Key Points
- You’d think a C$1,000 parlay would deliver a decent win, but one player got hurt, twice. They accepted two cash-out offers but never got a cent.
- Ontario’s gaming regulator hammered the operator with its maximum penalty, and it’s smaller than the first cash-out offer.
- The ruling basically just slaps the operator on the wrist but leaves the player in the dark about getting any of the money they were owed.
TheScore Bet Slapped With C$200,000 Fine in Ontario Over Two Cash Outs That Never Materialised
You’d think one tap of the button would lock in a C$380,000 win for an Ontario sports bettor, but no such luck. Four minutes later, a second accepted offer went down the drain in the same way.
On 06 October 2026, the AGCO dropped a C$200,000 fine on Score Media and Gaming Inc., the company behind theScore Bet and a unit of PENN Entertainment. According to the regulator, the two cash-out offers made to the player were never going to be honoured as promised.
The C$200,000 is the maximum the AGCO can dole out in this case, but the real question remains: will the player ever see a penny of that cash?
How a C$1,000 Parlay Went Completely Awry?
On 14 March 2025, the player placed a C1,000 multileg parlay on NHL, NBA and college hoops, and even the most diehard sports fan would think that’s a pretty bold bet. All the games finished as planned that same day, and a perfect ticket would’ve been worth a lot more than C1 million.
The player’s luck didn’t quite hold out, though. Every leg except the last one paid out, and theScore Bet offered a cash out of around C$380,000. The player jumped on it right away, but when the platform tried to verify the transaction, it said the odds had shifted.
Four minutes later, another cash out offer of almost C$100,000 turned up on the player’s screen. They accepted that one too, but once again, it never materialised.
Why the AGCO Says the Offers Were Misleading?
At the root of this case is Standard 4.07 of the Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming. The standard basically says that any information shown to a player before and during a game has to be accurate and not misleading, and operators can’t make promises they can’t keep.
The AGCO is also accusing the operator of breaking section 3.8 of the Gaming Control Act, 1992, which lays out the rules for the Registrar’s standards. The regulator is saying the two cash out offers were specifically misleading, but there’s no blanket rule saying all on-screen cash out offers are guaranteed payouts.
The AGCO’s CEO and Registrar, Dr Karin Schnarr, spelt it out pretty bluntly. “Operators have a responsibility to get things right and make sure the games they’re offering are on the level, and can be honoured as promised.”
Was theScore Bet Ordered by AGCO to Pay the Player?
As of now, the answer appears to be negative. The regulator was prudent enough to distinguish between the action it undertook and any alternative ways in which a particular player could address his issue. Operators will continue to be responsible for dealing with customer complaints in accordance with Ontario and Canadian regulations.
To put it simply, the penalty is addressed to the way the operator acts rather than to the player’s losses. As Casino.org reported, the regulator declined to confirm the fact of the compensation to the player in question. There is nothing in the press release suggesting which means of solving the problem the player chose.
In response to this fine, PENN Entertainment issued a statement via a spokesperson for the Sports Betting Dime. “We are committed to delivering a fair and transparent betting experience to our customers,” the company said. “In this instance, we have worked collaboratively with AGCO on the issue and we will continue to do so constructively,” it added. On the issue of whether the player has received payment, the statement remained mum.
What Happens Next for theScore Bet?
According to the AGCO appeal guide, the operator has 15 days to request a hearing in the Licence Appeal Tribunal which belongs to Tribunals Ontario and is independent of the AGCO. Any hearing request submitted after the mentioned period should be accompanied by an additional request for an extension of time.
As of now, the operator has not publicly stated whether it wants to appeal the decision.
Comparison With theScore Bet’s 2025 Penalty
The fine marks the second time when theScore Bet is sanctioned by the regulator in less than one year. Back in October 2025, the regulator fined the operator C105,000 for failing to respond to the needs of a vulnerable gambler who made wagers for C2.5 million and lost about C$230,000 in eight months.
Despite the different natures of the two cases (the former one related to responsible gambling and the latter one to the presentation of the live betting information), both fines are caused by the operator’s failure to deal with the particular player at that particular moment.
Another point is the timing. The player placed the disputed parlay back in March 2025, long before the first fine was imposed. 19 months passed between those two events.
A Busy Run of Enforcement in Ontario
Ontario’s iGaming regulator is on a roll right now, racking up the second-largest fine since the market opened its doors in April 2022. On the list, only one penalty takes the top spot: In January 2026, the AGCO nailed FanDuel with a C$350,000 fine over missed match-fixing warning signs.
Summer’s not been a quiet time for online operators either. We saw another action against NorthStar on 27 August 2026, when the AGCO slapped them with a C100,000 fine for anti-money laundering failures, and that was just a month after BettyGaming got hit with a C120,000 fine when 23 underage people were able to open accounts using their site.
What the Ruling Could Mean for Cash Out Systems?
Cash out values are tied to live odds, and we know those odds can shift like crazy in the heat of the game. In this case, the AGCO is sending a pretty clear message that if the odds change before the cash out is settled, that’s a breach of their rules.
Still up in the air is whether Ontario’s regulator will come up with wider tech rules for how cash out systems work, but one thing’s for sure, operators now have one detailed example to study and one maximum penalty to keep in mind.
Expert Analysis: That Maximum Fine Still Isn’t as High as the First Offer
We think it’s a plus that the AGCO treated an unpaid cash out as a player protection failure, it could have easily been brushed off as a minor technical glitch. Kudos to them for not going down that road.
But when it comes to the numbers; the maximum fine available was just C200,000, but the first cash out the player accepted was a much more tempting C380,000, our concern is that if a penalty is supposed to change behaviour at a sportsbook, can a fine really be effective when it’s lower than the disputed offer? We’re not suggesting theScore Bet acted with any bad intentions, just that this situation feels a bit open-ended.
We also feel for the player here, who got misled by an offer that turned out to be a dud. Ontario’s regulator said the offers were misleading, but the penalty does nothing to put the player back in a better position. If the regulator wants people to trust what they see on screen, we’d like to see a bit more clear guidance on restitution.
One more thing, speed. 19 months is a long time to wait for a penalty when the whole point of live betting is that the odds can change in a split second. For some people that’s due process, but for us, it feels a bit too slow.
And then there’s the question of whether theScore Bet will ask for a hearing, if they do, the tribunal could end up testing just how far that standard 4.07 really goes in terms of live pricing. We’re not the only ones who’d be watching that case closely, all the sportsbooks operating in Ontario are probably thinking about this too.
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