PENN brings three brands to Alberta

• PENN Entertainment entered Alberta with three separate apps at once: theScore Bet Sportsbook & Casino, standalone theScore Casino, and standalone Hollywood Casino.
• All three went live on iOS, Android and web on July 13, the day Alberta’s private operator market opened.
• The move makes Alberta PENN’s second regulated Canadian province, following Ontario, in one of its more product-dense Canadian launches to date.

PENN Entertainment has enetered Alberta with three apps rather than one.

theScore Bet Sportsbook & Casino, theScore Casino and Hollywood Casino all went live across iOS, Android and web on July 13, the day the province’s regulated market opened to private operators.

The move gives PENN a wider day-one footprint in Alberta than in Ontario, where it currently runs a single combined product.

Splitting sportsbook from casino, twice

Most operators entering a new province lead with one flagship app. PENN is running a three-brand play instead, betting that segmenting sports bettors from casino-only players will capture more of each audience than a single bundled product would.

theScore Bet carries the sports-media integration that distinguishes it from rival sportsbooks: live scores, news and stats sit inside the same interface as same-game parlays, player props and live in-game wagering. That format already has a track record in Ontario.

PENN carried the same theScore Bet branding into its US business when it finished the rebrand ahead of a Missouri launch in December 2025. The casino side of the app adds hundreds of slots, table games and live dealer tables, plus branded content like Blue Jays Blackjack, part of the Alberta casino lineup from launch.

Two casino brands, one purpose

Where theScore Bet bundles sports and casino together, Hollywood Casino and theScore Casino exist to catch the players who want neither the sportsbook nor the sports-media layer. Hollywood Casino is the older of the two brands, built on PENN’s US land-based casino network and already running online in several states.

theScore Casino is the newer, Canada-first product, aimed at bettors who know the theScore name from sports content but want a casino app stripped of betting markets entirely. Running both under one Alberta license gives PENN three separate acquisition funnels rather than one, at the cost of splitting marketing spend three ways from day one.

Aaron LaBerge, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Interactive at PENN Entertainment, said:

“Alberta has an incredible sports culture, and we’re excited to bring theScore Bet Sportsbook & Casino to players across the province. Fans already know and trust theScore, and with theScore Bet, we’re extending that connection into a seamless sportsbook and casino experience.

“Whether you’re following your favorite team, placing a bet, or enjoying casino games, we’ve built the experience around the way fans naturally engage with sports. We commend the Alberta government for introducing a regulated online gaming market for private operators and look forward to serving fans in one of Canada’s great sports markets.”

Three apps, one bet

The three-app strategy mirrors a broader shift inside PENN, where iCasino has become central to the company’s digital strategy even as the group has cut headcount to narrow its interactive losses. Splitting theScore Bet, theScore Casino and Hollywood Casino into separate products only pays off if PENN can market all three without cannibalizing its own acquisition budget.

Ontario gives PENN a single-market data point to judge that against. Alberta, with a denser field of competitors on day one, will be the harder test of whether the multi-brand approach scales.

Landing in a market that’s already full

PENN is not first, and it is not alone. DraftKings, FanDuel and bet365 all launched into Alberta around the same window.

theScore Bet’s sponsorship portfolio, exclusive gaming partner status with the Toronto Blue Jays and Golf Canada, plus partner status with the NHL and PGA Tour, is doing some of the heavy lifting that a first-mover advantage would otherwise provide.

Alberta’s framework, set out under the iGaming Alberta Act and regulated jointly by the Alberta iGaming Corporation and the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission, mirrors the structure that has underpinned Ontario’s market since 2022, which recently welcomed DAZN Bet as its newest entrant.

Alberta’s government has projected C$76 million in proceeds from the market’s first year alone.