Browse articles by topic

Oregon sportsbook set for first year loss

News

The Oregon Lottery’s SBTech-powered sportsbook, Scoreboard, is set to lose more than $5m for the first nine months of the state’s fiscal year.

The Oregon State Lottery, which launched the sports betting app in October 2019, released financial projections developed following a board meeting in January.

The group expects Scoreboard’s gross receipts to total $178.3m for the year to 30 June 2020, with gross gaming revenue of $10.8m to be left after customer winnings of $167.5m. Figures released in June last year suggested that the year one revenue would come in at $26.6m.

Direct expenses, including $6.2m on game vendor charges, are expected to come to $10.0m, leaving a gross profit of $775,000.

Indirect expenses totaling $6.1m, including $3.9m on services and supplies and $1.6m on salaries and other employee costs, mean that the lottery will post a $5.3m loss from Scoreboard for the year. It had been expected to post a $6.3m net profit for the period.

The lottery has already moved to offset this loss, by reducing spending on advertising and deferring program costs into the state’s fiscal year that ends 30 June 2021.

The Oregon Lottery said last June that it expects to generate $141.2m in revenue over the first three years following the launch of its Scoreboard sportsbook. That included a projection of $332.8m in handle in year one – some way below the figure released in the projections.

Oregon State Lottery and SBTech signed a contract that will see the supplier’s technology used to power the state’s mobile and retail sportsbook offering last June. Scoreboard was launched in October – a month later than anticipated – meaning it missed the opening weeks of the National Football League (NFL) season.

The roll-out of retail betting kiosks was due to begin in January, though the lottery is yet to provide any update on when this will actually begin.