Score Media and Gaming has published its financial results for the three and 12 months ended August 31, 2020, with COVID taking an inevitable toll across the firm’s key performance metrics.
While the company had a flying start to 2020 via the launch of its gaming operations, the financials give a clear indication of the impact that the pandemic has had on the business. Total revenue for Q4 F2020 was $2.5m ($6.4m 2019), while total revenue for the 12 months ended August 31, 2020 was $20.7m ($31.1m 2019).
“This anticipated decline in revenue for the period reflects the direct impact of the disruption to the sports calendar caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the firm.
Elsewhere, gaming handle was $14.8m in Q4 F2020 and $41.5m for the 12 months ended August 31, 2020. Gross gaming revenue was ($0.5)m in Q4 F2020 and $253,000 for the 12 months ended August 31, 2020. When taking into account promotional costs and fair value adjustments on unsettled bets, this resulted in negative net gaming revenue of $1.2m and $1.4m for the three and 12 months ended August 31, 2020 respectively.
EBITDA loss in Q4 F2020 was $8.3m (loss of $4.1m 2019), while EBITDA loss for the 12 months ended August 31, 2020 was $30.5m (loss of $6.5m 2019). The firm blamed the increase in EBITDA loss on the COVID-19-related impact on revenue for the period and the result of additional expenses incurred in connection with the expansion of its gaming operations compared to the prior year.
CEO and Founder John Levy stated: “Fiscal 2020 began with the momentous launch of our gaming operations, with theScore Bet debuting in New Jersey. We were seeing great early momentum when, along with the rest of the industry, we had to adjust to the global disruption to sports brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Notwithstanding these challenges, we successfully navigated this period by keeping our team at full strength, preserving the vast majority of our user base, and diligently preparing for the return of sports, culminating in the successful multi-state launch of theScore Bet into both Colorado and Indiana last month.
“With sports leagues now back in action, our media and gaming operations are thriving again in early Q1 F2021. Our unique formula of fusing media with gaming is resonating with fans, with total gaming handle on theScore Bet up more than 500% year-over-year in September with that momentum continuing into October too. We’re also excited by the early momentum in Colorado and Indiana, contributing to an extremely strong start to our new fiscal year across gaming and media.”
According to Levy, Media advertising sales in September set a new all-time record for a single-month, as brands clamored to engage with fans around this extremely busy and unique sports calendar.
He said: “While Q4 audience and revenue was still impacted by the mass disruption to sports, media app users and engagement are now returning to pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, we registered another all-time quarterly record for video views on our esports platforms, with an increasing number of high-profile brands activating against our market-leading coverage of the fast-growing competitive video gaming scene.
“We are in a strong position to build on this momentum throughout F2021, further leveraging the power of media and gaming, bringing theScore Bet to more states, and exploring opportunities to add to our existing market access footprint.”
Despite the continued disruption to the sports calendar caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during Q4 F2020, the company achieved three million average monthly active users of theScore app on iOS and Android during the period, representing 83% of average monthly active users achieved in the same period the previous year.
