What's next for Canadian gaming industry, and AGCO fines Woodbine Casino owners
We identify Five Things to Watch in Ontario and beyond between now and the end of 2023. Also, GeoComply reports on the mad, mad world that was wagering on the opening week of the NFL.
In this issue:
Five Things to Watch in Canada this fall
AGCO fines Woodbine Casino owners $80,000
GeoComply tracks a ton of NFL transactions
Meanwhile, in other NFL Week 1 news
Will sportsbooks partner with PWHL?
Burns, Pappas join Gaming News Canada Show
Five things to follow between now and Christmas
Labour Day is now in the rearview mirror, the NFL regular season has kicked off, and the gaming industry’s conference season gets rolling next week with the SBC Summit Barcelona (and we’re already seeing posts on X/Twitter and LinkedIn and receiving invitations to various receptions for next month’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas).
Given all of the above, we thought it to be an appropriate time to identify some storylines to follow on the legal Canadian sports betting and gaming industry for the remainder of 2023. And there’s an invitation to join us on LinkedIn Audio this afternoon (more information further below) to discuss and debate the list, or offer your own topics on which to keep tabs.
And away we go:
Status quo on advertising/marketing rules until February
When the AGCO confirmed the new rules around advertising on the final day of August, it stated they wouldn’t take effect until the end of February. So, for now, you can expect to continue to see Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Wayne Gretzky, and other athletes past and present, entertainment celebrities and social media influencers continue to pop up on TV, radio, websites, and social media channels.
The AGCO announcement also referred to “additional brief guidance in the coming weeks”, so we’ll see what that means exactly but for now it appears to be the status quo. Two exceptions are theScore, which launched its new campaign last week sans celebrities, and bet365, which has a new curling ad using ordinary Joes, Janes, and they/them. Operators are seeking clarity for March 1 on what defines a celebrity or influencer, and there will almost certainly be questions around current and former athletes appearing on sports media programs with sportsbooks as sponsors. The operators want to avoid the confusion around bonuses and inducements just after the Ontario market launched in April 2021.
While there are operators which have launched new advertising/marketing campaigns at the same time the NFL regular season started, there doesn’t appear to be the same tidal wave of advertising that was experienced in the first year of the Ontario market. Perhaps that will change over the course of a busy sports calendar this fall that includes the start of the NHL and NBA regular seasons, the CFL postseason, the Ryder Cup at the end of the month, the Cricket World Cup in India in October-November, and the Rugby World Cup which began last week in France and runs through the end of October. Keep in mind that operators in Ontario are also doing business in the U.S. and other parts of the world, and hence are spreading out their advertising and marketing spends.
2. Who’s coming next to Ontario?
As we hit the Publish button this Thursday a.m., there continue to be 46 operators operating legal sportsbooks and online casinos/poker. The rumour mill churns out speculation on a weekly basis about which operators may be ready to wave the white flag and leave the province. It‘s expected that the market will continue to grow between now and the first three months of 2024, and we’ll see what happens when licences have to be renewed next April.
3. What’s new with an open regulated market beyond Ontario?
Not much.
As we reported in the newsletter this summer, and Amanda Brewer mentioned on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has tasked Dale Nally - the Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction - with finishing the development of the province’s online gaming strategy with a focus on responsible gambling, and revenue generation for the province and its Indigenous communities. Alberta is the clubhouse leader to follow Ontario, and perhaps there’ll be positive news for operators before year’s end with a best-case scenario of something tangible happening in the first half of 2024.
NDP Premier David Eby has bigger fish to fry at the moment, and there’s a provincial election coming next fall. In its latest annual report, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation pointed to the wave of advertising by Ontario’s regulated operators creating confusion among bettors in B.C. and impacting revenue from PlayNow.com.
In La Belle Province, a coalition of regulated operators in Ontario continue to push for Quebec’s elected officials to follow the lead of their neighbours to the west. Loto‑Québec has made it clear that it wants to continue flying solo in providing legal gambling.
Stakeholders of creating a larger legal gambling landscape across our home and native land have, and continue to make the case that the lottery and gaming corporations can co-exist quite nicely with licensed operators. Regulus Partners made that case in an analysis of OLG’s business plan which forecasts continued growth over the next three years with its revenues in lottery, land-based gaming and digital.
From Regulus:
OLG’s confidence in its continued success, much more than the lobbying of the online sector, should give other Canadian provinces and similar jurisdictions elsewhere strong reason to believe that effective domestic regulation is a win-win for increased tax, improved player protection and a resilient ‘legacy’ business environment.
There appears to have been a stalemate in what we’re calling The Clash of Coalitions between provincial L&G corps and Ontario operators which want to do legal business in other provinces. The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority has joined BCLC, Atlantic Lottery, AGLC, Loto‑Québec, and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries in the coalition, which suggests the corps are digging in to protect their turf.
4. What’s ahead for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario?
Let’s start at the top, where Dr. Karin Schnarr gets the keys to the CEO and registrar’s office Monday morning as Tom Mungham’s replacement. Dave Forestell moved over from iGO in July to replace Lalit Aggarwal as the new chair of the board when Aggarwal resigned from the role after four years. Forestell’s move and the decision to hire an external candidate to replace Mungham (along with the unexpected delay in announcing the amended advertising/marketing standards this summer) makes it clear there’s some relationship mending to be done between the AGCO and Premier Douglas Ford’s office.
The commission announced Monday that Liz Yeigh will retire as Corporate Secretary and Chief Strategy Officer next month. Given the CEO/registrar hire wasn’t an internal one, there’s likely to be more departures although current COO Dave Phillips, deputy COO Brent McCurdy and gaming modernization project director Doug Hood played integral roles in the creation of Ontario’s regulated industry and are held in high regard. That trio could be an asset to Schnarr, Forestell and the board which also has some fence-mending to do with operators and other industry stakeholders which believe that the spirit of consultation and collaboration pretty much vanished with the advertising/marketing standards debacle. Schnarr, whose portfolio includes not only gaming, but cannabis, liquor and horse racing, will have her hands full in the early going and may want to lean on Phillips, McCurdy and Hood to smooth the waters with the gaming gang.
5. What are the odds of bills S-269 and S-268 being passed?
The smart aleck in us would say slim to none, and slim’s on sabbatical. That wouldn’t be fair to Sen. Scott Tannas, who introduced Bill S-268 in the Senate back in June to amend the Criminal Code and Indian Act to give the governing body of First Nations communities across the country to operate, conduct and manage gaming on their territories. Nor would it be fair to Sen. Marty Deacon, who also in June brought forth Bill S-269 to create a national framework on advertising for sports betting.
In the real world, however, Tannas and Deacon face an uphill climb even if they can convince their fellow senators to give their blessings to the bill. The federal Liberals and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau have an overflowing plate to deal with these days with housing, immigration, economic, health-care and other headaches to deal with, including the PM’s plummeting poll numbers. The provinces will have something to say about Tannas’s bill while media companies scrambling for every bit of revenue they can get, and the CRTC, won’t be silent Deacon’s proposed piece of legislation.
Woodbine Casino owners issued $80,000 fine by AGCO
There was news late yesterday afternoon from the AGCO that it had issued an $80,000 “monetary penalty” against Ontario Gaming GTA Limited Partnership “following allegations of a cheat-at-play and dealer collusion scheme” at Woodbine Casino in Toronto’s west end, according to a release from the commission.
Earlier this year, the Ontario Provincial Police’s Investigation and Enforcement Bureau, which is embedded in the AGCO, laid charges against five individuals following an investigation into allegations that an electronic craps dealer at the casino was colluding with them.
The AGCO’s Regulatory Compliance Branch did its own compliance review and determined that the casino’s owners failed to detect or take appropriate action to prevent the cheat-at-play and dealer collusion scheme, including:
internal financial reports and emails indicating substantial and atypical losses from the electronic craps game over a six-month period of time, which were not effectively acted upon;
table games supervisors were often absent from the craps table when suspicious gambling activities occurred;
video surveillance recordings showing that the electronic craps game failed to follow required rules and procedures and lacked effective supervision;
Although Casino Woodbine had issued the dealer with seven procedural violations for inappropriately pushing dice to patrons before closing bets, the dealer was allowed to continue dealing electronic craps during that time.
According to the commission’s release, the casino owners “fully cooperated with the AGCO’s regulatory review and has committed to addressing deficiencies. Great Canadian Entertainment released a statement saying the game in question was removed from the casino in November 2022.
“We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of security, integrity, and fairness in all aspects of our operations,” the statement reads. “We take any breach of trust within our organization seriously and fully supported the investigation undertaken by the AGCO and the OPP."
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GeoComply reports 242.3 million transactions for NFL’s opening week
Proclaiming that Americans like to place a wager on the NFL is akin to saying that Taylor Swift strikes a chord with today’s young(er) generation of music lovers.
How much do our neighbours to the south enjoy betting on four-down football? Well, GeoComply released yesterday the results of their tracking the betting for Week 1, highlighted by the recording of 242.3 million geolocations from online sportsbooks between Sept. 3-10. That’s a hey-now increase of 56 per cent from the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, 1.1 million new customer accounts were opened by sportsbook clients of the Vancouver-based company, a 40-per-cent hike from last year. Also noteworthy from the GC news release was the spike in traffic on mobile sportsbooks - some 4,200 transactions per second _ after the Lions opened the scoring in Kansas City on opening night. Also, 97 per cent of bets placed were made through a mobile device.
GeoComply also dug into the data from recently regulated markets in the home of the brave:
Also, the company captured the real-time betting action in the Buckeye State for last week:
Finally, GeoComply included in the release a graphic on demand for wagering in yet-to-be-regulated states:
“While the increase in our transaction volume emphasizes the appetite for regulated online sports betting, our data also accentuates an urgent call to action,” GeoComply co-founder and CEO Anna Sainsbury said in a press release. “States without regulated online sports betting should get off the legalization sidelines and unlock their ability to protect consumers and generate significant tax revenue.”
John Pappas, the senior VP of government and public affairs, will be with us on LinkedIn Audio this afternoon to answer our questions about the report.
Meanwhile, in other NFL Week 1 news . . .
A JMP Securities report on the opening week of the regular-season included the down low on app downloads:
DraftKings is offering prop bets on total points this season, and has set the number at 12,495.5, with -110 on both sides. Does that include rouges (a wee dram of Canadian humour here, and we mean a wee dram . . . )?
Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury in the Jets’ win over Buffalo on Monday night had the sportsbooks scrambling to revise their futures odds.
And, as Darren Rovell reported for The Action Network, the injury revived the debate around the refunding of wagers.
Speaking of Rodgers, WagerWire posted this cool graphic on the Jets’ Super Bowl title chances using its Bet Value Calculator.
It seems that if you’re a Jets fan - at least the ones watching their heroes rally to defeat the Bills in the Monday nighter - you can’t win for winning.
One sportsbook (rhymes with Plan Fuel) drew the ire of Dustin Gouker, who wrote on his Closing Line blog about what he called “bad policy” on a touchdown bet in Sunday’s blowout of the Giants by the Cowboys.
Kambi released the results of Week 1 betting activity on its platform, including the most popular game among players.
ICYMI, BetMGM had a makeover of its sportsbook app in operation for the start of the four-down gridiron campaign.
The Zero Latency podcast presented by Eilers & Krejick had host Brad Allen leading a conversation about single game parlays and other NFL products.
And NPR’s Nathan Rott interviewed ESPN betting beat writer David Purdum about the league’s complicated relationship with regulated sportsbooks.
Genius Sports, Snap and Verizon are getting together in a partnership to exploit the use of NFL data.
Will the Professional Women’s Hockey League and sportsbooks get together?
The fledgling Professional Women’s Hockey League announced its first founding partner yesterday with Canadian Tire coming on board.
In case you were doing the Tom Hanks Castaway thing and playing charades with Wilson on a deserted island at the end of the summer, the first North American professional women’s hockey league will launch in January with teams in Boston, New York, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The PWHL will hold its inaugural draft on Monday with 90 players being selected.
This dispatch, and our audio shows, have discussed over the past many fortnights about the potential for partnerships between sports betting companies and a women’s pro hockey league as this day has been coming for a while now. The PWHL will no doubt be exploring those opportunities with sportsbooks, which may be reluctant to sign a cheque (do we still do that in this age of digital commerce?) at the outset. The current inventory of statistics and other data from a women’s game with a fractured past of many leagues and events (i.e. the IIHF world championships and Winter Olympics) will present a challenge to traders in the league’s early going.
Long-time sports partnerships and sponsorships architect Gavin Roth (a partner in the ownership team of this august publication) gave us his thoughts via email yesterday.
“The PWHL will have an engaged and loyal following, and brands can tap into that passion to convert those fans into consumers,” Roth wrote. “I see this as a terrific marketing opportunity for a sportsbook to connect with an underserved audience, regardless of whether rich betting data is available when the first puck is dropped.”
That was the approach taken by PointsBet Canada almost two years ago when it became the official sports wagering partner of Curling Canada, the national custodians of a sport with a large and loyal base of followers (witness the new ad released this week by bet365) but somewhat challenged in having the data and technology required to properly serve a sportsbook. One component of that partnership was the creation of the PointsBet Invitational, a men’s and women’s single-knockout event which will be held at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, ON., beginning Sept. 27. Speaking of Curling Canada, the national governing body has scheduled a news conference Friday to make a significant announcement “about the sport of curling and the (2024) Brier in Regina”. That sparked speculation that there is a title sponsor for the national men’s championship to replace Tim Hortons.
It’s worth noting that five of the six teams operate in markets where sports betting is legal. Minneapolis-St. Paul’s is the lone exception, although some lawmakers said this week they’ll start kicking the can down the road to regulation again in 2024. There will/should also be opportunities for players to land brand ambassador deals. FanDuel, as part of a multi-tiered announcement around responsible gambling Monday, introduced retired American soccer star Carli Lloyd and PGA Tour player Tom Kim as ambassadors.
The new AGCO rules around sports betting advertising prohibit the use of athletes with the exception of responsible gambling messaging. While we do our best to steer clear of opining in this forum, we’ll call an audible here and state that it would make good business sense for a sportsbook to bring on board Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner, Emerance Maschmeyer, Blayre Turnbull, Sarah Nurse and/or Renata Fast to promote safe and responsible play by their customers.
Burns, Pappas to join Gaming News Canada Show
Paul Burns, the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, and GeoComply executive John Pappas are among our scheduled guests to appear this afternoon on the latest Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
We’ll quiz Burns - who’ll moderate a panel on the future of regulated gambling in Canada beyond Ontario at next week’s SBC Summit Barcelona - on yesterday’s update call with the members of the CGA, and other matters, when we gather on LinkedIn Audio between 1-2 p.m. ET. Pappas, who last joined us at the SBC Summit North America, will be present to discuss GeoComply’s NFL Week 1 report, and we’ll also ask him what’s news on the U.S. gaming scene.
As always, it’s BYOV (bring your own voice). And, if you haven’t done so already, we firmly recommend giving a listen to the latest episode of the GNCS podcast with Kindred Group’s Amanda Brewer, Sports Interaction’s Phill Gray, and Brock University sports management prof Dr. Michael Naraine.
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