A room to some views for 2023
As Ontario's sports betting and gaming market enters its first full year, Gaming News Canada identifies some storylines to follow in the province, across the rest of Canada, and beyond.
In this issue:
Some views on the next 12 months
Change of platform for Gaming News Canada Show
Memo re: The Company Line
Some views on the next 12 months
For anyone thinking that 2023 will provide a catch-your-breath moment for any and all participants in the fast-paced world of sports betting and gaming, we offer this:
With that in mind, we present the Gaming News Canada edition of What To Watch For This Year:
Who’s coming, Part One?
As FOTP Will Hill pointed out on the final Gaming News Canada Show podcast of 2022, Ontario emerged as the “most populous jurisdiction in North America'' after opening its doors last April 4th with 70 registered brands. While we expect iGaming Ontario isn’t quite finished stamping Martha Otton’s signature on an agreement it’s fair to express doubts about operators belatedly arriving at the door of a crowded house.
Who’s coming, Part Deux?
Someone who knows the gambling industry as well as Connor Bedard knows the back of the net told us before the holiday season that the combined efforts of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and iGO, is being touted in some corners as the industry’s gold standard. If that’s the case, how long before we see another province follow suit? It’s a tangled weave for sure given some provincial lottery corporations are in full-on turf-protection mode, and the political dysfunction in Alberta has played a part in the province’s gaming, liquor and cannabis commission putting the brakes on a proposal to licence two sportsbooks to collaborate with the province’s casino operators and develop both online and retail books. Given the industry’s strong presence in British Columbia (GeoComply, Strive Gaming and FansUnite Entertainment are among the companies there with licences in North American jurisdictions), will there be some pressure for the province’s NDP government to follow Ontario’s lead?
Also, our neighbours south of the border will continue to see the expansion of legal online sports betting with Ohio opening for business on New Year’s Day (much more in the States Side Stories section) and Massachusetts on its way as early as March.
Who’s Going?
The news over the holidays that PointsBet is in discussions with News Corp about the potential sale of the company’s Australian business (does that mean PB goes all-in on Canada and the U.S.?) rekindled the debate around consolidation speculation in the gambling industry. It’s premature to see smaller operators get swallowed up by the big fish in Ontario during 2023, but look for the wheels to be put in motion.
Also, will the AGCO be able to give the bum’s rush to black-market operators which continue to do business, including advertising to Ontario sports bettors/fans on media networks and social media platforms?
Seeking the next great partnership idea
The Score’s SkyLine Seats activation at the RBC Canadian Open golf tournament, and PointsBet Canada creating with Curling Canada a March Madness-like event for the country’s best men’s and women’s rinks were at the top of our list in creativity on the partnership piece from the new Canadian gambling landscape in 2022.
We’re keen to see if the bar can be raised.
Allaying the angst over the avalanche of advertising
While the hand-wringing over the flood of advertising on television, radio, podcasts and social media was at times over the top in 2022 - of course, a highly competitive new business was going to spark a spate of ad buying - operators need to be mindful of regulators getting involved if the complaints continue to climb. The Australian Communications and Media Authority announced this week a doubling of complaints about gambling ads last year compared to 2021.
FanDuel and Bet365 received taps of the old Sherwood for leading with responsible gambling messaging at market opening in Ontario last April; we’d like to see more of that from more operators in 2023.
And, if you’re an agent for an active professional athlete with an endorsement deal from a sportsbook, it would sure be good for your client’s brand to be a responsible gambling advocate.
Playing the content game
Sportsbooks continued to invest more heavily in content last year, including the launch of channels such as FanDuel TV and Bet99TV. FanDuel also signed an exclusive partnership deal with TSN with the launch of the Ontario market while Rogers had several sportsbook partners. Parleh Media Group, the proprietors of this newsletter, launched weekday soccer show Room 4-4-2 that appears on digital platforms such as YouTube and on the Game+ TV network. NorthStar Bets hired a team of journalists to create sports betting articles and videos while also bringing on board veteran hockey journalist Chris Johnston and long-time Canadian broadcaster Rod Black.
Operators and networks will continue to work together on trying to create programming that promotes wagering and brands in the name of customer acquisition without incurring further wrath from sports fans who have zero interest in same game parlays and online casino games. The expected job cuts coming at Bell Media and Rogers Sports & Media will make that challenging for the folks at TSN and Sportsnet. And we’ll follow with great interest the expanding role of streaming services in merging sports, sports entertainment and sports betting storytelling (SportsGrid is bringing its sports betting video streaming channel to Canada next month).
We’ll dig more into this hot-button topic on the Gaming News Canada Show this afternoon.
Innovation, innovation, innovation
One of the best stories to emerge from Canada’s sports betting and igaming scene in 2022 is the wealth of technology expertise across the country with Moncton, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, the Waterloo region and Vancouver gaining reputations as tech hubs for the sector. University graduates in engineering, IT and other areas are finding jobs to not only support the Canadian businesses of operators, but supporting their international businesses.
Walking the walk on women’s sports
Everyone says all the right things when it comes to throwing their support behind female athletes and women’s sports organizations. There are opportunities, however, for sportsbooks to invest even more through partnerships with leagues such as the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association, and the women’s professional soccer league that’s coming to our home and native land in 2025, along with balancing the scales on endorsement deals which are heavily skewed towards the men.
Where goeth sportsbooks inside casinos?
It took far too long for the OLG to deliver a plan for casinos to integrate sports betting into their facilities. That said/written, we look forward to seeing how the Ontario casino industry brings together both mobile and retail sports betting, along with online gaming over the coming months.
A change of platform for Gaming News Canada Show
Change is good. . . . well, at least that’s what the skimming of 16,190,000,000 results on the old Google Search told your curious correspondent yesterday afternoon as we pounded away on the keyboard.
With that in mind, a public service announcement that the Thursday afternoon Gaming News Canada Show is being transported from Twitter Spaces to LinkedIn Audio, effective immediately. Our inaugural 2023 Thursday afternoon discussion and debate of sports betting, sports media, sports business, and other sporting topics will be carried on LinkedIn during the usual 2-3 ET time slot. We will continue to take the best bon mots from the Thursday conversation and deliver the Gaming News Canada Show podcast on Mondays.
We look forward to having you join us.
Memo re: The Company Line
If you were still consuming Alka Seltzer and aspirin on Tuesday morning, and couldn’t bear to read the first GNC newsletter of the new year, you missed the announcement that The Company Line section will now appear in the Tuesday edition. Also, if you’re a business trying to get on the radar of stakeholders in the sports betting and gaming industry in Ontario and across the rest of the true north, strong and free, drop us a note (steve@theparleh.com) to request receiving some TLC in TCL.
On the Home Front
BetMGM informed its Ontario customers last month that they may have been victims of a data breach
The opening of the Ontario igaming market found a prominent place on Geoff Zochodne’s top 10 list for the sports betting industry in 2022.
Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press spoke with DraftKings’ uber-bookmaker Johnny Avello about the Colorado Avalanche doing Ontario sports bettors a real solid last year.
Mark Keast wrote for Gambling.com on the recently announced sponsorship deal between Unibet and the Northern Ontario Curling Association, and the growing relationship between curling and sports betting.
Play Canada’s Jose Colorado provided last week a state-of-the-union of sorts on the Ontario landscape.
The aforementioned Colorado also did the look-back thing on the biggest stories across the gambling biz in our home and native land last year.
The Anishinabek Nation is receiving a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health’s problem gambling prevention program.
In an interview with SBC’s Ted Orme-Claye (whom we owe at least a cup of coffee this week for his many mentions), Rivalry grand poobah Steven Salz talks about the Toronto company’s foray into the Australian and Ontario markets last year.
For the seventh consecutive year, The Score has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers.
Effective tomorrow (Friday), Interac Online is no longer available for depositing funds into a player account on OLG digital channels.
Count Ontario’s casinos as among the businesses forced to call an audible by the (remember?) winter storm around Christmas.
John Holden at Bonus.com weighed in on the legal action taken by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake against iGaming Ontario and the province’s Attorney General.
Gaming Arts, with its Canadian distributor Bet Rite (profiled Tuesday in The Company Line), is launching Bingo Millions with Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries in Winnipeg.
Let’s Get Together
Prophet Exchange is bringing on board SharpRank as its official rating agency.
Games supplier Wazdan is joining forces with Apollo Games for the online casino business in Czechia.
U.S. Integrity has renewed its partnership with Northwoods League, the development organization for college baseball players.
Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust will be the official charity of next month’s ICE London conference.
Scientific Games is getting together with Germany company LOTTO Bayern.
Matters of M&A
Daniel O’Boyle has the latest on the discussions for PointsBet’s Australian business to be sold to NTD Limited.
The parent company of Betway is acquiring Digital Gaming Corporation.
Allwyn’s acquisition of the Camelot Lottery Solutions suite of companies from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund has crossed the finish line.
States Side Stories
In the eyes (and servers) of GeoComply, Ohio’s opening weekend of legal sports wagering was a winner.
Jeff Edelstein reported on the handling by sportsbooks of the suspension on the Bills-Bengals game by the horrific Damar Hamlin incident Monday night.
Penn Entertainment told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Tuesday that it will cease using “risk free” in its promotional and marketing materials.
BetFanatics revealed during its presentation to the MGC that it will launch its sports betting platform in the first quarter of the year.
Rebecca Knight of Business Insider profiled FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, who marks next month her one-year anniversary in charge of the North American sports wagering behemoth.
CDC Gaming Reports’ Rege Behe spoke with Casey Clark, the communications guru for the American Gaming Association, about a rather robust 2022 for the gambling business south of the border.
Behe also did an around the diamond of sorts on the biggest stories in the U.S. gambling industry last year.
There was a barrage of betting, a wave of wagers, a mass of moneylines, a plethora of parlays (OK, you get the picture) on the opening day of Ohio’s legal online market.
SportsHandle’s Brett Smiley canvassed a few folks for their thoughts on the gambling biz in 2023.
And Jake Pollard looked into his crystal ball for CDC Gaming Reports.
Variety’s Gavin Bridge reported on the boom in online sports betting for the year that just passed.
The editorial board at the Kansas City asks why in the name of Yogi Berra and Judy Rankin would Missouri want to copy Kansas’s adoption of legal mobile sports betting.
Dave Portnoy is a big deal. Just ask him.
Buck Wargo at CDC Gaming Reports wrote that the analysts are bullish on Las Vegas’s gaming industry in 2023.
A “gentlemen’s club” in D.C. says it’s about to become the first strip joint to offer sports wagering in the U.S.
Mike Mazzeo wrote for Legal Sports Report that the state of New York’s 51 per cent tax on sports betting ain’t going anywhere.
In alignment with the opening of Ohio’s legal sports wagering biz, the University of Cincinnati is adding gambling treatment to its social work curriculum.
Speaking of Ohio, ICYMI, Parlay Pete/Charley Hustler made the first wager in the state’s new legal betting environment.
And, DraftKings may be a little lighter in digital wallet for running afoul with the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
Geoff Zochodne from Covers.com reported that sports betting kiosks will take a little longer to get up and running in the state.
Meanwhile, the state’s governor is warning operators he’s keeping close tabs on them when it comes to the rules of engagement around advertising.
Last, but definitely not least, Ohio for Responsible Gambling released its new problem gambling awareness program on the eve of the legal market opening.
The NFL’s long arm of the law came down hard on the wide receivers coach for the New York Jets in violation of the league’s gambling policy.
The NCAA’s Pac-12 is looking at releasing injury reports and selling data rights to exploit the expansion of legal sports betting in the U.S.
Michigan went on an igaming revenue tear in November that rivals TCU’s shredding of the Wolverines’ defence in last weekend’s Fiesta Bowl (too soon, Blue faithful?. . . )
Adam Candee at Legal Sports Report wrote that New Jersey sportsbooks were ordered to halt wagering on the recent Citrus Bowl because of Drew Brees’s former ties to PointsBet.
Paul Girvan, writing in igamingbusiness.com, made the case for the expansion of online casinos in the U.S.
To that end, the gaming control board in Pennsylvania is reopening the bidding process for licences to operate an igaming business.
The amount of money bet on sports in Virginia was up YOY for November.
In case you’re wondering what’s going on with the mobile sports wagering landscape in the land of 10,000 lakes.
Wanna bet when sports wagering comes to the Lone Star State?
Finally, courtesy of David Purdum on Colorado’s sports betting metrics:
Across the Pond
The Telegraph’s Tom Morgan had an exclusive on plans for Premier League and Football League clubs in the UK to open retail sportsbooks at their stadiums.
iGaming Next’s Sonja Lindenberg writes about the rosy picture the European Gaming and Betting Association is painting for the continent’s igaming industry.
Ontario licensee SkillOnNet and Bet-at-home have been granted licences to operate slots by the new federal regulator in Germany.
In Finland, the national government is getting rid of the monopoly system for the country’s gambling industry.
The Justice Department of Ireland is facing some flak for rejecting certain proposals in the country’s proposed Gambling Bill.
The Spanish gaming industry is seeing somewhat of a recovery.
Gaming revenue in Macau took a 51 per cent year-over-year tumble in 2022.
SBC’s Ted Orme-Clay revisited a newsy 12 months for the gambling business in the United Kingdom.
Orme-Clay also covered the recent speech by the head of the Dutch Gaming Authority, including the conundrum around an open market and problem gambling.
BetConstruct has received approval from the Malta Gaming Authority to allow player deposits in cryptocurrencies.
The UK Betting & Gaming Council reported a significant drop in the number of sports betting ads on ITV during the group stage of the FIFA World Cup compared to the 2018 tournament.
An article on the good, bad and ugly sides of the sports betting scene in Africa.
Esports Reports
Steffan Powell of the BBC wrote about what’s next for the ever-growing business of esports.
The government of India is giving an official seal of approval to the esports industry.
Esports Insider reached out to stakeholders across the industry for their 2023 predictions.
The Esports Advocate website is live and provides coverage of the industry.
Media Musings
New York Times investigative reporter Rebecca Ruiz crafted a first-person account of her experience with sports betting apps.
SportsGrid announced yesterday that it is launching its 24-hour streaming network on the streaming video platform of MyBundle.TV.
Barstool Sports is in back-patting mode on its first attempt at producing and streaming an NCAA football game.
A smart read from SBC’s Jessica Welman with some thoughts for the sports betting industry in dealing with the media moving forward.
And we were intrigued by this piece from Sports_Loft’s Andy Selby on trends to watch in sports media and entertainment this year.
On occasion, we mosey over to the world of sports media so presenting Bill Shea’s piece in The Athletic on what to watch for in 2023.
The angst over the amount of advertising by online sportsbook and gaming operators was one of the topics du jour in Sean Fitz-Gerald’s stories to watch in our home and native land this year.
FanDuel TV personality Pat McAfee found a spot on Sports Illustrated’s sports media awards and superlatives for the previous year.
ESPN Chalk scribe David Purdum compiled the best and wildest betting yarns of 2022.
Alexander Lee wrote for Digiday on the move by streaming services such as Netflix and Paramount+ towards video games.
Quick Hits
During the holiday season, Global Gaming Business Magazine released the 21st edition of its 25 People to Watch in the new year.
The aforementioned Fanatics announcement had an immediate impact on Kambi stock, Jake Evans reported this morning for iGaming Next.
Kindred Group released data around betting on the FIFA World Cup that showed there wasn’t an increase in customer harm detection.
Our friends at Earnings + More included a 10 startups to watch list in 2023 with their latest Startup Month offering.
Ladies and germs, we present the flying fingers of Jeff Edelstein and his second annual Oopsies Awards.
Everi CEO Randy Taylor did the Q and A thing with Howard Stutz of the Nevada Independent on the future of slot machines and cashless gaming.
Genius Sports has come to an agreement with SoftConstruct over a data rights dispute.
Finally, it appears that Jesse Learmonth broke the budget less than a week into the new year by bringing on FOTP Benjie Cherniak to speak with Betr co-founder Joey Levy from the host’s chair on The Betting Startups Podcast.
People on the Move
Vlad Kaltenieks is the new CEO for Irish sportsbook BoyleSports.
Steve Delpy is joining Paysafe as the company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Former MLSE executive David Hopkinson has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer at Madison Square Garden Sports Corp.
It was revealed over the holidays that Emmy Award-winning producer has left esports organization FaZe Clan to join the fledgling XFL as its Chief Content Officer.
Alex Dumais has left the Dickinson Wright law firm to join Bet99 as Associate Lawyer.
Amir Mirzaee has been promoted at Bayes Esports to Chief Commercial Officer.
Rob Martin is leaving esports and gaming lifestyle company XSET as its co-owner and Chief Experience Officer.
Phil Pearson is the new CEO of White Label Casinos.
Alex Igelman has been appointed the new CEO of Esports Entertainment Group.
Cordish Gaming has named Steve Nathan as Senior VP of iGaming.
Hamlin Grange, a former chair of the board for the Responsible Gambling Council, is among the latest appointments to the Order of Canada.
Former Fubo Gaming head Scott Butera has been named to the board of directors at SCCG Management.
Kindred Group has elected Cédric Boireau, Jonas Jansson, Andy McCue, Martin Randel and Kenneth Shea to its board of directors.
James Dillon has been named Sportsbook Operations Team Lead at The Score while Kelly Mole joins the company as Human Resources Manager. Sol Sun is also coming on board as Senior Data Scientist, and Thomas Tassone has joined as CRM Manager after previously working for the BCLC as a Senior Marketing Specialist.
Steve Wallace, who’s had previous leadership experience with the Invictus Games, Alpine Canada, and most recently, PlayOn Canada, is the new CEO for Artistic Swimming Canada.
Will Gray, the manager of college sports and golf content for NBC SportsBet, is moving on at the end of the week with his next move TBA.
Coming Soon to a Town/Screen Near You
Richard Velotta of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote that 100,000 folks are expected to descend on The Strip this week for the CES technology trade show.
Early-bird registration is still available for the BCLC New Horizons in Responsible Gambling Conference, March 6-8.
Tickets are now available for the iGaming Next New York City ‘23 conference in early March.
Registration is also open for the March 7-9 Sports Business Journal Tech Week in the Big Apple.
Classified (Jobs) Information
Kaizen Gaming has a plethora of positions it’s trying to fill, including roles for its Ontario business marketing, content and customer service.
The B.C. Gaming Industry Association is seeking a part-time Executive Director.
Minneapolis-based SharpLink Gaming has a hybrid role available for a Senior Account Executive.
Wanted by Woodbine Entertainment: an IT Project Manager.
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming is searching for an Analyst.
Water Polo Canada is on the hunt for a new Chief Executive Officer.
Golf Canada is looking for a Manager, Brand.
And our friends at SCOREGolf are hiring a Community Manager.
About the Numbers
Connor Bedard is said to be the next hockey phenom and his numbers at this year’s world junior hockey championships justify why.
The 17-year-old North Vancouver, B.C., native has been other-wordly, establishing new Canadian World Junior records in overall points (36), goals (16), and points in a single tournament (23). As an underager, Bedard has 11 more points than anyone else in the tournament.
Bedard is the consensus first overall pick in next year’s NHL Draft, and while not all highly-touted junior prospects always pan out, Celine Trimarchi and Justin Pooni of Homestand explain why Bedard’s game will translate exceptionally well to the NHL level.
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