Ontario has a new gaming minister and, despite the obvious success of the province’s open online gambling market, Zee Hamid still has a fair bit of work to do to improve the entire gambling sector.
Last week, Premier Doug Ford announced in a cabinet shuffle that Hamid, who represents the riding of Milton just west of Toronto, will replace Stan Cho as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming (not counting the two months Doug Downey held the position in an interim role). Cho resigned his cabinet position in July after it was discovered he had charged taxpayers more than $16,000 in hotel expenses in Toronto over the past three years despite living in the city relatively close to Queen’s Park.
At the time of Cho’s resignation, the ministry – which oversees both iGaming Ontario (iGO) and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) – was in the midst of what has been described as a “sweeping” or “high-level” review of Ontario’s gambling industry.
One presumes that work will continue under Hamid, and it should.
At the top of the list of improvements should be increased responsible gambling programming and transparency.
Every month, iGO releases financial reports about the online sector. While those reports could use details about how Ontario’s 49 online operators are faring, and they should also be released with more expediency, at least we know how much revenue the sector has produced. Since launch in April, 2022 through this August, the iGO sites – which does not include the OLG’s online platform, which has about 20 per cent of the total market – had total gross gambling revenue of $12.97 billion, producing tax revenue of $2.59 billion for the province.
What is much more of a mystery is exactly how much of that revenue is being directed toward responsible and problem gambling resources, which are essential for protecting consumers and sustaining the sector. Yes, some of the funding comes from different Ontario ministries, but, as the gaming minister, it would be great to see Hamid take the lead and set up a website that clearly shows how much the province has directed toward responsible gambling and exactly where that money goes – and also update it regularly.
After all, there is growing concern about the rise of problem gambling in the province, and increased scrutiny from the mainstream media on that file, especially around a backlash against gambling ads.
Improvements in responsible gambling was also one of the stated missions of Cho’s review of the sector. That should include not only greater funding, but also much better transparency.
The province’s centralized self-exclusion program BetGuard, which was many months in the works, also needs much better promotion.
Another mission of the review was to improve the synergies between online gambling and retail casinos. Clearly, the continued growth of online gambling – year-to-date revenue is up 118 per cent this year compared to the first seven months of 2023 – has hurt the retail sector, as well as wagering on Ontario horse racing.
One suspects improving the fortunes of Ontario’s 30 retail casinos will be a key mission for Hamid. After all, he has both tourism and gaming under his portfolio and Ford has already announced that the government’s Destination Niagara project will allow for more retail casinos to be built in Niagara Falls.
It’s important to note that retail casinos provide many more jobs in the province than online ones, and the Ford government is particularly focused on jobs during a trade war with the United States.
Supporting jobs – particularly in rural Ontario where Ford’s PCs are particularly strong – is a key reason why, earlier this year, the Ministry, via the OLG, was part of authorizing an additional $35 million annually in each of the next five years to the province’s horse racing industry, which is home to some 18,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
Hamid’s riding is home to Woodbine Mohawk Park, one of the world’s leading harness racing racetracks and the biggest of the 11 tracks in the province offering standardbred racing. The track is also home to a casino. Both may figure prominently in Hamid’s leadership of the gambling industry.
While we’re on horse racing, Hamid could do more to direct the OLG to follow through on long-ago promised plans to better integrate its products with horse racing. For example, in Sweden, the synergies between retail lottery and horse racing via its V85 product have been particularly successful. The OLG has some 10,000 retail locations where it sells its lottery products, with all proceeds going back to the province. By working with the horse racing industry to develop V85-style retail horse racing lottery products, the OLG would be doing even more to support Ontario jobs via exposure and wagering for the labour-intensive horse racing industry.
As for developing greater synergies between retail and online casinos, that could include better partnerships between physical and online sites, as seen in some U.S. jurisdictions where the bricks-and-mortar casinos are aligned with online operators.
Caesars does this well in-house in Ontario with a rewards program that allows bettors to collect points online that can be used at Caesars Windsor and its other retail properties. This will likely be the case with Hard Rock’s online rewards program and the Hard Rock Casino in Ottawa, if it isn’t already.
But Ontario’s retail casinos are dominated by two companies – Great Canadian Entertainment and Gateway Casinos. Both could do more to align their rewards programs with online operators and provide rewards that drive business to each other.
At the SBC Summit Canada in May, Cho also said improvements were needed in audits, financial oversight and anti-money laundering (AML) initiatives. Considering the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has been ramping up fines of late, clearly AML is on Hamid’s to-do list.
While that’s important, it shouldn’t necessarily be above consumer protection on that list. That includes tighter scrutiny on gambling ads which have been a lightning rod for the sector.
One place to start is legislation banning unregulated companies from advertising in Ontario. It’s long past time the Ontario government did more to halt the social media ads for fake online casinos scamming consumers.
It’s also time the government did more to ban broadcast ads for unregulated platforms like Ozoon, which has been advertising heavily on NFL broadcasts in Canada. To make matters worse, Ozoon is the rebranded name for Bodog, which has been banned outright in Manitoba. It certainly appears the company is trying to confuse consumers in Canada with the rebrand given a general lack of knowledge about which sites are regulated and which ones are not. That’s why the province needs to do more to, at least, ban or punish outlets and platforms from accepting ads from unregulated sites trying to dupe Ontarians. Simply saying regulated sites carry the iGO logo isn’t enough when the average person doesn’t know that.
Last, and definitely not least, the Ministry needs to work with other government agencies to limit the access of prediction markets to the regulated sector – especially when it comes to prediction-based sports betting and casinos (yes, rumours are that prediction markets are trying to find a way into the casino game).
Let’s hope Hamid puts all of that on his gaming agenda.
After all, Ontario has a good thing going in its gambling sector. But much more needs to be done to protect consumers and sustain the sector so it can be an important revenue source for Ontarians for years to come.
Is your iGaming platform truly driving your digital growth? Choose a provider that aligns directly to your ambitions.
Click here to find out what other global operators have to say about the unparalleled partnership of Bede Gaming.
Political parties push for regulated gaming in La Belle Province
En français, la porte s’est légèrement ouverte.
In English, the door to regulated gambling in Québec let in a sliver of light last week when the leaders of both the Parti Québécois and the Liberal Party brought up the issue on the provincial election trail ahead of the October 5 vote. Liberal leader Charles Milliard first made public his party’s support to put the province’s alcohol and gambling regulator (Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux) in charge of “better regulation of online gambling and predictive markets” including:
Expand the mandate of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux so that it can license and oversee all online gambling platforms operating in Quebec;
Subject accredited platforms to strict rules regarding advertising, addiction prevention, and the protection of minors;
Create an independent organization dedicated to prevention and support for people struggling with gambling addiction, funded by the industry rather than by taxpayers;
Entrust the Autorité des marchés financiers and the Régie with the joint mandate to fill the regulatory gap surrounding prediction markets, which are currently accessible in Quebec without any regulatory framework.
Parti Quebecois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon told Radio-Canada the Liberals’ plan was “brilliant” and expounded on that in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“Mr. Milliard says — and he’s right, I’ve done the research — online sports betting in Québec is a wild west,” Plamondon said. “American companies arrive, then advertise, and are not regulated.
“Ontario decided to clean up and collect a tax on these activities, and it raised an additional $300 million. It’s an excellent idea that may fly under the radar because it’s a bit original but imagine if we take $300 million and invest it in homelessness, for children who are hungry at school, for learning disabilities. We could have an immediate impact.”
There’s certainly a case to be made for bringing in regulated sports betting and igaming (the prediction markets thing is more complicated) for the purposes of delivering more revenue to the province. Québec’s auditor general has said the new government will need to find some $5 billion in spending cuts or new revenues to balance the books by 2030.
“It won’t be possible to return to a balanced budget without finding new revenues,” Ariane Gauthier, who leads the Québec Online Gaming Coalition, told Gaming News Canada in an interview. “(A regulated market) will bring a safer environment for online players and new revenues for the government on an activity that’s already occurring in Québec.
“The Liberal Party has declared it will table a bill in the first year so it is pretty serious about this. There’s an appetite for change.”
The reigning Coalition Avenir Québec, led by new(ish) leader Christine Fréchette, has been in power for almost eight years and has resisted lobbying efforts to regulate gambling in La Belle Province since Ontario launched its market in April 2022. The ruling party appears to be standing firm on recognizing Loto-Québec as the only “legal” operator. The provincial lottery and gaming corporation is also the regulator which would have to change in a more competitive marketplace (as we’ve seen in Ontario with oversight being shared by the AGCO and iGaming Ontario, and in Alberta with AGLC and the Alberta iGaming Corporation).
“That would be very important to designate an organization to be an independent regulator,” said Gauthier, the point person for the QOGC which is made up of a half-dozen operators, online casino games supplier Games Global and Apricot Investments. “New regulation would need to be applied fairly to all operators and need to be set up for success.”
Gaming News Canada reached out to Loto-Québec spokesperson Renaud Dugas, who responded in an email: “We are not going to comment on any electoral proposals.”
Helene Fortin, the former chair of Loto-Québec reiterated her support for a regulated market in a LinkedIn post yesterday. From her post:
I was encouraged to see both the Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois acknowledge the need to reconsider how online gaming is regulated. Their positions reflect an increasingly clear reality: the market has changed, technology has changed, and our regulatory approach must evolve with it.
This should not be
a debate about Loto-Québec versus private operators. Nor should it be about
encouraging more gambling. It should be about a much more important question:
How do we best protect Quebecers who choose to gamble online, regardless of
which platform they use?
Today, Quebecers can access online gaming platforms from around the world in seconds. Regulation does not create that reality. It determines how effectively we oversee it.
A Leger poll released Monday showed the Coalition falling to third place behind the PQ and the Liberals, who have 29 per cent and 23 per cent popularity respectively with decided voters. The CAQ have dropped two points to 21 per cent.
“We know (the PQ and Liberals) are both listening carefully and understand the rationale behind the regulation of private (operators),” Gauthier said. “What we see now we are obviously happy but not completely surprised. When you take the time to look at the facts and how online gaming works and with the new technologies, you cannot arrive at another solution.”
We know that there have been conversations in other provinces and we expect there will be more serious conversations now that Alberta has joined Ontario with regulated markets (except in Saskatchewan, which recently gave the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority exclusivity for online gaming through September 2029).
“In the poll the (gaming) coalition did in 2023, two-thirds of Quebecers were in favour of regulation,” Gauthier said. “Whoever forms the next government will be able to benefit from the experiences in Ontario and Alberta. Québec will have the opportunity to imprint its own culture into the regulations.
“Ontario and Alberta have proven the mechanics of the system work.”
iGaming Ontario reacts to bad actors’ use of BetGuard
The latest battle for the overseers of Ontario’s regulated market involves iGaming Ontario’s BetGuard self-exclusion brand.
The conductor and manager of the province’s regulated gambling market announced last week that “third parties” were using the BetGuard name and brand “to make misleading statements about how to opt out of all regulated online gambling in Ontario using BetGuard”.
The communications team yesterday provided Gaming News Canada with more information on its reaction to the misuse of BetGuard.
iGaming Ontario recently became aware of two incidents involving improper use of the BetGuard name. We immediately took action to address these issues and alerted the public.
Incidents like this demonstrate the importance of the regulated market, which offers mandatory consumer protections and player safeguards no matter where they choose to play. This sets our market apart from the unregulated space, where impostor websites and other bad-faith actors have no oversight.
We continue to monitor for unauthorized use of the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard names and brands. The official BetGuard website can be found at BetGuard.ca (English) or Garde-Jeu.ca (French).
A full list of regulated operators can be found on our website.
The announcement is also a reminder to be careful when accessing online casinos through Meta platforms as we continue to find fake igaming operators showing up on Instagram.
SBC Summit brings together the most senior decision-makers from across the global gaming industry, including operators, regulators, suppliers, affiliates, investors and media leaders.
As a partner of SBC, Gaming News Canada is offering a 30% discount code on VIP passes AND conference, networking, and business passes. Visit the summit website and use the PARLEHPARTNERVIP code when you register.
Major North American sports leagues unite against betting-related harassment
On Tuesday, the NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA and NHL, and their respective unions, sent a letter to state gambling regulators requesting a “crack down on betting-related harassment of athletes, coaches and families.”
The letter asks regulators to institute:
Mandatory lifetime platform bans for those that harass those connected to sports.
Streamlined, centralized reporting mechanisms.
Greater operator accountability that requires platforms to “proactively monitor, flag and ban accounts linked to abusive behaviour” toward those in sports.
“Threatening the safety of an athlete or their family members over a sports bet crosses a bright ethical and criminal line, and it is entirely unacceptable,” the group wrote.
The (latest) angst over ads featuring athletes and celebs
Given the presence of Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Coolidge, Cynthia Erivo, Seth Rogan and other stars of the silver screen (do they still call it that?) attending the Toronto International Film Festival this week, it’s rather appropriate to blow the dust off the old line “we’ve seen this movie before”.
In this case, we direct you to the recent tsunami of endorsement deals involving athletes past and present, movie stars and other celebrities with prediction market operators in the land on the other side of Lake Huron. LeBron James, Eli Manning, Maria Sharapova, Pete Sampras, Sue Bird, Jeremy Piven. . . and Sydney Sweeney.
As Covers guy Geoff Zochodne reported last week, the American Gaming Association estimated in August that regulated exchanges had spent nearly $200 million on digital advertising so far this year. That number doesn’t include partnerships by Kalshi, Polymarket and Novig with sports leagues and teams (the most recent deal between Kalshi and the U.S. Open was highly criticized), and the recent rash of these endorsement deals leading into the start of the NFL regular season.
Sweeney’s “collaboration” with Novig has been come under fire from athletes in Canada and around the rest of the planet. Not surprisingly, Novig is defending the campaign.
Folks familiar with the launch of Ontario’s regulated sports betting and online gaming market in April 2022 know quite well the backlash to the wave of advertising and marketing with Hockey Night in Canada facing the most flak for its clunky attempts at bringing together the country’s iconic TV property with sports betting content. (Jonah Sigel and your humble correspondent had a chin wag about the integration of sports and sports betting content on this week’s Gaming News Canada Show.)
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario reacted to the angst over advertising by changing the rules around the use of athletes and the overlords of Alberta’s still-new regulated market have repeatedly said they’re keeping tabs on amount and types of advertising by incoming operators.
For now, south of the border, the mantra of prediction market owners - and that also applies to the ongoing tug-of-war with the sports betting industry, state regulators, Native American tribes, elected officials, etc. - appears to have been borrowed from Rhett Butler’s comment to Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
People on the Move
Gaming News Canada learned Monday that Alexander Bishop has left iGaming Ontario and his role as Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy.
Elected to the Board of Directors at Esports Canada are Ash Molaei, Gabriel Pinkstone, Ivona Novak, Tamara Edwards and Rosaline Fu Wei Leung.
After almost 20 years, most recently as General Manager and Vice President at FanDuel, Andrew Moore has left Flutter.
Lawrence Gouett, ex of Toronto-based Millbrook Media, GameVillage and Gamesys, has founded Quest Gaming and will be the company’s Chief Executive Officer.
Alex Gersh, ex of Sportradar and Betfair, is the new Chief Financial Officer at DAZN while Darren Waterman moves from CFO into the newly created position of Chief Business Officer. Patrick Delany is appointed Chief Operating Officer.
ComeOn Group names Sherwin Jarvand as Chief Operating Officer and Alex Woodhams as Chief Product Officer.
Steven Vo is promoted to Chief Technology Officer at GeoComply.
Steve Talbot joins Xtremepush as Chief Marketing Officer.
Hacksaw Gaming appoints Julia Waern as Chief Commercial Officer.
Warren Jenson is Polymarket’s new Chief Financial Officer.
Adam Chibib will be joining IGT as Chief Financial Officer on November 1.
Kostandina Zafirovska is the new Vice President of E2E Platform Solutions at Sportradar.
Cassandra Matilde Fernandes is appointed Associate Vice President and Manager of Financial Crime Prevention at the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority in the UAE.
Victor Arias comes aboard FIRST.bet as Vice President of LATAM & Head of Commercial LATAM.
Penn Entertainment names Justin Carter as Managing Director, North America.
Octoplay appoints Camila Alves as Head of Region LATAM.
Miguel Queiroz, formerly Head of Casino Product at BV Group, joins BetWarrior as Head of Gaming.
Andrew Gladwell is leaving FanDuel as Managing Director, Product. Katharine Rogerson is appointed Campaign Strategy Senior Associate and Michael Maglietta is named Product Advisory Senior Manager. Averie Ikeda-Lee joins the Toronto team as a Marketing Communications Intern.
Marc Greenblatt is appointed Senior Manager, Customer Engagement at bet365.
Taegan Scott has a new role at the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority as an iGaming Operations Manager.
Josiah Davis joins BetMGM as a Marketing Acquisition Analyst.
Dayna Camilleri Clarke, ex of Game Lounge and Wildz Group, joins Growth Leads/Playersbest as an SEO Product Market Owner.
Mandy Thompson, ex of Blackhawk Network, joins fintech business Yaspa as a Marketing Manager to support the company’s planned expansion in North America.
Kirsten Multani is named PR & Social Media Manager at Relax Gaming.
Natasha Cooke is appointed Manager, Talent Acquisition at the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority.
After five and a half years, Matt Williams leaves Genius Sports to join SumerSports as a Senior Product Manager.
NFL HQ names Hans Schroeder as Executive Vice President and Chief Media Officer.
John Cullen is promoted to Head of Content at The Curling Group.
Classified (Jobs) Information
On the Home Front
With Alexander Bishop’s departure from iGaming Ontario, the conductor and manager is looking for a new Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy.
DraftKings has a remote opportunity in the true north strong and free for a Sportsbook Operations Senior Associate. In Toronto, there’s an opening for a Manager, Integrated Marketing.
The Alberta iGaming Corporation requires a Manager, Technology Services and a Responsible Gaming Program Analyst.
Betty boss Chavdar Dimitrov made the pitch via the LinkedIn for Software Engineers.
FINTRAC Canada is seeking a Senior Analyst, Workplace Tools.
Bet99 is looking for a Creator Marketing Manager.
Pinnacle has an opening for a Trading Systems Analyst.
In Toronto, Red Bull is hiring a Head of Creator Marketing.
The NHLPA has an opening in Toronto for a Commercial Lawyer.
Your Toronto Blue Jays has a contract position available for a Manager, Ballpark Experience & Operations.
Wanted by the Canadian Olympic Committee: a Coordinator, Marketing Partnerships.
On the South Side of Lake Ontario
In New York, FanDuel is searching for a Commercial Analyst – Casino.
Aristocrat Gaming has need of a Data Scientist.
Better Collective is on the lookout for a Content Manager/Writer (Sportsbook and Prediction Markets).
NASCAR is searching for a Senior Director, Brand Content & Production.
The Major League Baseball Players Association is hiring a Director, Sponsorship.
NHL HQ is seeking a Senior Manager, Partnership Marketing.
Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios have an opportunity in Culver City, CA, for a Marketing Manager, U.S. Sports Marketing.
The Vegas Golden Knights are in the market for a Manager – Global Partnerships Activation.
Across the Ponds
In the GLA (Greater London Area), Smarkets is seeking a Vice President, Commercial and Marketing.
In Ashkelon, Israel, there’s a Director of Business Development position available at LSports.
The company formerly known as Growth Leads has a number of remote opportunities available including a Business Development & Partnerships Manager.
EPIC Global Solutions is seeking a Senior Finance Manager.
In Malta, DAZN Bet is bringing on board a Compliance Manager.
Reading and Reflecting
The main players in North American professional sports are asking sports betting operations to do more when it comes to harassment and abuse of athletes.
Covers guy Geoff Zochodne interviewed STX founder and CEO Justin Deutsch on the Ontario operator’s plans for south of the border.
Betty has launched its first in-house game in Ontari-ari-ari-o and the company has plans to collaborate with “innovative” slot studios.
Props to the folks at the Alberta iGaming Corporation for its social media campaign on gambling responsibly, including:
The European-based Financial Action Task Force made public last week analysis aggregated from some 80 jurisdictions that highlights new types of criminal abuse in gambling that’s happening.
FanDuel issued a mea culpa among other things to customers for a malfunction of its DFS product over the weekend.
Martin Nevis, reporting for the iGaming Europe media outlet, wrote Playtech tripled its revenue in the U.S. and Canada in the first half of 2026.
Tony Maglio tapped the keys for The Hollywood Reporter and asked the question: what happened to esports?
Speaking of esports, Bloomberg’s Cecilia D’Anastasio reports that Riot Games has spoken with Polymarket and Kalshi about sponsorship deals.
Parlays reigned supreme for Kalshi in an incredibly robust opening weekend of the NFL regular season.
Barron’s chronicler Nick Devor put the ball on the kicking tee for the NFL schedule and the anticipated prediction market battle(s).
Speaking of Devor, he had a bit of journalistic scoopage last week on FanDuel and other operators making markets via Kalshi.
A series of new programs released Monday by DraftKings includes an advertising campaign with Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas that includes RG messaging.
Job cuts at bet365’s operations in Stoke, Malta and Gibraltar were confirmed last week.
A campaign by FDJ United in Swedish schools revealed a lack of education about the risks of gambling.
Finland’s version of OLG/AGLC/ Loto-Québec/BCLC/etc. is preparing for the incoming competitive regulated landscape.
FanDuel has a new partner for its sportsbook and prediction markets business.
The man behind Entourage isn’t a big fan of the Betr ad bringing back together the HBO comedy’s stars Jeremy Piven and Adrian Grenier.
Contrary to the earlier words of Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara, wrote Dustin Gouker, sports are a pretty big deal for the prediction markets operator.
Jeff Edelstein weighed in on all the recent happenings at fantasy sports operator Underdog.
High Roller Technologies grand poobah Seth Young spoke with Adam Roarty of Esports Insider about the state of esports betting on the other side of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Better Collective’s latest partner is Yahoo Sports.
Some M&A news from last week involving GameSquare and FanEngine.
Bad news for Kalshi with its legal wranglings in Iowa and Utah over sports contracts.
A smart piece from Rebecca Tauber of The Athletic on this year’s U.S. Open and the “easy” access to wagering on the best tennis players on the planet.
The president of Brazil is having second thoughts, for now, on regulated sports betting in his country.
Finally, a good read from Sportico reporter Justin Birnbaum on athletes, production companies and “media empires”.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter, ensuring you never miss out on breaking updates.
To discuss our coverage of your company’s news and announcements and to become an advertiser on Gaming News Canada, please contact steve@gamingnewscanada.ca.
