theScore hires Pro Sports Betting Lobbyist in Canada

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Sports wagering lobbyist to give Canada’s politicians an earful.

The push to legalize sports betting in Canada rages on this week as the region’s premier sports news authority, theScore, is taking matters into their own hands. The Toronto-based company has hired a professional government relations expert to lobby on behalf of its company and countless sports fans across the nation.

Making the rounds at federal and provincial government hearings is one way to get your message out. Hiring a professional lobbyist who’s spent years navigating that complex environment is the better way. Such experts know how to find a champion for the cause, capable of finding ways to root the issues in their political priorities.

theScore Hires Professional Sports Wagering Lobbyist

Executive members of sports media firm didn’t have to go far to find the best man for the job. Also nestled in the heart of Toronto is Pathway Group, headed by co-founder and President Peter Curtis. He has decades of experience working with and within all levels of government, and is beyond qualified for the role.

Mr. Curtis’s experience in politics speaks for itself, from his teenage years when he walked into a campaign office in Dundas for the first time, to his current position of Executive Vice President of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Last week, Mr. Curtis made his latest mission quite clear. On behalf of theScore, the government relations aficionado filed a registration with the federal Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying. The brief filing declares his intention of “lobbying (to) legalize sports betting”, and pin-points his political targets as Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister’s office.

Capitalizing on NA’s Love for Pro Sports Betting

theScore has spent the last year attempting to capitalize on North America’s desire to bet on sports in a legal capacity. Months from now, the company plans to become the first media brand to launch its own online sportsbook, based out of New Jersey, USA. No doubt the firm would like to be able to follow that same path in its home base of Canada.

Originally founded in 1994 as Scorescope, the company started out as an alphanumeric scrolling ticker that displayed sports scores during regularly scheduled television shows, even during commercials. It was an enormously successful brand that evolved into the national, 24-hour Headline Sports channel in 1997, and theScore Television Network in 2000. Then in 2012, Rogers bought out the parent company, rebranding it Sportsnet 360.

That same year, John S. Levy founded theScore Inc., essentially relaunching the brand under its own representation. It’s since become a primary source of sports media in Canada, and a prime candidate for capitalizing on what is sure to become an extremely lucrative market, if and when Canada legalizes sports wagering.

Last month, Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli wrote a now-famous letter to his federal counterpart, Bill Morneau. Within, he called “single event sports wagering…one of the fastest growing categories of gambling entertainment.” adding a glaring statistic that “90 per cent of the sports dollars wagered in Nevada sportsbooks are on single events.”

This gave Ontario yet another nudge, leading to its decision to “establish a competitive market for online gambling” within the 2019 budget proposal; one that includes hopes for legal single-event betting. The response from theScore came swift and adamant.

“theScore has always embraced the fact that sports betting is part of the overall fan experience,” said founder and CEO John Levy. “It is finally time for jurisdictions across Canada to adopt common sense sports betting regulation.”