Gaming News Canada Show

Back in the spring, Bettormetrics released a report analyzing suspension strategies and the impact they were having on sportsbook revenues in the U.S. of A.  Robert Urwin, the co-founder and managing director of the sports odds intelligence company, made his maiden appearance on the Gaming News Canada Show to dig deeper into the company’s data around betting on the 2023-24 NBA season. Included in the company’s analysis as FanDuel leaving an estimated $1.45 billion (Amarican bucks) in handle during the pro hoops campaign. Urwin, who’s worked in the gaming industry for more than two decades – including tenures with Unibet, Betfair and Ladbrokes before co-founding Bettormetrics almost three years ago – spoke about his current company’s place in the sports betting biz and further addressed suspension of wagers during live sporting events.  He also got into the evolving use of artificial intelligence in delivering data around sports and sports betting, as we enter a busy fall sports schedule with the return of the NFL, NBA and NHL regular seasons, MLB playoffs, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the beginning of August, iGaming Ontario announced a select bid by Integrity Compliance 360 and Australian company IXUP was selected to develop a centralized self-exclusion system for Ontario. Catherine Jarmain, iGO’s director of industry programs and monitoring, and IC360 president Eric Frank joined the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show to discuss the project to build on the existing player protections in Ontario. Frank explained the creation of the partnership between IC360 and its ProhiBet betting integrity product, and IXUP, which designed and delivered and operates Australia’s national self-exclusion register (BetStop). Jarmain spoke about both the lengthy process that led to the August 1 announcement, and the coming together of Ontario’s regulated operators and OLG in supporting the development of a centralized program for Canada’s only regulated industry. We also asked Frank about the IC360/IXUP partnership extending into other jurisdictions, including the anticipated opening of a regulated gambling industry in Alberta. Finally, both Jarmain and Frank paid tribute to Martha Otton, after iGO announced last week that its executive director is retiring at the end of the year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So much for the dog days of summer, at least when it comes to the business of sports betting and gaming in Canada and the United States of America. Geoff Zochodne, the veteran gaming industry beat reporter for Covers, took a break from listening to hearings, transcribing interviews and tapping the keyboard to return as our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Among the many topics we covered over a lengthy conversation: - What is motivating DraftKings to, in Zochodne’s words, “plan to hit winning players with a ‘gaming tax surcharge’?- What make sense in terms of timing for regulated sports wagering and online gaming to arrive in Alberta and what will that marketplace look like?- Jeff Marek’s departure from Sportsnet appears to have involved both the NHL and Nevada Gaming Control Board.- And what’s the dilio with regards to sports betting regulators and limiting? Zochodne also provided his perspective on the Ontario Court of Appeal case considering the expansion of online poker and daily fantasy sports, consolidation of the U.S. sports betting industry (and why it hasn’t happened in Ontario), and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you hear the story about the NCAA assistant basketball coachwho decided less than a year into the COVID pandemic to leave coaching and create a startup business around tractor and truck pulling, and gaming? If not, you’re politely invited to listen in on our conversation with Full Pull Entertainment founder and CEO Chase Richardson on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Richardson, whom we first met while he was on a networking/business development mission at last year’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, shared his journey of leaving college hoops to parlay (see what we did?) his farming family’s generational participation in truck and tractor pulling to build a business and expand engagement around the sport into the gaming sector with the launch of Full Pull Picks.  Richardson discussed with us the lessons learned from coaching and recruiting in the highly competitive U.S. college basketball environment into operating a startup business. And we asked the former NCAA player how he recruited Friend of Gaming News Canada Benjie Cherniak to join Full Pull as an advisor and investor. The Full Pull head honcho also talked about his desire to bring Full Pull Picks to the Ontario and Alberta (when regulated gambling comes to the western Canada province) markets, given the appetite for tractor and truck pulling throughout rural communities in the two provinces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Court is in session this summer, at least the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which is being asked by the provincial government “to answer whether the Ontario’s igaming regime would remain lawful under the Criminal Code (of Canada) if the overall size of the potential gaming audience of the scheme, otherwise known as its liquidity, is expanded to include players outside of Canada”. The latest session, which took place July 6, included legal representation for the Attorney General of Ontario, the Attorney General of British Columbia, members of the Canadian Lottery Coalition, the Canadian Gaming Association, Flutter Entertainment (owners of PokerStars and FanDuel), NSUS Group Inc. and NSUS Limited (proprietors of GGPoker), and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke. For their respective perspectives on the court proceedings, the Gaming News Canada Show welcomed back CGA president/CEO Paul Burns and Jack Tadman, the managing partner of GME Law. Burns walked us through the CGA’s role in supporting the province’s request and provided some history around cross/jurisdiction/border online gaming and daily fantasy sports. Tadman added a layer or two, too, to that topic and spoke about what intrigues him about the case and the participants. Burns had some thoughts last month’s Canadian Gaming Summit and welcomed Kiron Interactive as the association’s newest member. Both Burns and Tadman addressed the ever-evolving nature of regulated sports betting and gaming, and we also asked Tadman for his reaction to the ongoing push by Senator Marty Deacon to pass Bill S-269, National Framework on Advertising for Sports Betting Act.  From the Dept. of In Case You Missed It, iGaming Ontario released Wednesdayits FY 2024-25 Q1 Market Performance Report. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some four weeks after the curtain fell on the latest Canadian Gaming Summit, the Gaming News Canada Show welcomed back regular contributors Amanda Brewer and Phill Gray. The two gambling industry veterans provided their thoughts and layers to the annual gathering of operators, regulators, suppliers, politicians, etc., to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Brewer, who spoke on the Alberta: A new gold rush? panel at last month's summit, and Gray delved into the details of what regulated gambling will look like in the western Canada province, the influence Ontario's existing industry will have on the Alberta model and which operators will be heading west when that market hangs the Open For Business shingle. We also asked the resident GNC experts for their respective perspectives on the latest around the conversation about gambling advertising, and a recent callby the Canada Centre on Substance Use and Addiction for the introduction of a national strategy to address gambling-related harms in our home and native land. Finally, Gray and Brewer gave their reaction to the news last week that Betway is pulling its sports betting product out of the U.S. of A. (but continuing to operate both sports wagering and igaming in Ontari-ari-ari-o). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Ontario opened its doors to legal sports betting and igaming industry in April 2022, one of the first companies to provide its online slots products to the marketplace was Play’n GO. In May, the Swedish-born company announced a partnership with Loto-Québec to bring its products to the lottery corp’s customers in La Belle Province. And last month, just before the start of the Canadian Gaming Summit, Play’n GO became a member of the Canadian Gaming Association. Saam Hafezi, the company’s North American business lead, and head of government affairs Shawn Fluharty took time away from their version of Meetings Madness during the summit to join us on the Gaming News Canada Show. Hafezi walked us through Play’n GO’s strategy for growing business in Canada and addressed the need for speed and delivering what the customers want in a highly competitive sector of the gambling industry.  Fluharty, who serves as the president of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States, explained the challenges operators face in navigating the different sets of rules created by gambling regulators in U.S. states and Ontario. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the second morning of the recent Canadian Gaming Summit, news broke of an exclusive partnership between BetMGM and Brian Christopher, the online slots and casino influencer with almost 700,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. That afternoon, Christopher and his business partner Marco Bianchi sat down with us on the summit’s exhibition floor for an episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Christopher and Bianchi, the co-founders of Palm Springs-based BC Ventures delivered some details on how the BetMGM partnership came to fruition, including Christopher’s to-come appearances for the giant igaming brand on YouTube, Facebook and Kick. We also asked Christopher about his success in building a following through BCSlots, FlipTheSwitch.com, BCSlots Cruises and Rudies Fan Club. Bianchi, a former colleague of your humble GNCS host a decade ago with Yahoo, weighed in on the company’s growth and Christopher’s connectivity with online gaming players and audiences. The two men also emphasized the commitment to responsible gaming, which Christopher will reinforce in the partnership with BetMGM. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martha Otton was among the busiest attendees at the recent Canadian Gaming Summit. The executive director of iGaming Ontario was a ubiquitous presence around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, whether it was speaking formally with operators in Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming market in her role as executive director, participating in a panel on the province’s successful industry with OLG president Duncan Hannay, OLG board chair Jim Warren and AGCO CEO/Registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr, and holding a cornucopia of informal conversations. Otton, who was put in charge of creating the conduct-and-manage subsidiary of AGCO in February 2021, also made time to join us on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. We solicited some additional thoughts to her words at the conference about the iGO-commissioned report conducted by Deloitte around economic contribution from Year 2 of a regulated industry which today includes almost 50 operators and 80 gambling websites/apps. Our interview occurred minutes after Alberta minister Dale Nally announced the western Canadian province will follow Ontario’s lead in opening a regulated gaming marketplace, so we asked Otton for her reaction. The iGO boss also addressed the ongoing evolution of legal gambling in Ontario and her still-young organization’s focus on improving its use of technology and data. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For three and a half years now, your humble host has listened and learned from many, many voices across all sectors of the gambling industry. And some of those experts prompt us to go all E.F. Hutton when they speak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXqb1a3Apg One of those very learned people is Benjie Cherniak, who returned to the Gaming News Canada Show after a busy couple of months piling up the frequent flier miles, including stops for NEXT.io conferences in New York and Malta. The native Montrealer, an investor and advisor to a cornucopia of companies in the gaming space (including his investment in the proprietors of GNC) was appointed to the board of directors of Kambi Group last month. We asked Cherniak to chime in on several topics in the industry these days, including the happenings around mergers and acquisitions (to wit: DraftKings acquiring Jackpocket and Sports IQ Analytics and rumblings it will also bring Simplebet into the DK family; FanDuel’s acquisition of BeyondPlay; and the sale of Waterloo-based Quarter4 to FairPlay Sports Media). He also provided some sundry thoughts on the discussions and debates around the still-newish regulated gambling marketplaces in Ontario, and states across the U.S. of A., the creation of media and marketing content for sportsbook and igaming operators, and the ongoing innovation happening in the business. Cherniak also had some advice for first-timers attending the Canadian Gaming Summit, which gets underway today at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Ian Messenger is a man with many hats over his professional career, from his work as an officer with Lothian and Borders Police in Edinburgh almost 20 years ago, to time as an operational duty officer with Interpol London and international intelligence officer, to investigating crimes of the financial sort with HSBC and OLG. Messenger’s experiences and expertise motivated him in the fall of October 2022 to create the Association of Certified Gaming Compliance Specialists, which today provides training to the casino and igaming sector in Canada and around the rest of the world. In March 2023, the ACGCS and Dalhousie University announced the first-of-its-kind course in igaming compliance in our home and native land. At next week’s Canadian Gaming Summit, Messenger will moderate a panel on Identifying and combating human trafficking in land-based casinos. He joined us on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show to talk about his experiences and his motivation for launching an association which provides online courses to people around the globe. Messenger also got into the steps that have been taken to stop human trafficking casinos and gave us some advice on how to identify that someone may be in trouble. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Toronto-based Rivalry made his return to the Gaming News Canada Show. A conversation between Steves – Salz and McAllister – begins with the head honcho of the online gambling company laying out the path to last week’s announcement of Rivalry entering the world of cryptocurrency, including the NUTZ interim points program.  Salz answered our questions about the company’s latest financials, also released last week, and the company’s strategy for the remainder of 2024. There was also a discussion on what’s happening in the esports universe, and Salz’s observations about Ontario’s regulated gambling market moving into Year 3. The expansion of regulated gambling beyond Ontario in our home and native land also prompted a couple of interesting responses from Salz, who will participate in the Next-Gen gamification: engaging Millennials and GenZ panel at the upcoming Canadian Gaming Summit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the boom in women’s sports continues, led by Caitlin Clark’s arrival to the WNBA, the inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and Nelly Korda’s dominant season on the LPGA Tour, BetMGM has seen that rising tide impact its sports betting handle in a bullish manner. Scott Woodgate, the company’s Vice President in charge of Canada, and PR Manager – Data Insights John Ewing appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show to provide thoughts and metrics on the increase in betting on women’s sports, and the rise in female bettors. Ewing dug into BetMGM’s announcement earlier this year there was a 51-per-cent increase on women betting on the Super Bowl – thanks in some part to the Taylor Swift effect – compared with the 2023 NFL championship game. Ewing answered our question about the habits of female bettors. Both Ewing and Woodgate also got into the impact of increased attention around women’s sports on BetMGM’s product, including customers being invested in Clark during NCAA March Madness and in her rookie WNBA season with the Indiana Fever. “We reflect the interest from bettors,” said Ewing, who, with Woodgate, spoke about the similarities between sportsbooks and media when it comes to women's sports. Woodgate provided his perspective on the current state of regulated gambling in Ontario, and the prospect of Alberta becoming the next Canadian province to open its door to legal operators. Alberta’s iGaming Evolution is among the panels at the June 18-20 Canadian Gaming Summit, with Patrick Harrison guiding a conversation between TRM Public Affairs President, Entain senior executive Martin Lycka, and BetMGM Vice President, Strategy & Development Witek Wachinski. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest edition of the Gaming News Canada Show, we are joined by two women who’ve been instrumental in the highly acclaimed efforts of the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation when it comes to creating and continuing to push forward with a culture that embraces diversity, equity and inclusivity.  Catherine Meade, the Vice President of Community, Sustainability and Social Responsibility has been with OLG for more than eight years, and in May was named North America Leader of the Year during the SBC Summit North America. Tyjondah Kerr will celebrate 25 years with OLG later this year, and is currently the corp’s Director, Social Responsibility. Meade and Kerr both spoke about OLG’s commitment to DEI, beginning with an embracing of the organization’s five-year plan in February 2019 and continuing to build on that strategy at a time when companies are pulling back on their DEI efforts. Meade talked about the work she’s done in various roles over her career, beginning as an equity officer at Acadia University and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society in the 1990s, to her position of Director, Capital Projects for the PanAm/Parapan Games group in Toronto less than a decade ago, and as a passionate advocate for the LGBTQ sports community. We asked Kerr about her early years as a young black woman in the business of gambling – telling the story of her frustration at being overlooked for promotions - and the (slow) evolution of the industry as one that’s more inclusive with work still to be done. Our two guests also weighed in on the tidal wave these days around women’s sports. Meade and Kerr will both be speaking at the June 18-20 Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Given the recent cornucopia of happenings around the business of sports betting and igaming, we brought back the Gaming News Canada Show panel with Amanda Brewer and Phill Gray.The rapid-fire roundtable featuring the two gambling industry veterans opened with a discussion on the recent ruling by the Ontario Superior Court against the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke that the gaming model operated by iGaming Ontario is of the valid variety, and its potential impact on the future on other regulated provinces across Canada. Brewer, who will participate in a couple of panels at next month's Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto, and Gray also weighed in on the agenda that's been created by SBC in collaboration with the Canadian Gaming Association for the three-day conference inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.The conversation turned to south of the border where U.S. states such as Illinois are proposing tax hikes to regulated sports betting operators, and the recent snub by operators toward the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to discuss placing betting limitations. We also asked our pair of panelists for their thoughts on the rising wave around women's sports, including an exciting final series in the Professional Women's Hockey League, the launch of the new WNBA season with rookie sensation Caitlin Clark, and this week's announcement about the incoming Northern Super League in Canada. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Godfree, the Managing Director, Mobile and Geolocation Specialists for Mkodo, is our latest guest on the Gaming News Canada Show. Godfree, who co-founded the UK-based geolocation technology business 23 years ago this month, discussed the evolution of the company’s business in the more-recent regulatory environment of U.S. states and Ontario, including Mkodo’s work with the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation, Casumo and Betty. We asked Godfree for his thoughts on the regulatory regime created by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, with the assistance of iGaming Ontario, and the need for other Canadian provinces to follow the lead of the provincial government in Ontari-ari-ari-o.Our conversation touched on the collaboration between operators and companies like Mkodo, which includes its Geo Locs service for igaming operators. Godfree, who will participate in the Modern Approaches to Traditional Verticals: Digitization Comes for Lottery, Bingo, and Horses panel at next month’s Canadian Gaming Summit, also provided his thoughts on the evolution of machine learning/artificial intelligence.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/G2ysd1G6HSc?si=khj82YOv6NPC4SeW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League opens its sixth season tonight in Calgary with the hometown Surge hosting the Edmonton Stingers in a hoops edition of the Battle of Alberta expected to draw more than 10,000 fans. Mike Morreale, the CEBL’s commissioner, and deputy commissioner John Lashway appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show to set the table for the 10-team loop’s Summer of 2024. Morreale and Lashway walked GNCS host Steve McAllister through the league’s efforts to educate players, coaches, officials and other stakeholders on its sports betting policy and collaborating with league partners Genius Sports, SIS and BetVictor in the fight against match-fixing. The podcast also includes a discussion on the CEBL’s partnership with BetVictor, which this season includes a weekly betting show to be produced by Homestand Sports. And, Morreale and Lashway both weighed in on the league’s growth from six teams in its 2019 inaugural season to 10 teams with plans for expansion in 2025, the development of players, coaches and officials who have graduated to the National Basketball Association, and the CEBL becoming an attractive place for players looking to climb the pro hoops ladder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This morning, Sharp Alpha Advisors – the New York-based venture capital firm which specializes in sports, gaming and entertainment – announced the closing of Sharp Alpha Fund II, an oversubscribed $250-million VC fund investing in early-stage businesses. Lloyd Danzig, the managing partner of Sharp Alpha Advisors, joined the Gaming News Canada Show from Dallas to provide more details around the breaking news. He also spoke about the flurry of M&A activity so far in 2024, including the acquisition of Quarter4 by FairPlay Sports Media Group, and what’s motivating those transactions, and what investors are looking for when it comes to providing funding to companies in the sports, gaming and entertainment spaces. And, what excites him about the innovation and products appearing in the world of sports wagering and online gaming these days.Danzig, who will be speaking at next month’s Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto, also addressed the opportunities north of the border.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three years since doing the incorporation thing – and less than a year before the opening of Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry – Parleh Media Group’s journey has been one of twists and turns for its Homestand, Bettor Content and The Parleh/Gaming News Canada brands. Mark Silver, the PMG chief executive officer who brought together the company’s six founding partners in early 2021 and Homestand’s content/brand grand poobah Kevin Kennedy appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show for some reminiscing and a lookahead at the opportunities in the always-changing world of betting, gaming and media. Silver spoke about his latest experience in a startup business, and the need for continuous experimenting and shifting strategies to meet the needs of some 10 clients which Parleh has served in Ontario’s two-year-old regulated marketplace. Kennedy was asked for his thoughts on the merger of sports betting and sports media – including The Locker Room program that’s available on the Sports Interaction app - the continuous search for unique content in a market that remains crowded despite the challenges faced by traditional media, and the content opportunities around Ontario’s robust online gaming business.  Both PMG leaders gave their own taps of the hockey twig, Silver to investors and other supporters of the company, and Kennedy to the group of established and just-starting content creators who are finding a different path these days to telling stories in the world of sports. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The leadership group at U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance took its own version of the Nestea plunge last month when it announced the merger of the two companies under a new brand, IC360. Matthew Holt, the chief executive officer of the new company, and IC360 president Eric Frank appeared on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. The main drivers of the merger gave us the back story on how U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance came together since launching ProhiBet at the beginning of 2023, and the new business’s integration of integrity and compliance products. Holt explained the creation of an education and training team led by former EPIC Global Solutions employees Mark Potter and Dan Trolaro while both Holt and Frank got into the fast-moving evolution of artificial intelligence in supporting its integrity and compliance services. The interview also included a discussion on IC360’s plans for the Canadian market, including the hiring of Sebastian Jedrzejewski from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario last year and U.S. Integrity’s collaboration with the AGCO in the days leading up to the opening of the province’s regulated gambling marketplace. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.