took a single wager, theScore was already one of the most trusted names in Canadian sports: a Toronto-born sports media company that had spent years building the country’s most popular sports app, delivering real-time scores, stats, news, and analysis to millions of Canadians from Vancouver to Halifax. When Ontario’s regulated betting market opened in April 2022, theScore Bet was not an American company planting a flag in Canada or a European operator adapting a generic product to a new market. It was a Toronto company coming home to its own backyard.

The sportsbook was founded in 2019 when theScore launched its first betting platform in New Jersey, becoming the first media company in North America to operate its own sportsbook. In 2021, Penn Entertainment acquired theScore for approximately $2 billion USD in cash and stock, recognising the extraordinary value of the theScore media brand and its massive existing digital audience. Penn refocused theScore Bet entirely on Canada, and when Ontario’s market opened, theScore Bet launched as one of the founding licensed operators and quickly established a double-digit market share in Ontario online sports betting.

By late 2025, the scale of Penn’s confidence in theScore was underlined dramatically: Penn terminated its 10-year ESPN Bet partnership in the United States and relaunched the entire American platform under the theScore Bet brand from December 1, 2025, making theScore Bet a sportsbook now operating in Ontario and more than 20 US states. For Ontario bettors, this means their home-grown sportsbook now carries the full weight of Penn Entertainment’s technology investment and the momentum of a major US market presence. Ontario remains Penn’s number one iGaming market by revenue, gross profit, and contribution margin.

Background: From Sports Ticker to $2 Billion Acquisition

theScore’s story begins in 1994 as Sportscope, a sports information service, evolving over the following decade into one of Canada’s most beloved sports television channels before selling that broadcast business to Rogers (who renamed it Sportsnet) and pivoting to a digital-only model. The digital theScore became one of the dominant sports apps in Canada and a major presence in the United States, offering real-time score updates, push notifications, news, and advanced statistics that made it a daily destination for sports fans who wanted fast, clean information without the noise of a traditional broadcaster.

That digital media foundation is what makes theScore Bet genuinely unique among Ontario sportsbooks. The deep integration between the theScore media app and the theScore Bet sportsbook creates an ecosystem where sports news, live scores, team statistics, injury reports, and betting markets exist within the same connected product. Bettors who use both apps can move between live news updates and live betting markets with the kind of contextual continuity that standalone sportsbooks simply cannot replicate.

Penn Entertainment’s ownership brings the technology infrastructure of one of North America’s most experienced gaming operators. The PENN platform that powers theScore Bet also runs the Hollywood Casino network and has processed tens of millions of wagers across US states, providing a stability and scale foundation that benefits Ontario bettors directly in terms of platform reliability and speed.

Sports Coverage and Market Depth

theScore Bet covers all major North American sports with the depth you would expect from a platform built by people who have spent decades understanding what Canadian sports fans actually care about. NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB are the sportsbook’s core, and each receives comprehensive treatment: game lines, player props, same-game parlays, futures betting, and live wagering. The platform’s hockey coverage in particular benefits from theScore’s media roots: the hockey intelligence embedded in the product extends to how markets are structured and the speed with which player-related news affects available lines.

Soccer coverage spans the EPL, Champions League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, MLS, and international competitions, with sufficient league depth for the majority of Ontario soccer bettors. College football and college basketball are covered, giving theScore Bet broader North American sporting reach than some competitors. Tennis, MMA, UFC, golf, and boxing round out a strong mainstream sports offering.

The Parlay Lounge is theScore Bet’s dedicated space for multi-leg betting. It surfaces trending parlay combinations, same-game parlay builders, and curated recommendations drawn from the platform’s data on what Ontario bettors are wagering on. This feature is particularly well-designed: rather than forcing bettors to build parlays from scratch or scroll through generic suggestions, the Parlay Lounge serves contextually relevant combinations tied to current events and popular markets.

theScore Bet’s player prop organisation has improved significantly, particularly in the NBA section where bettors can navigate directly into Player Points, Rebounds, Assists, and other statistical categories with dropdown filtering by player name. This reduces the friction of finding specific player markets substantially compared to operators with flat prop menus.

The Unique Media Integration Advantage

No other sportsbook in Ontario can match what theScore Bet offers through its media integration. Within the theScore app, bettors can view live game updates, access real-time statistics and injury reports, read editorial content and expert analysis, and then navigate directly into theScore Bet to place a wager on the game they are following, all within the same app ecosystem. The crossover between media content and betting is seamless rather than bolted-on, because the two products were built by the same team with the same audience in mind.

Push notifications in theScore can be configured to alert bettors to relevant game-changing moments — a starting goalie scratch, a late lineup change, a quarter-time score — creating opportunities for informed in-play betting decisions that bettors using isolated sportsbook apps would need to source from external media. For bettors who already use theScore as their primary sports information source, the integration creates an information advantage that compounds over time.

Live Streaming is available for selected events within the platform, expanding the information ecosystem for in-play bettors who want to watch the action alongside their wagers. This feature has been expanded for 2026 and covers a broader range of events than the initial Ontario launch offering.

Odds Quality

theScore Bet’s odds are firmly competitive and in line with the Ontario market standard for major North American sports. Spreads for NFL and NBA typically sit at -110 on each side, which is the industry standard, and theScore Bet does not systematically inflate its lines beyond market norms. The platform’s media heritage means it understands the relative importance of different markets to its audience, and its pricing reflects sharp awareness of where Canadian bettors focus most heavily.

The early cash-out feature is reliable and available for most markets, giving bettors greater control over open positions as events develop. Cash-out values update in near real-time during live events, and the interface for accessing the feature through the My Bets tab is clean and transparent.

theScore Bet App

theScore Bet’s mobile app is consistently rated among Ontario’s best, carrying a 4.8-star rating on the App Store across a substantial user base — a reflection of the platform’s mobile-first design philosophy. The app was built for mobile use from the ground up rather than adapted from a desktop experience, and this foundation shows in navigation fluidity, information architecture, and how quickly bettors can move from event discovery to bet placement.

The app interface uses a dark aesthetic with navy and aqua branding that is easy to read during evening sessions when most in-play betting occurs. Navigation between sports, leagues, live betting, and the Parlay Lounge is intuitive, and the prop organisation improvements make finding specific player markets faster than on most competing apps. The bet slip is clean and handles single bets, parlays, and same-game parlays without visual clutter.

Desktop Experience

The desktop platform delivers the full feature set of the mobile app in a clean, straightforward layout that prioritises usability over visual complexity. The homepage surfaces upcoming events, live betting opportunities, and featured markets clearly. The overall aesthetic is functional rather than flashy, which suits a platform whose identity is built on information rather than entertainment spectacle. For bettors who prefer working at a desktop for longer sessions or complex parlay construction, theScore Bet’s desktop is well-suited to the task.

Deposits and Withdrawals

theScore Bet Ontario accepts deposits via Visa, Mastercard, Interac e-Transfer, PayPal, Bank Transfer, and eCheck. The minimum deposit is $10, and funds are available immediately following deposit. No platform fees apply on deposits.

Withdrawals are available via Play+ Card, Bank Transfer, and Interac e-Transfer, with funds typically processed within 1 to 3 business days. theScore Bet does not process withdrawals over weekends, which is a notable scheduling consideration for bettors planning cash-outs around Friday payouts. The minimum withdrawal is $10. First-time withdrawals require KYC identity verification. No platform withdrawal fees are charged.

Customer Support

theScore Bet provides customer support via a toll-free phone line (a notable rarity in Ontario), email support, and a comprehensive FAQ section. Live chat is available for registered users. The phone line operates with live agents, distinguishing theScore Bet from most Ontario competitors that offer phone support only as voicemail or callback. For a platform whose audience skews toward engaged, demanding sports fans who want fast resolutions, this is an important service differentiator.

One area for improvement is that theScore Bet does not offer 24/7 live chat as standard for all users, with availability varying by contact channel. Bettors requiring urgent assistance outside of peak hours should use the phone line where human agent access is more consistent.

Responsible Gambling

theScore Bet provides a full responsible gambling toolkit including flexible deposit limits, cool-off periods, time-out options, and self-exclusion accessible from account settings. Penn Entertainment’s institutional compliance infrastructure ensures Ontario-standard responsible gambling practices are embedded in the platform rather than added as an afterthought. ConnexOntario is directly linked at 1-866-531-2600. The PENN Play loyalty programme also integrates responsible gambling notifications for users whose betting patterns trigger concern thresholds.

Regulation and Licensing

theScore Bet Canada operates under a licence issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and is conducted and managed by iGaming Ontario (iGO). Penn Entertainment is one of North America’s most experienced gaming regulators, holding licences across more than 20 US jurisdictions in addition to Ontario. theScore Bet is legally available to bettors physically located in Ontario aged 19 or older.

The Verdict

theScore Bet is the only Ontario sportsbook with a genuine media identity built into its DNA, and that identity creates advantages that no competitor can replicate by adding a news tab or a score ticker to their existing product. The seamless integration between theScore’s sports media ecosystem and the theScore Bet sportsbook creates an information-rich betting environment that rewards bettors who engage with sports deeply. Penn Entertainment’s acquisition and the subsequent US relaunch of theScore Bet in December 2025 signals a company at the start of a significant growth cycle, with Ontario as its most important market. For the Ontario bettor who wants their sportsbook and sports media experience woven together rather than existing in separate apps, theScore Bet is the obvious and compelling choice.