Scoreboard’s May Figures Grow With Assist From the Blazers

Scoreboard’s May figures stayed the course.

The Oregon Lottery platform remains flawed, a monopoly without college sports betting, and is in a season without NFL betting.

Not a great recipe and Scoreboard’s mediocre numbers bear that out.

Nonetheless, the state’s sole mobile sports-betting option saw in May an increase in activity for the second consecutive month.

It’s a trend state officials hope will continue until they can agree on an improved setup.

Scoreboard sees handle growth following a bump in April

Here is a summary of Scoreboard’s May figures:

• Handle: $27.78 million
• Revenue: $2.35 million
• Number of bets: 791,177
• Average bet amount: $35.11
• Margin (hold): 8.46%
• Unique active players: 19,806

It was the second consecutive bump in handle for Scoreboard, improving on the $24 million generated in the what-could-have-been month of March and the platform’s $25.3 million showing in April.

Compared to April, Scoreboard tallied roughly 31,000 more bets and jumped nearly $2.5 million in handle in May.

But that doesn’t paint the whole picture.

As a result of a margin dip of more than 2%, the Lottery revenue generated by Scoreboard dropped more than $378,000 from April to May.

To put those numbers in context, Scoreboard has generated $141.7 million in handle and $13 million in revenue so far this year.

The year’s best handle-based months, of course, came in January and February, both of which enjoyed the annual boost of the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.

Basketball leads the way in May

Basketball once again led all other sports in terms of betting volume. Oregon bettors placed more than 416,000 bets placed on basketball, generating over $16 million in handle and nearly $1.5 million in revenue.

The next closest was baseball (136,000 bets) followed by soccer (82,000 bets).

More than half of May’s wagers were placed in the final weeks of the NBA season, followed by the start of the NBA playoffs.

Playing the biggest role was the recent playoff series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets, who played four of their six first-round games in May.

The series’ final two games were played last week and preceded the Blazers’ early exit and subsequent firing of head coach Terry Stotts.

The Blazers’ departure, meanwhile, will undoubtedly have an effect on Oregon’s June Scoreboard numbers.

Without the Blazers playing playoff basketball, casual fan attention on the NBA playoffs in likely to dip throughout Oregon.

Reliable bettors are likely to continue wagering on subsequent rounds, leaving the impact of the Blazers’ exit yet-to-be seen.

Year-over-year increase shows extent of pandemic recovery

Sports betting in Oregon isn’t perfect.

The state is leaving millions on the table by not allowing college sports wagering and so far embracing a monopoly-style mobile-betting environment.

Important legislation has halted, and Oregon’s sports-betting peers are running circles around it.

But Scoreboard’s figures also tell a beautiful story, one that continues to emphasize the sports world’s full emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, for instance, just $7.29 million was bet on sports in Oregon. Just shy of $600K was generated in revenue.

And that was up from the $4.43 million and $392,000, respectively, tallied the month prior, in April 2020.

And while, yes, sports betting began to hit regular numbers by the start of last year’s NFL season, these exhibitions of normality, from full MLB stadiums to expected sports-betting options, are a relief.

So take a moment to soak it in, and remember waking up at 4 a.m. to bet on South Korean baseball.