DraftKings scored another big win in its bid to dominate the regulated US sports betting market as it takes over as the official sports betting app for the State of Oregon. The move is something of a slap in the face to the Scoreboard app the State was using, which was described as “too European” in its design.
Regulated sports betting in Oregon is run by the Oregon Lottery Commission, which was utilizing SBTech’s Scoreboard app. DraftKings purchased SBTech back in December 2019 and was approved to migrate Oregon players off of Scoreboard and on to the DraftKings app in August of last year.
Players who are currently using the Scoreboard app will have to start over and transfer funds to a new DraftKings app. Existing bets placed on Scoreboard, such as futures, will be honored and paid out on DraftKings.
So why didn’t DraftKings just keep Oregon players on the Scoreboard app, since they owned the company anyways? The answer was revealed by Oregon Lottery director, Barry Pack last summer in a Commission meeting, reported on by LegalSportsReport, in which he said, “The DraftKings platform is a lot more familiar to regular US sports bettors. The SBTech platform was more of a European design.”
What exactly about the app’s European design wasn’t working for US players is unclear.
DraftKings’ co-founder and President Global Technology and Product, Paul Liberman left that part out of his official statement on the migration from Scoreboard saying only, “The Oregon Lottery shares our innovative spirit as one of the most progressive organizations in the real-money gaming sector, and together we look forward to delivering the exceptional online sportsbook products that Oregonians have been anticipating.”
Oregon sports bettors can start wagering on the DraftKings app on January 18.