Gaming News Canada

The OLG’s new FY report suggests that the crown corporation captured one-fifth of #Ontario’s regulated online gambling activity in the 2023-24 FY. #OLG reported total gross online gaming and sports betting revenue of $630 million for the year, up 12% year-over-year. iGaming Ontario's own FY 2023-24 report claimed $2.4 billion in GGR. Combining OLG and #iGO reporting for the two-year period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024, regulated Ontario online gambling has now made $5 billion in gross revenue. Full reporting from Tom Nightingale 👇

Before we left the country for some R&R, we invited Shelley White MA, ICD.D and Elaine McDougall to be our guests on the latest Gaming News Canada podcast. Among the topics we discussed is the RGC’s latest annual report, the council board of directors being close to naming a successor the White, who is retiring at the end of the year. The departing CEO discussed her eight years leading the council and both White and McDougall talked about their work on the RG side of legal gambling in Canada, and globally. And, oh yes, Alberta also came up on the pod.

On a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, Sports Interaction chief betting officer David Bastl joined us for a conversation about SIA's involvement in the launch of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios NHL Coast to Coast on Thursday evenings, and the debut this week of Prime Monday Night Hockey in Canada. Bastl talked about his almost-20 year career in the sports media industry, and the integration of sports betting into his work on camera and behind the microphone. Our chat also touched on the evolution of Sports Interaction's content and social media strategy, including the launch earlier this year of The Locker Room program around NFL games, MMA events, the Stanley Cup playoffs and other tentpole sporting events. Amazon Canada The Parleh National Hockey League (NHL) Michael Zitney #podcast #sportsbetting #sportsmedia

The president/CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, Paul Burns returned to the Gaming News Canada Show for a conversation on several topics, including: - His testimony last week in front of the Senate committee on transport and communication on a proposed bill to create a national framework for advertising on sports betting; - The latest on the move to regulated sports betting and online gaming in the province of Alberta; - The state of regulated gaming across our home and native land; - And a lookahead to this week's Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, including his appearance on a Canadian roundtable alongside Dale Nally, Karin Schnarr and Martha Otton.

Our regular Gaming News Canada Show experts, Amanda Brewer and Phill Gray, returned to the podcasts for an in-depth segment on the road to regulated sports betting and igaming in the province of Alberta, including a discussion on the potential tax rate and other costs of doing business there, and reaction to a report from a think tank on the potential harm to expanded legal gambling in the western Canada jurisdiction. Gray weighed in on the recent Massachusetts Gaming Commission roundtable into limiting of sports better with regulated operators, and our pair of panelists also got into the newly proposed U.S. SAFE Bet Act, and the pending retirement of iGaming Ontario boss Martha Otton.

We jumped on the laptop for a special episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, getting thoughts and layers from Jonah Sigel and The Parleh founder Mark S. on today’s announcement that Rogers Sports & Media is acquiring the ownership stake of Bell in MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Partnership). Lots to digest.

Earlier this month, BCLC launched its digital retail sportsbook, #ProLine. So, we asked the corp's manager of retail sports Brett Hanson to be our guest on the Gaming News Canada Show and take us behind the curtain on getting the new product ready for the start of the NFL regular season, while also discussing the challenges and opportunities on moving customers away from the filling out of sportsbook slips at ye olde convenience store. As always, we invite you to listen, learn and enjoy the conversation. If you'd like to be a guest on our podcast, please email me at steve@gamingnewscanada.ca.

🇺🇸 🤝 🇨🇦 WagerWire cofounders Zach Doctor, Travis Geiger and Guy Dotan sit down with Steve McAllister of Gaming News Canada to talk about WagerWire's rapid growth. Give it a listen, eh? Ep. 114: WagerWire Co-Founders on Growth, Fantasy, and the Future of Sports Betting Some 18 months ago, your humble host sat in a New York restaurant with three guys who came friends while attending UCLA and took the startup plunge to create WagerWire. Today, the Los Angeles-based business has established a place in the sports wagering and daily fantasy sports trading marketplace while using social and media platforms to build a community of sports aficionados. The co-founders of WagerWire, Zach Doctor, Travis Geiger and Guy Dotan were our guests on the Gaming News Canada Show to discuss the company’s ongoing growth, including this summer’s announcement of establishing fantasy and media verticals to “operate sports products and other types of gaming independently of sports betting”. We also asked the trio about the opportunities in Ontario’s regulated gambling marketplace, and the soon-to-come regulated industry in Alberta, their newish foray into horse racing. Dotan also lent us his expertise on the continuing challenges with new technologies. And, our conversation included some NFL talk in a week when the four-down gridiron giant kicked off its regular season, and the American Gaming Association announcedthat an unprecedented $35 billion (Amarican dollars) will be wagered on the league this season.  https://lnkd.in/gFJcAd2Y

Simply put, I really enjoyed my conversation with Segev LLP founder Ron Segev on the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast. Among the topics du jour: - How the law firm led by Segev and his brother Alon Segev found its way into the gaming sector; - The decision to set up shop in Calgary, and Ron's insights into what a new regulated sports betting and gaming marketplace will look like in Alberta; - The continuing evolution of Ontario's regulated gambling industry; - Why a regulated marketplace won't be coming to British Columbia any time soon.

Sportradar has many fingers in the pie that is the business of sports betting and online gaming. Michael Cryan, who earlier this year joined the sports technology company as its Head of Paid Social, was our latest guest on the Gaming News Canada Show. Cryan spoke with us about his new gig and how someone who studied classical and jazz guitar at an American university ended up in Dublin working for rather large brands such as TikTok and Meta before joining Sportradar, which provides support to its gaming industry clients by integrating its data and technology into short-former videos.