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The top level of men’s club soccer in Germany will resume play soon. Because of that, Scoreboard has made Bundesliga betting available for Oregonians.

Many Oregonians may not be familiar with Bundesliga and the markets on it. This is a prime opportunity to change that, however.

What to know about Bundesliga betting as play nears

Bundesliga will resume matches on Saturday, May 16 without spectators physically in attendance. It will be the first European major soccer league to get back on the pitch since suspending play amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

While playing in empty stadiums is obviously less than ideal, it’s a great development for soccer fans all over the world. Bundesliga is not only the most popular sports league in Germany but counts its fans in the millions across the globe.

Each of Bundesliga’s 18 clubs plays a total of 34 matches each season. When the league suspended play, most clubs had played 25 matches already.

Despite the season being nearly three-quarters over, there is still much to play for. The top four teams in the point standings each season get to play in the men’s UEFA Champions League each year, which brings millions of Euros in extra revenue.

Seven clubs that aren’t currently in one of those top four positions still have a realistic shot to play their way in. Additionally, the bottom three teams in the standings will work hard to avoid relegation.

Over the last nine-10 matches of the season for clubs, they will also decide which players will lead the league in relevant statistical categories. The Oregon Lottery’s sports betting app, Scoreboard, has lines on many of these events.

Handicapping them can be a challenge when you aren’t familiar with Bundesliga, however. Fortunately, there are great free resources on the web.

Tips for handicapping Bundesliga matches

Bundesliga’s English-language website is a great source of information on fixtures, injury updates, recent form and statistics. If you’re looking for more features and opinion, however, BBC Sport’s Football page is a stellar destination.

Between those two sources, you should be able to gather all the information you need to build your models for Bundesliga matches. There are some questions unique to the current situation that you need to answer as well, however, such as:

• Might some clubs be rustier than others after the layoff?
• Could some athletes/teams be in better shape getting onto the pitch?
• How will playing in empty stadiums affect the matches?

It might be hard to quantify these factors but rest assured, the oddsmakers at Scoreboard are just as in the dark about these qualities as you are. That shouldn’t be a deterrent to wagering on Bundesliga.

It won’t stop Scoreboard from posting markets on the league. When there are unknown quantities like these unique circumstances, it can result in sportsbooks sizing matches up incorrectly.

If that’s the case, you just might be able to take advantage of that situation. This might be the time to diversify smaller wagers, ascribing to the theory of casting a wide net.

Regardless of your strategy, Bundesliga betting is an exciting addition to the Scoreboard menu. If you can wager wisely, you might find yourself saying vielen danke (thank you very much).

Mandatory statewide shuttering of businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic saw Oregon Lottery’s net profit for March drop 49% from the same month last year, according to a recently released financial report.

Including sales of traditional lottery tickets, video slot machines and online sports betting, Oregon Lottery’s overall net profit last month was $37.6 million, down 49% from $74 million in March of 2019.

Video slot games took the biggest hit with a net profit of $28.1 million for the month, a 54% decrease from last year’s $60.9 million performance.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a mandatory statewide order on March 16 for bars and restaurants – the primary retailers of Oregon Lottery video slot games – to close to all businesses other than takeout or delivery.

Traditional lottery ticket sales saw a net profit of $9.5 million in March, a 27% reduction from 2019 figures.

Scoreboard, the lottery’s online sports betting product, saw a net loss of $44,000 last month after accruing positive net profits in January and February.

Oregon Lottery sales have earned more than $12 billion for state programs since being formed in 1985, contributing more than $726 million toward state programs in 2018 alone.

Over the years, voters have allocated lottery proceeds to support public schools (53%), economic development (25.5%), state parks (7.5%), and a number of other state programs.

According to a lottery spokesperson, although sports betting revenue is expected to be less than other games, proceeds will likely be allocated to the state pension fund.

A closer look at Scoreboard

Scoreboard went live on Oct. 26, 2019. In the relatively short time span since its launch, the lottery’s newest product has been plagued by problems.

The app accrued a net loss in each of its first three months, including a loss of $1.5 million for six days of operation in October, as well as more moderate losses of $307,000 and $271,000 in November and December, respectively.

On the plus side, Scoreboard turned a net profit over the first two months of 2020, accruing $82,000 in January and $437,000 in February.

On the whole, however, the sportsbook has lost $1.57 million over the first six months of operation, despite accruing net revenue of more than $6.9 million.

A Feb. 28 memo from Oregon Lottery Director Barry Pack to the overseeing lottery commission gave an updated financial projection for Scoreboard’s performance, predicting a loss of $5.3 million over the first nine months of 2020.

Technology provider SBTech, which has been absorbed by daily fantasy sports and sports betting behemoth DraftKings, is currently partnered with Oregon Lottery and responsible for the Scoreboard platform.

SBTech issues

SBTech has been roundly criticized for the unfavorable terms of its contract with Oregon Lottery, largely in regard to excessive service fees.

The full terms of the contract were only revealed recently after a lengthy back-and-forth court battle with members of the media.

The office of the state’s attorney general eventually ordered the lottery to reveal the uncensored contract in its entirety.

Less than a month later, on March 27, SBTech was the victim of a sophisticated cyberattack, which forced the company to take down its partners’ more than 50 gaming sites worldwide.

Scoreboard was back online by April 2, but the majority of SBTech’s US partners remained offline for a costly three-week span of time.

The computer breach delayed the DraftKings merger and caused the terms of the deal to change, in order to require SBTech to set aside $30 million to cover potential claims that might result from the cyberattack.

Daily fantasy sports and sportsbook operator DraftKings and SBTech have completed a deal that will see the two powerhouses merged into one publicly traded entity on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Shareholders of Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, voted to approve the first step in the process on April 23, effectively authorizing a merger between Diamond Eagle, DraftKings and SBTech.

Technology provider SBTech is contracted with Oregon Lottery to provide the online platform for Scoreboard, the state’s sports betting app.

The deal is a “reverse merger” IPO, in which Diamond Eagle, already publicly traded on Nasdaq as DEAC, combines with DraftKings and SBTech to form a new public business entity.

The new business will keep the name DraftKings, and a new stock market ticker symbol will be assigned.

DraftKings co-founder and CEO Jason Robins will also remain at the helm, along with the current leadership team.

The next step in the process is to finalize the details of the new business entity, which was originally projected for completion by the first half of this year.

The deal means that DraftKings will not only benefit from stock market investor dollars, it will also see savings from bringing SBTech’s platform technology in house.

The Boston-based company currently partners with a third-party platform provider, Kambi, for its sportsbook technology.

Founded in 2011, DraftKings quickly became a major player in the daily fantasy sports market.

Today, DraftKings’ DFS product has four million paid users in 43 states and eight international markets, including Canada, Australia and the UK.

Since DraftKings launched New Jersey’s first online sportsbook in August 2018, the company has consistently maintained a 30% share of the online sports betting market in the Garden State.

Scoreboard back on line after SBTech cyberattack

SBTech is a powerhouse in its own right, with more than 50 partners in the US and international iGaming markets.

However, the Malta-based company has had a lot of problems in recent months.

A sophisticated cyberattack on March 27 shut down SBTech’s 50-plus gaming sites around the globe.

Although Oregon Lottery’s Scoreboard app and SBTech’s international partners were able to resume operations just a few days later, a number of the company’s US partners, including BetAmerica, were down for three weeks.

SBTech has not disclosed the exact nature of the assault but claims that no user data was compromised as a result.

The computer breach delayed the DraftKings merger and caused Diamond Eagle to change the terms of the deal, which now requires SBTech to put $30 million in escrow to cover any claims that might result from the cyberattack.

In addition, SBTech has been soundly criticized for its questionable contract with Oregon Lottery, the details of which were only revealed after a lengthy court battle.

Oregon’s sports betting product has seen mounting losses since its launch in October of last year.

DraftKings partners with virtual sports software developer

With sporting events practically a distant memory due to the COVID-19 pandemic, DraftKings put a little ingenuity into finding an alternative outlet for sidelined sports bettors.

To that end, DraftKings recently entered into a partnership with virtual sports provider Inspired Entertainment.

Inspired Entertainment is a software and technology provider that offers 14 types of simulated sporting events, including football, basketball, soccer, auto racing, horse racing, and more, all for the express purpose of sports wagering.

Inspired holds an official license from NFL Alumni, which means it can use the names and likenesses of former NFL legends, so DraftKings may soon offer simulated football games featuring some familiar names in its sportsbooks.

It’s too soon to say whether Oregon bettors will be able to wager on virtual sports from the Oregon Lottery Scoreboard.

The uncensored contract between Oregon Lottery and SBTech was made public earlier this month after the Malta-based company dropped its right to appeal in the wake of a circuit court order for the document to be released in its entirety.

SBTech provides the platform and additional operating services for the lottery’s online sports betting app, Scoreboard, which has not performed well since its launch in October of 2019.

Details of the unredacted contract reveal that SBTech earns a larger share of the state lottery’s sports betting revenue than was originally made public.

Oregon Lottery has lost nearly $2 million from its sports betting app, despite seeing nearly $6 million in net revenue. Payments to SBTech and other vendors over that period account for nearly half of that sum, according to the contract’s financial terms.

A February memo from Oregon Lottery states that Scoreboard will “have a loss of $5.3 million for the first nine months of FY2020.”

According to the Portland, OR, newspaper Willamette Week, a memo on the Oregon Lottery website, which has since been removed, suggested that SBTech would receive 9 to 11% of Scoreboard’s net profits, as detailed under the “Access Fees” section of the contract.

The memo, from a lottery official to the Oregon Lottery governing commission, went on to explain that SBTech’s profit share would rise to 12% in three years time.

However, the unredacted contract reveals that SBTech receives an additional sum detailed under the document’s “Managed Service Fees” section.

Under the terms of the contract, SBTech is due an additional 16% of net revenue, with a minimum monthly payment of $300,000 for the first six months and $350,000 afterwards.

After 36 months, the minimum managed service fee rises to 17%.

Court Battle Over Contract Disclosure

Scoreboard’s poor financial performance led two media outlets to request the release of the Oregon Lottery/SBTech contract under Oregon Public Records Law. The office of the department of justice granted the request.

However, the lottery released a heavily redacted version, with censored financial terms, after SBTech argued that full disclosure would expose trade secrets to its competitors.

Upon another petition from members of the media in early January, the Oregon office of the attorney general reviewed the redactions and ordered the lottery to disclose the contract in its entirety. SBTech filed a lawsuit to prevent the release.

An Oregon circuit court judge ruled on the lawsuit in late February, stating that the Oregon Uniform Trade Secrets Act does not apply to a public entity.

The court ordered the lottery to release the contract in its entirety after 30 days, giving SBTech time to file an appeal.

SBTech chose to decline the right to appeal, ending the court battle.

About the SBTech Contract

Oregon Lottery opened a bid for sports betting partner in April 2019. The commission approved the lottery’s choice of platform provider and awarded the contract to SBTech.

Las Vegas-based Scientific Games, one of the losing bidders, issued a challenge to the award, stating that SBTech was involved with illegal gambling operations overseas.

After state investigators determined that the claim had no merit, the contract was awarded to SBTech.

SBTech partners with operators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California and Mississippi, as well as additional states that are working to pass sports betting legislation, including Kentucky, Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio and Maine.

Daily fantasy sports and sports betting giant DraftKings acquired SBTech last year, with the merger expected to be completed in the next few months.

DraftKings has a sole partnership with the Washington, D.C., Lottery to run its sports betting operation, as well.

Scoreboard has suffered platform difficulties since its launch, including problems experienced by users trying to make deposits and a recent shutdown caused by a cyberattack on SBTech servers around the globe.

The app does not accept wagers on collegiate sporting events, at least in part due to Oregon Lottery’s sensitive history with the NCAA in regard to a sports betting parlay game that was discontinued in 2007.

Oregon Lottery suspended operations of its sports betting app, Scoreboard, on March 27, after a worldwide cyberattack on its platform provider partner, SBTech.

The attack prompted SBTech to shut down more than 50 online gaming sites worldwide that run on its proprietary platform.

An email from Oregon Lottery to Scoreboard users on March 30 explained that the shutdown was a precautionary measure, and there were no reports of a breach of user data, which includes sensitive financial details.

SBTech “brought its systems offline as a precautionary measure in response to a cyberattack — suspending play on Scoreboard and other online sportsbooks using the platform,” according to the March 30 email.

“We have no reports of unauthorized disclosure or extraction of player data or account balances.”

The Lottery’s said that the London-based company is investigating the incident and working toward bringing its systems back online while Oregon Lottery monitors the process.

Some overseas media reports speculate that the cyberattack was ransomware. The Trojan malware intended to infect the system in order to extort money in exchange for releasing infected servers, or ceasing a DDoS (direct denial of service) attack in which servers are overloaded by repeated floods of messages.

There does not appear to be a basis for those claims. SBTech’s initial report states that the motive for the attack was unclear at that early stage. However, nothing recently has been disclosed.

Oregon Lottery’s troubles escalate

Scoreboard has faced numerous difficulties since going live in October 2019.

The Oregon Lottery’s sports betting app lost more than $2.3 million through January, despite net revenue accrual of more than $4.5 million.

Updated projections predict losses of $5.3 million by the end of the fiscal year, even though OR Lottery initially projected winnings of more than $6 million.

This surprising financial data prompted two media groups to file for the release of the Oregon Lottery/SBTech contract under Oregon Public Records Law.

The lottery released a heavily redacted version of the contract, including financial details. SBTech had argued that full disclosure of its contract would expose trade secrets and enable competitors to copy its business model.

The state’s office of the attorney general ruled that the Oregon Uniform Trade Secrets Act did not apply to a public entity and ordered the lottery to release the contract in its entirety.

The coronavirus outbreak caused the Oregon Lottery to shut down all of its video poker and slot machines located in restaurants and retailers across the state after Gov. Kate Brown ordered those businesses to close to all but takeout customers.

In addition, the cancellation of sporting events around the globe severely limited Scoreboard’s sports betting lineup.

SBTech partnered with operators in six states

In addition to Oregon, SBTech is partners with casino operators in five additional states. They include brick-and-mortar sportsbooks at Oaklawn Racino in Arkansas and multiple land-based sites in Mississippi.

SBTech’s online operations affected in the US include, most notably, New Jersey’s popular Golden Nugget. The online casino has been experiencing increased traffic during NJ’s stay-at-home order during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BetAmerica online sportsbooks and casinos in Indiana and Pennsylvania are shut down, as well.

European disruptions in service due to the cyberattack include the popular sites NetBet, Bethard and ComeOn, among many others.

In order to reopen operations, SBTech will have to beef up its online security and receive the green light from gaming regulators in each state.

DraftKings acquisition of SBTech

Perhaps significant to the cyberattack’s timing is the recent acquisition of SBTech and Diamond Eagle Acquisition by gaming giant DraftKings last year.

The DFS and sportsbook behemoth will be led by DraftKings co-founder and chief executive officer Jason Robins and the company’s highly experienced management team.

DraftKings is set to go public next month. Negotiations are ongoing, with a Diamond Eagle logistical meeting scheduled for April 9.

America’s sports betting industry is in a precarious position.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has led to the cancellation of nearly every major sporting event, including March Madness and at least a month’s slate of NBA contests.

The titanic development means sportsbooks will likely see a major drop in revenue. It was anticipated to be one of the most lucrative months of the year.

But, inevitably, this too shall pass.

When it does, Oregon’s sports betting field will be left with its own revamped situation.

Washington legislators give thumbs-up to sports gambling

Washington state representatives voted in early March to approve a bill that OKs the initiation of sports betting in the state’s tribal casinos. The vote, which was passed overwhelmingly 83-14, sent the bill to Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk for a final, formal signature.

His signature must come by early April.

Gambling could take several months to start in Washington due to the need for state officials to reach a new pact agreement with tribes. Still, the approval was a major step forward. The state has balked at proposed gambling expansions in previous years.

Washington residents will likely be able to bet on professional and college sports in 2020, although wagers will have to be placed at Indian casinos.

However, WA bettors will not be able to bet on college teams in the state itself. It blocks a lucrative market that would have included University of Washington basketball and football and Washington State University football.

What does this mean for Oregon?

Oregon, which joined the legalized betting movement in 2019 and is will likely expand this year, is unlikely to be impacted by its northern neighbor’s decision to join the fray.

Mainly, this is because of the restrictive nature of sports betting that is likely to be introduced to Washingtonians.

While the Oregon Lottery plans to bring kiosks for sports wagering to bars and retailers in an effort to grow its sportsbook app, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, Washington is set to restrict its betting to tribal casinos.

Plus, anyone who wants to bet on a Washington college sporting event would still need to cross the border into Oregon.

And, in contrast to Washington, college sports betting could even expand in Oregon.

While tribal casino sportsbooks in the state allow college-sporting bets, the Oregon Lottery has, so far, stayed away from NCAA-based gaming. That could change, however, as the lottery has begun considering a philosophical shift, according to OPB.

Oregon hopes to rebound from an underwhelming start

Oregon is lucky Washington doesn’t present much of a risk. It’s had a hard enough time making money in the current climate.

Steps are indeed being made to grow Oregon sports betting and the state’s only sportsbook app. But in many ways, those attempts are motivated by an unexpectedly poor start.

While state officials had expected to make millions in the first year following the Scoreboard app’s launch last fall, a more recent project has shown the Oregon Lottery anticipates a loss of $5.3 million in the first three-quarters of the fiscal year, as recently noted by PlayUSA.

Measures like expanded college sports betting and increased visibility in heavy-trafficked areas are likely to help, although more complex causes like unexpected low margins will also need repairing.