AGCO begins meetings on advertising rules
AGCO begins meetings on advertising rules
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and stakeholders in the province's sports betting and igaming biz got together this week to discuss proposed changes to the standards.
AGCO holds meetings around ad/marketing standards
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario began this week its own version of Let’s Get Together, holding meetings with the Canadian Gaming Association, sports betting and igaming operators and other stakeholders to discuss the commission’s proposed changes to advertising.
Those changes, scheduled to take effect at the end of February, would restrict the use of athletes and celebrities to protect children and youth. Paul Burns, the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, met Tuesday with AGCO deputy COO Brent McCurdy, director of strategic policy Ben Valido, and three other members of the commission. The AGCO also met Tuesday with representatives from PointsBet, DraftKings, FanDuel and other operators, with more meetings scheduled. Broadcasters (Bell, Rogers and CBC) are also expected to meet with commission officials not only on the standards, but their willingness to continue taking advertising dollars from non-regulated operators.
Among the questions/issues to be discussed, as per the commission:
What sections of the new standard are most in need of guidance to create greater clarity and certainty for your stakeholders?
We would welcome your thoughts regarding potential differences of opinion amongst stakeholders on what most needs guidance and the priority of those needs.
Is there a particular marketing or advertising practice, activity or idea that you are unclear about because of the new standard?
Gaming News Canada emailed the AGCO communications team yesterday for a comment on the meetings, and received this response:
At the time of (the Aug. 29) announcement, the AGCO committed to providing some additional guidance to further support registered operators to ensure they understand and meet their obligations in the updated Standard.
Since then, we’ve received inquiries and requests for clarification from various groups that will be required to comply with the updated standards. As part of our collaborative approach and in an effort to offer additional support, the AGCO will engage with these groups to gain a comprehensive understanding of their questions. Following these meetings, we will publish additional guidance to help registered operators comply with the updated standards.
The AGCO is committed to working collaboratively with the regulated igaming sector, maintaining high regulatory standards in the public interest, and continuously monitoring the evolving igaming market to address emerging risks to Ontarians.
Burns told GNC yesterday that the operators welcome the opportunity to meet with the AGCO to provide feedback and get answers to questions about the new standards - and that this week’s meetings are a first step.
“Guidance on how to comply (with the rules), that’s what we’re looking for,” said Burns, who mentioned a lack of clarity with language on advertising bonuses and inducements in the early days of Ontario’s regulated marketplace which led to PointsBet, DraftKings, Kindred Group and other operators being fined for breaches of the rules.
“We’re grateful to have entered into this dialogue, and from what I’ve heard so far, it’s been a good exercise,” Burns added. “Everyone accepts the premise that we don’t want advertising that influences minors. (Operators) got into their own need for guidance (from the AGCO). Some of them don’t use celebrities or retired athletes, but they still wonder how the changes will impact them with processes, or with the use of influencers on social media.”
Burns also mentioned the need the industry has for more specifics, especially in defining celebrities, athletes and influencers.
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Hilton hits the ground running at PointsBet
Brooke Hilton is starting over again.
Well, sort of. . . .
Nine years after joining the British Columbia Lottery Corporation as a product coordinator on the egaming side, Hilton has come on board PointsBet Canada as the Ontario-licensed operator’s first head of casino to steer the company’s fast-moving igaming business.
“It’s in incredibly formative time for the business” Hilton told Gaming News Canada during an MS Teams conversation Monday afternoon. “Obviously (PointsBet Canada) is going through that transition with the business assets splitting off, and now we’re creating our own self-sufficient business especially for online casino. I’m the first one coming in to kind of shape that area of the business. Soon I’ll be building out a casino operations team and building up this product.”
That begins with recruiting a Casino Operations Manager. Hilton will hit the ground running in a highly-competitive market where slots, live and computer-based table games and peer-to-peer bingo accounted for almost 85 per cent ($11.9 billion) of total wagers in iGaming Ontario’s latest market performance report. PointsBet Canada saw a 24-per-cent quarterly hike in net win from igaming in its Q3 financial report.
“The Ontario market is more mature and sophisticated than our neighbours to the south (regulated igaming is only available in six U.S. states),” she said. “It is a bit of a gift that it is a casino-driven market.”
Hilton left the BCLC after almost seven years working as both a product manager and specialist in online casino to join Bally’s in March 2021. She left the U.S. operator at the beginning this year and was doing some consulting and business development work when the PointsBet Canada opportunity arose.
“I took a break for five or six months after leaving Bally’s and took that as an opportunity to look inwards and understand how I wanted to proceed (with her next job),” said the mom of a four-year-old daughter. “A mutual contact who’s a vendor of PointsBet’s said they were looking for a head of casino and she introduced me to the leadership team. They reached out and said ‘you’d be the perfect it’, and from there I met with Nic (Sulsky, PB’s chief commercial officer) and Brett (Jackman, VP of strategy).”
Hilton, who will divide her time between Vancouver and Toronto, has quickly bought into the company’s focus on local.
“It is a very competitive marketplace, but one thing PointsBet has done differently is establish roots in Toronto and across Ontario, where many other operators have opted not to do this. They’ve invested in a local community and they’re partnering with brands and leagues that mean something to people in the province.
“They continue to build out a really, really strong brand for that reason.”
Brewer, Sulsky and Woodgate to appear at PrimeTime conference
For an hour on a November afternoon the previous two years, your friendly neighbourhood scribe and Amanda Brewer have sat on a stage inside a Westin Harbour Castle ballroom and participated in a panel discussion on the brave new world of regulated online sports betting and igaming.
There’s a “something old, something new” feel to the panel which will appear at next week’s PrimeTime Sports Management Conference & Trade Show - the two-day event created by Brian Burke and Trevor Whiffen a little less than two decades ago. Yours truly is back in the moderator’s role while Brewer will be joined by Scott Woodgate, the Canadian country manager for BetMGM, and PointsBet Canada commercial guru Nic Sulsky. It’s a safe bet (see what we did there) the trio will deliver an hour of insight, opinion with more than a whiff of wit to a room full of sports industry executives, stakeholders and post-secondary students on a learn-and-networking mission.
Tickets are still available for the conference, which includes a Monday keynote interview between Sportsnet’s Caroline Cameron and Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis, a Tuesday keynote with Toronto FC head coach John Herdman, along with a plethora of other panels.
Teeing up today’s Gaming News Canada Show
Your humble, hoarse correspondent will be a game-time decision for our weekly LinkedIn Audio rendezvous presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, so the Gaming News Canada golf cart is on standby to bring in Mark Silver from the bullpen for hosting duties again this week.
Among the topics du jour will be this week’s meetings between the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and stakeholders around the sports betting advertising and marketing rules, Better Collective’s acquisition of Playmaker Capital, and other happenings around the industry. Regular contributors Amanda Brewer and Kris Abbott are expected to be in the house, along with A2Z Ventures founder and CEO Eric Herd, and gambling industry vet Phill Gray. At press time (as they used to say), we were working on having someone from Better Collective join the show (Jordan Gnat of Playmaker Capital, in true Canadian tres polite style declined our invitation).
The first cliches fall at 1 p.m. ET.
Classified (Jobs) Information
TheScore has, at its Toronto location, an opening for a Director of Engineering, Incident Management & Resilience.
Vancouver-based Strive Gaming is seeking a leader on the UX/UI designing side.
BV Group is hiring an Affiliates Executive - Canada.
PointsBet Canada is in hiring mode for a Head of Trading. And, in case you missed it in our interview with Brooke Hilton, she’s looking for a Casino Operations Manager.
Penn Interactive is looking for a Senior Product Designer, Sports Media.
Rivalry has a remote opening for an Accountant.
FanDuel’s Toronto office is searching for a Media Coordinator.
iGaming Ontario is in the market for an Administrative Assistant.
DraftKings has a job opening in Las Vegas for a Senior iGaming Marketing and Operations Associate.
Caesars Sportsbook in Vegas is seeking a Customer Success Specialist.
Light&Wonder has an opportunity in London for a Head of Systems Integration (OGS).
Genius Sports has a part-time position available for a Hockey Statistician in Lethbridge, Alta.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency is seeking for its London-area location an Information Technology Manager.
Simply put, Push Gaming is hiring a Mathematician.
PressEnter Group is looking for an AML/RG Analyst.
NeatPlay has three senior positions open in the areas of marketing, affiliates and partnerships.
Prime Sports in Cherry Hill, NJ is hiring a Sportsbook Support Host.
Also in Jersey is an opening at Hard Rock Digital for a Payments & Fraud Analyst.
Soft2Bet is searching for a Nordic CRM Manager.
White Label Casinos is on the lookout for a Responsible Gambling Specialist.
The National Hockey League is seeking a Director, Digital Platforms, and is also recruiting for a Director, Culture and Community Communications.
Red Bull has a full-time position available with its Montreal team for a Field Marketing Specialist - Event & Activation.
Wanted by the Canadian Olympic Committee: a Specialist, Business Integration and PMO.
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