During Andreas Krannich’s tenure working in the Bundesliga – Germany’s top soccer league – two decades ago, sports wagering was pretty much limited to pre-match betting. With apologies to Bob Dylan, the times they have a changed with the boom around in-play and microbetting. What hasn’t changed is the potential for the manipulation of matches, and efforts by sports leagues and organizations to provide a product where integrity of competition is front and centre. Krannich is one of the good guys trying to protect that integrity in his role as the Executive Vice President, Integrity, Rights Protection and Regulatory Services for Sportradar. Krannich joined us from his Munich office on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, just days after Sportradar’s integrity services department released its Betting Corruption and Match-Fixing in 2023 report. Highlights of the report include the detection of 1,329 suspicious matches in 11 different sports across 105 countries, with soccer leading the way (880 cases). Europe had the highest number of suspicious matches with 667, up from 630 in 2022. North America, despite an increase to 35 suspicious matches in 2023 from 24 the previous year, continued to trail Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. On the podcast, Krannich points to the diligence of North American sports leagues when it comes to monitoring suspicious betting activity. The Sportradar EVP also delves into the helping hand artificial intelligence has lent in tracking some 850,000 sporting events last year while acknowledging the ongoing need for human brainpower to complement AI in trying to prevent and detect risks to integrity in sport. Krannich addresses his company’s work with organizations around the world, including the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, to educate athletes and other sport stakeholders on red flags around match fixing. And, he weighed in on the ongoing presence of organized crime in the world of sports.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Adams has been a passenger on the fast-moving train of regulated gambling in the U.S. since the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The founder and CEO of Baltimore-based SharpRank is our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show to talk about his journey from auditor to investment banking, to enrolling in business school, and to hearing the radio commercial that steered him to the sports wagering industry.Adams spoke about the evolution of SharpRank’s business since it shared first-prize honours with Parleh Media Group at the SBC First Pitch competition in December 2021. A company which originally focused on the merging of content, influencers and sportsbooks to protect the marketplace, SharpRank has since emerged as a respected voice among legislators and regulators, including the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.Adams explains the similarities between investing and betting, the blurry lines that can occur when it comes to information being provided to sports bettors, and the challenges operators face in dealing with different legislation and regulation in provinces and states across North America. We also asked him about SharpRanks’ plans for the remainder of 2024.If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast, regulated gambling industry veteran Troy Ross of TRM Public Affairs offered his thoughts on the path to a competitive digital gaming marketplace in Alberta. Ross was among the folks with whom Dale Nally, the Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, met during last month’s ICE conference in London, and a new online gaming regime was mentioned in the provincial government’s budget presentation last week. Ross was joined by regular contributors Kris Abbott, Amanda Brewer and Phil Gray for a roundtable discussion on the odds of British Columbia and Quebec also following the Ontario road to regulation.The GNCS panel also had a chin wag about the shifting advertising and marketing strategies of licensed operators in Ontario coinciding with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s new rules to restrict the use of athletes in paid advertising. Mark Silver, the head honcho of Parleh Media Group – proprietors of Gaming News Canada and Homestand Sports – addressed the already-existing change in direction by operators in promoting their sportsbook and igaming products.Finally, Brewer, Ross, Gray and Abbott provided some bon mots for Silver and Gaming News Canada editor-in-chief Steve McAllister on the news that GNC is shifting to primarily a podcast format. If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest edition of the Gaming News Canada Show, regular guests Amanda Brewer, Kris Abbott and Phill Gray were joined by Covers gambling industry beat writer Geoff Zochodne for a rather robust roundtable.Zochodne provided his thoughts and layers on spending two days inside an Ontario Superior Court of Justice courtroom last week to listen to lawyers for iGaming Ontario and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke lay out facts and arguments in the council’s civil proceedings against Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry. Gray, Abbott and Brewer added their perspective on the case, in which Judge Lisa Brownstone is expected to submit a ruling before summer. With the changes to the AGCO’s standards around advertising and marketing taking effect tomorrow, the panel discussed the transition by Ontario’s licensed operators to the new regulations around the use of athletes and celebrities, and the continuing presence of .net operations pitching their products on television networks. The announcement by Unibet last week that it will officially leave the Ontario market on March 26 sparked a conversation on the likelihood of other licensed operators vacating the province before Year 3 of regulated sports betting and igaming begins in early April. That conversation prompted Brewer to point out that smaller operators are leaning into the Canadian grey market to support their Ontario businesses.Finally, there was reaction from Abbott, Brewer, Gray and Zochodne to the American Gaming Association releasing a third straight year of record numbers for regulated gambling across the U.S. of A.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest Gaming News Canada dispatch, Thursday edition, dedicated a significant amount of wordage to recent reporting on problem gambling, especially among young adults.So, the latest Gaming News Canada Show went down the same road with the help of Phill Gray, Kris Abbott and Brock University sports management professor Dr. Michael Naraine, who’s been a frequently loud voice for the provincial government - and the operators in Ontario’s regulated gambling industry - to make funding available for research into a market that will be two years old on April 4th. The conversation also referenced the soon-to-come changes imposed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission on Ontario for advertising and marketing campaigns.Nathalie Bergeron, the spokesperson for the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition, also made her return to show and responded to reporting by a Sherbrooke news outlet last week that the provincial government in La Belle Province has no intentions to follow Ontario and open up a regulated marketplace. Gray, who has called Quebec home for almost 25 years, provided his thoughts on the issue.The coalition also recently submitted a pre-budget brief to the province to once again make the case for an expanded legal industry, and Bergeron weighed on that report. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian Gaming Association president/CEO Paul Burns joined the Gaming News Canada Show podcast from London the final day of the ICE conference. Burns offered his perspective on the appearance of Alberta minister Dale Nally at the UK rendezvous of the gambling industry, and what it means for a regulated business coming to the western Canadian province. Burns also summarized the activity Canadian style from ICE, which moves to Barcelona in 2025, and about a Canadian roundtable which included Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey and iGaming Ontario executive director Martha Otton. Phill Gray also spoke about his week in jolly olde England. Alannah Della Vedova, the director of content activation and brand for FanDuel, returned to the pod and discussed the operator’s partnership with Bell Media ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, Taylor Swift and the popularity of novelty bets for the NFL championship game. Gray and Kris Abbott later joined in for some sports wagering talk about the Chiefs-Niners tilt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The controversy over the amount of advertising by regulated sports betting and gaming operators in Ontario has continued in the first month of 2024. CBC Marketplace enlisted the help of researchers at the University of Bristol in England to track gambling advertising on seven broadcasts of sporting events and with that research finding “gambling messages fill up to 21 per cent of each broadcast, on average”. Last week, Sean Previl of Global News reported on a push from some corners for a ban on gambling advertising across Canada. Paul Burns, the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, appeared on the latest Gaming News Canada podcast and expressed his concern with some of the reporting done in the Marketplace piece. Jessica Welman, the editor-in-chief of SBC Americas, questioned the methodology used by the University of Bristol in its findings while industry veteran Amanda Brewer also weighed in on the Marketplace feature. Burns, Brewer, Welman and Sebastian Jedrzejewski from U.S. Integrity also participated in a discussion on the leading up to new standards from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario on advertising taking effect at the end of February. Finally, sports trading vet Phill Gray offered a couple of thoughts on Sunday’s NFL conference championship games. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The departure of the Levy clan from Penn, a robust Q2 for PointsBet Canada, the acquisition of Canadian company Quarter4 by FairPlay Sports Media, and looking ahead to ICE headline a busy week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In case you missed it, private sports betting and igaming operators delivered record results for iGaming Ontario’s latest market performance report. iGO chief of staff Mitch Davidson appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show to provide details on the double-digit quarterly increases in total wagers and gross gaming revenue for the October-December period. Davidson also answered our questions about what’s top of mind for the government subsidiary in 2024. Regular contributors Amanda Brewer and Phill Gary also lent their respective perspectives on the latest results. A2Z Ventures founder Eric Herd and Parleh Media Group CEO Mark Silver got into a busy week of CEO shuffling across the sports betting/media industry, highlighted by the departure of Erika Ayers Badans from Barstool Sports and the news that Patrick Keane is stepping down as the chief executive officer of the Action Network more than two years after the sports betting content company was acquired by Better Collective. Herd and Silver also discussed the potential purchase of bankruptcy-bound Diamond Sports Group by Amazon. Finally, the aforementioned Gray had a few suggestions for football fans around the NFL playoffs’ divisional round this past weekend. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josh Turk, the chief strategy officer for Low6, was our guest on the Gaming News Canada Show and spoke about the free-to-play gaming business’s partnership with the National Hockey League, including the creation of the NHL All-Star Vote website, and online sportsbooks. Turk also answered our questions about the role of free-to-play in the evolving business of sports wagering and online gaming with regards to customer acquisition and retention.Parleh Media Group founder and CEO Mark Silver also joined your humble host and gambling industry insiders Amanda Brewer and Kris Abbott for a conversation on the hiring of Keith Pelley as the new president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Pelley is leaving his head honcho position with the DP World Tour to return to Canada and accept one of the plum gigs in the business of sports world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the return of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast, Amanda Brewer and Kris Abbott weighed in on the issues to watch over the next 12 months. Those include the expected shrinking of Ontario’s regulated online sports betting and gaming industry, the odds of other provinces’s following Ontario’s lead in creating a competitive marketplace, and the finalizing of changes to the standards for advertising and marketing by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.  The two industry experts also provided their thoughts on the need for more education around the benefits of regulated gambling jurisdictions, what should be the priorities for iGaming Ontario this year, and continued the conversation on responsible gambling initiatives and messaging. Finally, we asked Brewer and Abbott to gaze into their respective crystal balls and make a prediction for 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the year’s final Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP, U.S. gaming analyst and journalist Steve Ruddock joined Amanda Brewer and Phill Gray for a conversation on efforts to make responsible gambling more accessible to sports bettors and online casino/poker plays in Canada and the United States. Sports management professor Dr. Michael Naraine from Brock University hopped on the podcast to reiterate the need for independent research on RG in Ontario’s regulated industry.Ruddock, the man behind the Straight to the Point newsletter, also discussed the challenges operators face with the uniqueness of new regulated markets across the U.S. We also asked him for his thoughts on the first month of ESPN Bet being in business south of the border.Finally, Brewer and Gray pontificated on the biggest stories on the business of Canadian gambling over the past 12 months. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Burns, the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, was one of two special guests on the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. Burns answered our questions on CGA’s symposium and annual general meeting last week in Toronto, which brought together almost 90 industry types to discuss player health and wellbeing, and advertising standards while receiving a presentation from Ipsos Research into Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry. The association’s head honcho also gave his reaction to legal concerns expressed by the interim Auditor General of Ontario about the province’s competitive market.   Quebec Online Gaming Coalition spokesperson Nathalie Bergeron joined the show to talk about the results of the latest survey commissioned by the coalition on the appetite for a regulated gambling industry in La Belle Province.  Regular guests Amanda Brewer, Kris Abbott and Phil Gray all lent their expertise and experience to the topics of the week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Holt, the co-founder and chief executive officer of U.S. Integrity, made his maiden appearance on the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP. Holt delved into a busy past two-plus years for the company in providing integrity monitoring services to professional sports leagues, and U.S. college sports conferences and athletic departments, along with importance of regulated sports betting in identifying integrity and criminality problems. Holt also discussed his company’s partnership with Odds On Compliance to create Prohibet, an integrity and compliance product.  Joining Holt was Sebastian Jedrzejewski, who just left his senior policy advisor position with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to come on board U.S. Integrity as director of regulatory affairs. Both Jedrzejewski and his new boss discussed the opportunities for the company in Ontario’s regulated marketplace along with the work U.S. Integrity and other organizations like the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is doing around educating athletes about sports betting and match manipulation. PointsBet Canada executive Nic Sulsky, who sits with Holt on the board of directors for the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, also participated in the segment with the U.S. Integrity folks. Regular contributors Amanda Brewer, Kris Abbott and Phill Gray all weighed in on last week’s announcement by Kindred Group to pull its business out of Ontario and U.S. states where it has been operating. The trio also discussed the challenges for European-based operators coming into Ontario. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The day after a webcast hosted by Senator Marty Deacon to discuss her push for a national framework around sports betting advertising, a long-time lobbyist and regulatory advisor for the gambling industry said passing Bill S-269 is of the longshot variety. Troy Ross, the president of TRM Public Affairs, appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to explain the challenges of putting restrictions on place on advertising. Joining the conversation were Amanda Brewer of the Canadian Gaming Association, GeoComply senior executive Lindsay Slader, Parleh Media Group CEO Mark Silver, and Phill Gray, the former head of trading operations for Sports Interaction. Slader appeared on the show to talk about the opening of GeoComply’s new offices in Toronto, the company’s role in Ontario’s regulated online sports betting and gaming industry, and its advocating regulation in other parts of Canada. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The hoopla in advance of last week’s launch of ESPN Bets was well-founded, as the Worldwide Leader’s sportsbook – in collaboration with Penn Entertainment – was No. 1 in app downloads including more than 670,000 in the first 24 hours. SBC Americas journalist Jessica Welman made her return to the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to speak about the reaction to ESPN Bet’s debut in 17 U.S. states. She also provided some insight into the latest happenings around the push for legal sports betting in California, Texas, Florida and North Carolina. A panel on the final day of the PrimeTime Sports Management Conference & Trade Show included an at-times tense exchange with long-time NHL executive Brian Burke and University of Oregon sports management consultant Mark Francis. Canadian Gaming Association senior advisor Amanda Brewer and PointsBet Canada CCO Nic Sulsky, who were joined on the panel by BetMGM VP Scott Woodgate, provided some additional thoughts on the conversation with Burke and Francis. They also teed up next month’s Promoting Player Health and Wellbeing symposium being organized by the CGA. Gray also lent his experience and expertise to discussion around the steps taken by the sports betting and gaming industry to not allow minors to gamble, and the protocols in place when it comes to athletes accessing sportsbook accounts. The former Sports Interaction head of trading operations also offered some advice around the 110th Grey Cup between the Montreal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (and he was right). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As first reported in the latest newsletter by Gaming News Canada, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission began last week meeting with sports betting operators and other stakeholders in the province’s regulated gambling industry about its proposal to ban athletes and celebrities from advertising for the protection of minors. Paul Burns, the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Gaming Association, returned to the GNC Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to answer questions about the CGA’s get-together with AGCO deputy COO Brent McCurdy and other commission members. Parleh Media Group CEO Mark Silver, GNCS regular contributor Amanda Brewer and Phill Gray joined the conversation to provide their thoughts on a renewed spirit of collaboration by the AGCO to find common ground with the industry on advertising and marketing standards.Eric Herd, the founder/CEO of A2Z Ventures, and Silver weighed in on the acquisition of Canadian digital sports media company Playmaker Capital by global digital sports media business Better Collective and the opportunities for BC via Playmaker’s operations in Latin America and Canada.Brewer and the show’s host, Steve McAllister, teed up their third straight appearance at this week’s Prime Time Sports Management Conference & Trade Show, where they will be joined by BetMGM’s Scott Woodgate and Nic Sulsky of PointsBet Canada for a panel on the state of the Canadian gambling industry. Finally, Gray – the recently departed head trader for Sports Interaction – gave his perspective on the sports betting action during the first half of the NFL regular season, including the Taylor Swift bump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Silver traded places with Steve McAllister in the host’s chair for the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and led a conversation on the NHL’s 41-game suspension of Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto. Silver welcomed Jean-Francois Raymond, a former European pro basketball player and current education ambassador for the International Betting Integrity Association, who spoke about IBIA’s global efforts on monitoring integrity in sport and providing athletes and other participants in sport with information on competition manipulation.  Amanda Brewer and Phill Gray lent their voices to the discussion and also addressed their recent departures from Kindred Group and Sports Interaction, respectively. Brewer provided her perspective on the slow push for regulated online sports betting and gaming in Alberta, as reported on in Thursday’s Gaming News Canada newsletter. Gray addressed his departure from Sports Interaction after two decades as the head of trading operations for the Canadian sportsbook.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Epoxy.ai founder and president Jason Angelides discussed his career in engaging sports fans, and the opportunities for the sports betting and gaming industry to exploit artificial intelligence.Nic Sulsky, the chief commercial officer of PointsBet Canada, returned to the podcast to answer our questions about the comments from PointsBet CEO Sam Swanell that the company predicts profitability for its Canadian business in 2025. Sulsky also commented on the hiring last week of gambling industry veteran Brooke Hilton as head of casino.Sulsky, regular contributor Kris Abbott and sports marketing agent Brant Feldman, who represents Olympic and Paralympic athletes in both Canada and the U.S., discussed the challenges and opportunities for sportsbook operators around women’s sports, including the Professional Women’s Hockey League which launches in January. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fall has been a rather busy one for the folks at Sports Interaction, the Canadian-based online sportsbook and igaming operating which Entain acquired from Avid Gaming back in February 2022. A new website was unveiled in September, a marketing campaign lampooned Americans’ hockey knowledge, and SIA got on board Hockey Night in Canada as the leading sportsbook partner for the iconic national TV franchise. The latest activation, as they say in marketing/branding/content parlance is The Locker Room, a live watch party that will debut this evening on the Sports Interaction app and website during the NFL Thursday nighter between the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Michael Zitney, the former branded content mastermind for Sportsnet and these days the head of brand and content for Sports Interaction, joined the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, to talk about what the sportsbook is calling the first-of-its-kind Canadian integration of a live broadcast experience into its digital products. Zitney, who had a bird’s-eye view of the efforts by Sportsnet to fit sports betting information and branding into HNIC last season, discussed the lessons learned from attempting to strike a balance that engages hockey fans who bet, and doesn’t annoy fans who don’t. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2022-23 annual report for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) was released last week. Chief gaming officer Dave Pridmore appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to discuss the lottery corp’s advancements in its digital gaming business, continued growth with its ProLine product both online and on the retail side, investment in responsible gambling initiatives, and more. Regular GNCS contributors Amanda Brewer, the Canadian country manager for Kindred Group, and Kris Abbott were back from Las Vegas and provided their thoughts on a Global Gaming Expo that continues to evolve with the expansion of legal online sports betting and igaming in the U.S. Brewer and Abbott also delved into iGaming Ontario’s market performance report for the July-September quarter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Brewer, the Canadian country manager for Kindred Group, and Canadian gambling industry veteran Kris Abbott rejoined the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP for a rapid-fire edition. The hour of information, insight and discussion from the panel included some thoughts on the start of the NHL regular season this week and what impact, if any, the changes to sports betting advertising standards by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will have on Sportsnet and the league’s other broadcast partners. Both Brewer and Abbott were also asked about the comments by NHL business development executive Kyle McMann about the league’s sports betting partnerships and strategy during a pre-season business-of-the-NHL webinar hosted by Sports Business Journal. A segment on the current state of the Ontario sports betting and igaming industry also brought up the cone of silence by the province’s conservative government when it comes to tax revenue created by the 40something operators.  Finally, we teed up this week’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas with some advice for first-time attendees along with shining a light on Monday’s panel on what’s happening in Ontario and the rest of Canada with Brewer, new AGCO CEO/registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr, iGaming Ontario executive director Martha Otton, PointsBet’s compliance chief Chantal Cipriano, and Responsible Gambling Council boss Shelley White. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SBC News has dipped its toes into the documentary waters for the first time, releasing this week The Ontario Frontier: Exploring the iGaming Landscape to tell the story of the province’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry which was launched in April 2022. James Ross, SBC’s multimedia journalist, and senior journalist Charlie Horner joined us on the morning before the unveiling of the documentary to give Gaming News Canada the motivation for telling the Ontario story in long-form video, and how it all came together. Gaming Association vice president Maureen Beddis walked us through the plans for the 2023 Global Gaming Expo, which begins Monday at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Beddis provided a preview of the education sessions scheduled for next week along with flagging some of the conference’s new elements, and delivering some helpful hints for first-time G2E attendees. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The exclusive partnership between FanDuel and TSN, which started in the early days of Ontario’s regulated sports betting and gaming marketplace, had been touted for the sharing of information between the trading team at FD and the production folks in the network’s newsroom. Back in August, the partners unveiled an enhanced feature on the TSN website that further showcased the integration of content and product. Conor Murray, FanDuel’s vice president of marketing, joined the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to discuss the continued collaboration around mobile product innovation and story-telling. Murray’s appearance happened just days before Genius Sports announced the launch of its BetVision platform which includes providing sportsbooks with live video of NFL games (Sam McQuillan of Legal Sports Report had first dibs on this story last week with his piece on Fanatics using the Genius platform to stream NFL games in its sportsbook app). PointsBet Canada’s chief commercial officer, Nic Sulsky, returned to the show on the eve of the second annual PointsBet Invitational. The single-knockout men’s and women’s curling event begins Friday night at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, Ontario, and PointsBet is once again hosting a $1 million bracket challenge. Sulsky spoke with us about the progress that’s taken place in PointsBet’s partnership with Curling Canada and the opportunity that an Ontario-based PBI presents for the operator this year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP brought together host Steve McAllister with Parleh Media Group co-founders Mark Silver and Gavin Roth to discuss matters of the sports business sort.Both Roth, who has put his stamps on so many partnership and sponsorship deals for some of Canada's largest sports organizations, expanded on his comments in the Sept. 14 edition of the Gaming News Canada newsletter presented by GeoComply, that the fledgling Professional Women's Hockey League provides an opportunity that goes beyond customer acquisition in regulated sports betting and gaming markets in Ontario, New York and Massachusetts.Silver and Roth also addressed the recent news that sport drink company BioSteel, currently owned by Canopy Growth, is seeking creditor protection - and a new buyer.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Burns, the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association joined the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show some 24 hours after giving the latest update to the association’s growing membership. Not surprisingly, some of the conversation during the CGA’s virtual call involved the proposed standards to advertising in the gaming industry by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Burns, who’ll be part of a discussion on regulated gaming in our home and native land beyond Ontario at next week’s SBC Summit Barcelona, also answered our questions on the leadership changes at the AGCO over the past two months. John Pappas, GeoComply’s senior VP of government and public affairs, made his return to the show to shine a brighter light on GeoComply’s NFL Week 1 report, which included a 56-per-cent rise in betting transactions from a year ago. Pappas also provided an update on efforts by U.S. states to join the 30-something states with legal sports betting. Amanda Brewer, the Canadian country manager for Kindred Group, and her LeoVegas counterpart Jacob Hargaden-Llewellin also lent their voices to the conversation on the latest news in the Canadian sports betting and gaming world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP returned from summer break to our live recordings on LinkedIn Audio this week.Amanda Brewer, the Canadian country manager for Kindred Group, and Sports Interaction head of trading operations Phill Gray discussed the amended standards around sports betting advertising introduced last week by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, including a request from the Canadian Gaming Association to sit down with the AGCO and find clarity to some of the changes. Dr. Michael Naraine from Brock University joined the show to call once again for industry stakeholders to participate in putting together data to determine the impact of celebrity appearances in advertising and marketing campaigns on Ontarians placing wagers.Brewer also weighed in on a summer of changes with leadership at the board level with both the AGCO and iGaming Ontario, and the hiring of Dr. Karin Schnarr to replace Tom Mungham as AGCO’s CEO and registrar. The show finished with a segment featuring Gray on the start of the NFL regular season and some advice for bettors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is focused on Tuesday’s announcement by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario with amended standards for marketing and advertising by sports betting and igaming operators in the province. Canadian Gaming Association grand poobah Paul Burns, PointsBet Canada executive Nic Sulsky, and Betano’s Canadian country manager Kris Abbott provided their respective takes on the news, and what the rule changes mean for the industry as it heads into the busy fall sports schedule. Burns also spoke with us about a recent Toronto Star column around competition manipulation in sport, and concerns that a match-fixing scandal in Canadian sport is just around the corner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been a while since we last picked the brain of long-time sports betting consultant, sports bettor and the man behind the @SharpEdgePicks account on Twitter/X.  So, with the end of August very near, Redlick joined us this week for a rapid round of sorts on a number of topics – including his thoughts on the wins and losses from the first 18 months of regulated sports betting in Ontario and the products provided by operators in a highly competitive marketplace. We also asked his opinion on last week’s partnership announcement between Woodbine Entertainment and bet365, and the challenges both Penn and ESPN face in their new alliance. Also, we started the podcast by asking Redlick for some advice on the rest of the Major League Baseball season, and the Toronto Blue Jays, and some helpful hints for bettors heading into the NFL regular season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The start of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto this weekend presents the annual reality check that summer’s end is just around the corner. With an eye towards post-Labour Day weekend, and also looking back at a summer that’s been anything but dormant in the North American sports betting and igaming industry, we brought back our usual Gaming News Canada Show regulars to join us for a past-present-near future episode of the podcast. Kindred Group’s Canadian lead Amanda Brewer, PointsBet Canada CCO Nic Sulsky and Kaizen Gaming’s Canadian grand poobah Kris Abbott weighed in on an array of happenings and issues from the past couple of months, and also provided their insight into what’s coming in what’s expected to be a very active fall for operators. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeffrey Haas’s professional life started as a journalist at the Toronto Sun in 1994, but 10 years later it took a sharp detour into the business of online poker. Since then, the Toronto native has held leadership positions with Bwin, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, PokerStars, DraftKings, and most recently with CoinSmart and Atomic Hub.The gambling industry veteran – and current free agent – joined the Gaming News Canada Show for a one-on-one interview. The conversation included a deep dive into this week’s alliance between Penn and ESPN, which is getting into the sportsbook game, Penn’s hefty investments in both the ESPN deal and its acquisition of theScore, along with the challenge ESPN BET faces in competing with the major players in the U.S., online sports betting game. Haas also offered a few thoughts on the potential impact of the Penn/ESPN partnership on the Canadian sports betting and media landscape. Haas also spoke about his involvement in online gambling across our home and native land, the creation of Ontario’s regulated market, and the positive impact it’s had on OLG’s online gaming operations (he also cited the missed opportunity by other provinces across the country to follow Ontario’s lead). Our interview with Haas concluded with him discussing his current involvement with a Danish venture capital firm, and what excites him about the future of gaming. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we caught up with Dustin Gouker, the former Catena Media executive and long-time industry watcher who's now the author of The Closing Line blog. Gouker walked us through the controversy involving daily fantasy sports operators as both PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy have been ordered to stop operating in Wyoming's regulated sports betting market, and the owners of Betr have launched a DFS product.Friends of GNC - and SBC execs - Sue Schneider and Nicole Fields also joined the podcast to discuss their participation in a gathering last month in Las Vegas of women who work in the gambling industry. While both Schneider and Fields agree significant progress has been made in expanding executive-suite opportunities for women, they also agree there's still work to be done. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While the sports betting and igaming industry in Ontario continues to wait for word from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario on expected revisions to advertising standards, Rivalry co-founder and CEO Steven Salz provided some details on the Toronto company's submission of feedback to the AGCO's original proposal back in April and his concerns about it. Salz also discussed a busy time of year for Rivalry with a robust esports calendar, and what's on tap for the fall.Zane Hansen, the president and CEO of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA), explained the reasons for the authority's record-setting fiscal year in 2022-23 in coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and launching its online gaming product (PlayNow.com) in collaboration with the British Columbia Lottery Corportation. Hansen also weighed in on Bill S-268, brought forward in the Senate last month by Senator Scott Tannas to amend the Criminal Code of Canada "to provide that the governing body of a First Nation has exclusive authority to conduct and manage a lottery scheme on its reserve and to license the conduct and management of a lottery scheme by other persons and entities on its reserve", and on possible expansion of regulated sports betting and igaming in Canada beyond Ontario in the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

iGaming Ontario released its first-quarter 2023-24 performance marketing report today, and chief of staff Mitch Davidson provided his perspective on another solid three months for a sports betting and gaming industry that’s now almost 16 months old. Davidson also provided his thoughts on where Ontario sits within the North American gaming industry, and what’s next for the provincial body. Alannah Della Vedova, the brand director for FanDuel Canada, gave us some of the goods on the sportsbook’s plans for the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament which starts Thursday in Australia and New Zealand. Della Vedova also discussed FanDuel’s commitment to women’s sports, and how the operator will collaborate with TSN on the network’s World Cup coverage. Finally, SBC Americas editor Jessica Welman joined us for a round-the-horn conversation on the latest news from the U.S. gambling industry, including Ohio’s plans to double its tax rate on legal sports betting operators, the possibility of sports wagering coming to Florida in the near future, and the latest developments from the new marketplace in Massachusetts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Toronto-based Responsible Gambling Council has released its 2022-23 Annual Report, so Shelley White returned to the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. The RGC’s CEO addressed the highlights of the latest report, including the council’s work in Ontario’s new regulated sports betting and gaming industry, the importance of continuing to evolve when it comes to education around gambling responsibly, and what lies ahead for the organization and its work with various stakeholders. Peter Scott, the former Turner Sports and Warner Media executive who joined Play Anywhere in April as chief strategy officer, made his maiden appearance on the GNCS to talk about his journey in the media industry, beginning with CNN and then moving into sports and digital media. Scott explained Play Anywhere’s role in assisting sports bodies such as La Liga – the Spanish soccer league – with interactive media, the opportunities in the space to bring together sports media, sports data, sports betting, and more. And he also delivered his thoughts on the potential uses of artificial intelligence in the sports, entertainment and media worlds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Canadian Football League’s just-announced partnership with FanDuel is the beginning of the league rolling out its sports betting strategy.  That comes from our conversation this week with Owen Welsh, the CFL’s associate VP of sports betting, gaming and innovation. Welsh explained the opportunities around the new deal with FanDuel, and the ties of the partnership to both TSN and Genius Sports. He also discussed the league’s coordination with its nine members clubs in the gambling space, which includes the highly-competitive sports betting and igaming market in Ontario, and a monopoly of sorts for provincial lottery and gaming corporations across the rest of the true north, strong and free. Nathalie Bergeron, the spokeswoman for the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition, was also our guest and provided an update on the group’s efforts to persuade elected officials in La Belle Province to bring in a regulated industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Remember the days when Canada Day meant the start of a summer slowdown that included early Wednesday afternoon tee times, taking off Friday afternoons to pack up the tent and sleeping bags and drive to a campground, putting off the first meeting on Monday until after lunch so you could get home from the cottage and drop off the laundry and empties. No, we don’t remember them, either. Ok, there’s a slight stretching of the truth here, but not entirely. On the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Paul Burns teed up a busy summer of committee meetings, dealing with potential changes to sports betting advertising standards by the Alcohol and Gaming Association of Ontario, and other business for the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, and its members. Burns also addressed two Senate public bills which were introduced last week, one to create a framework around sports betting advertising across the country, and another to give First Nations the right to conduct and manage casinos in their communities. Sean Topchi, the director of business development for Kinectify, joined the show to provide some insight on the Las Vegas company’s work around responsible and also answer questions about the company’s new partnership with Kindbridge Behavioral Health to support that organization’s work with people struggling with problem gambling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Senator Marty Deacon introduced Bill S-269, the National Framework on Advertising for Sports Betting Act to put guardrails in place on sports wagering advertising across Canada’s gambling (and media) industries. Deacon and fellow Senator Brent Cotter joined the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to explain the rationale for introducing the act, and the process to get the bill passed. “We’re trying to make sure there’s some guardrails. We’re looking at pulling that [advertising] in, but we’re not saying, ‘no more’'” Deacon told the GNCS audience. “It’s a balance. I’m not going to deny that, but I think it’s important that we keep that as our laser focus.” Great Canadian Entertainment executive Chuck Keeling joined the show from Vancouver to discuss Tuesday’s official opening of the Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, a massive property that when completely finished, will include a gaming floor with slot machines, gaming tables and sports betting kiosks, a 400-room luxury hotel, a 5,000-seat entertainment theatre, a 250,000-square-foot green roof, and plenty o’ parking. Woodbine Entertainment has also been lobbying for customers of both the new casino resort and the adjacent Woodbine Racetrack to have direct access to public transit, Keeling confirmed. Regular guests Amanda Brewer of Kindred Group and Betano’s Kris Abbott provided their thoughts on the proposed sports betting advertising bill, Toronto’s new $1-billion casino resort, and some final musings on last week’s Canadian Gaming Summit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, road show edition.A steady stream of visitors dropped by the palatial GNC/Homestand Sports booth (Ok, neat and tidy is a better way to put it) on the final day of the Canadian Gaming Summit. Mitch Davidson, the chief of staff for iGaming Ontario, kicked off the pod by answering our questions around the economic development report that the conductor and manager of the province’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry released on Wednesday. In case you missed it, the research conducted by Jeff Harris’s team at Deloitte Canada on behalf of iGO included estimates of more than 12,000 full-time jobs being created across the province in Year 1, and a contribution of nearly $1.6 billion to Ontario’s gross domestic product (GDP).Regular GNC contributors Amanda Brewer of Kindred Group and Nic Sulsky from PointsBet Canada also weighed in on the report and joined FOGNC Benjie Cherniak of Avenue H Capital for their thoughts on the report, what it might mean for regulated gambling beyond Ontario, a summary of the panel discussions and sundry other conversations on the Summit floor this week. SBC marketing director Dennis Algreen stopped by to accept some bouquets on SBC’s very successful maiden performance hosting the Canadian Gaming Summit, and also did some pumping of the proverbial tires for the SBC Summit Barcelona in September.Canadian Gaming Association president/CEO Paul Burns provided a few bon mots about the conference and gave us an update on the CGA’s conversations with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to find some common ground on the hot-button issue of sports betting advertising. Lastly, iGO executive director Martha Otton stopped by the booth and made an impromptu first appearance on the podcast by giving her thoughts on a busy week meeting with stakeholders in Canada’s only regulated gambling industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The sports betting and gaming industry gathers in Toronto next week, so SBC’s Cristian Robalino and First Pitch competition moderator Jesse Learmonth tee up the conference. And more on the clash of coalitions. With apologies to devotees of Bill Shakespeare. . . . regulators, operators, communicators, suppliers, marketers, engineers, data darlings, and sure, even the folks who occupy the executive suites, lend us your ears. Cristian Robalino and Jesse Learmonth joined us from Houston and Victoria respectively to help set the table for next week’s Canadian Gaming Summit in the city below Bolton. Robalino, the VP of Marketing for SBC’s Americas business, answered our questions about the preparations for SBC’s maiden voyage in managing the Canadian conference and also delivered some helpful hints for newbie Summit attendees. Learmonth, an industry veteran and owner/operator of The Betting Startups podcast and newsletter, will hold the moderator’s microphone for the First Pitch competition on the final day of the three- day event. Learmonth provided an overview of the three finalists along with the opportunities that come from participating in First Pitch. Amanda Brewer of Kindred Group weighed in on the reporting in Thursday’s Gaming News Canada newsletter presented by GBG Plc on the exchange of legal correspondence between a coalition of four provincial lottery and gaming corporations, and a coalition of registered operators in Ontario.  Finally, researchers Dr. Flora Matheson, Dr. Arthur McLuhan and Madison Ford from the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions walked us through the smartphone app they’ve developed to support people with gambling concerns. The SPRinG app, the researchers hope, will provide additional support to existing services around problem gambling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fourteen months after the launch of the most competitive regulated sports betting and igaming marketplace in the world, there are 45 legal operators and almost 100 licensed vendors doing business. Together, along with the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation (OLG), the industry has delivered more than $2 billion in tax revenue. What are the learnings from the early days of Ontario's regulated marketplace? What opportunities have been created in a hugely competitive industry. And, is the province's model tailor-made for other provinces across the rest of Canada? Steve McAllister, the Editor-In-Chief of Gaming News Canada, asked those questions - and more - of GBG Plc Director of Gaming Rebekah Jackson; Amanda Brewer, the Canadian Country Manager of Kindred Group; PointsBet Canada Chief Executive Officer Scott Vanderwel; and Jack Tadman of GME Law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The sport and sports betting communities got together this week for the first time since 2019 as the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, and McLaren Global Sport Solutions hosted the Symposium on Match Manipulation and Gambling in Sport at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto. Canadian Gaming Association president/CEO Paul Burns joined the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to provide a summary of the happenings from the two-day conference of panels, keynote addresses and collaboration by both communities to educate athletes and other participants in sport about the realities involved around match fixing and corruption. Nic Sulsky of PointsBet Canada, a partner of Curling Canada, and Kris Abbott of Betano also weighed in on the cooperation between sportsbooks and sports bodies to educate athletes, coaches and others. Paul Burns joined the show to summarize the happenings from this week’s Symposium on Competition Manipulation and Gambling in Sport, co-hosted by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, and McLaren Global Sport Solutions. During the symposium, the International Betting Integrity Agency – with support from FanDuel, Betway and bet365 – announced a $300,000 commitment over the next three years to fund an education program for athletes and other participants in Canadian sport about betting, match-fixing and other matters around integrity in sport. The CCES put out a news release Friday that the main takeaway from the symposium and its participants was “identifying the need for a coordinated pan-Canadian approach to prevent competition manipulation that is bolstered by comprehensive education”. “The symposium highlighted the fact that Canadian sport needs a plan to address the threat of competition manipulation now before it gets a stronger foothold in Canada,” said Jeremy Luke, the president and CEO of the CCES. “A harmonized, pan-Canadian competition manipulation policy developed with athletes that includes comprehensive education and is administered by an independent organization would be consistent with best practices from sport and other countries, and would contribute to a safer environment for athletes and support personnel.  “The CCES is committed to working with partners, including athletes, to make it a reality.”   The podcast also set the table for next Wednesday’s What’s Next for iGaming Regulation in Canada? webinar presented by GBG Plc and featuring a panel with the aforementioned Brewer, Rebekah Jackson from GBG, PointsBet Canada CEO Scott Vanderwel, and legal beagle Jack Tadman of GME Law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was another tidal wave of media coverage this week about the high volume of online sports betting advertising in Ontario’s hugely competitive gambling industry. Some of that coverage focused on the Stanley Cup playoffs, with broadcasters, teams and the NHL all facing some flak for the steady stream of sports betting content, commercials, digital board ads and in-venue branding from regulated (in a few cases, not regulated) sportsbooks and the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation (OLG). Today (Friday), the interim leader of the province’s Liberal Party held a news conference to also take umbrage with the “sheer volume of their advertisements”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPO34e3MPfY The latest series of articles and other reporting comes at the same time that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is going through 40 submissions with feedback on the commission’s proposal to restrict the use of athletes and celebrities in advertising. So, that was the topic du jour and the subject of a lengthy discussion featuring Amanda Brewer (Kindred Group), Kris Abbott (Betano), Nic Sulsky (PointsBet Canada), along with Gavin Roth and Mark Silver of Parleh Media Group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If Richard McLaren hasn’t seen it all, he’s come awfully darn close. The long-time Canadian lawyer has emerged as a global leader in the fight against the use of performance-enhancing drugs, match-fixing and other forms of corruption in sport. On the eve of next week’s Symposium on Competition Manipulation and Gambling in Sport in Toronto – which will be co-hosted by McLaren Global Sport Solutions and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport – McLaren spoke with Gaming News Canada from his office at McKenzie Lake Lawyers LLP in London.  McLaren, whose career in sport law started as an arbitrator for the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association in the early 1990s, has been a long-standing member of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, has been involved with five Olympic Games and more recently has been involved in anti-corruption programs for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (which this week banned a chair umpire for manipulating scores for betting purposes), the international basketball federation (FIBA) and the International Boxing Association. We asked McLaren about his journey, and more specifically about his role in unveiling match-fixing activity and educating athletes about gambling in sport.  He also weighs in on the impact of regulated sports betting, more recently in Canada and the U.S., and the responsibility of all stakeholders to protect athletes, coaches, officials and other participants in sport.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For your listening pleasure during your time in the car, truck, boat, yacht, canoe and/or kayak this holiday weekend to tee up the Canadian summer, we present the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. This week’s panel of Kindred Group’s Amanda Brewer, along with Parleh Media Group co-founders Mark Silver and Gavin Roth, covered consolidation, M&A, the impact of partnerships/sponsorships and a couple of other matters around the news this week that PointsBet Canada isn’t included in the acquisition by Fanatics of PointsBet’s U.S. operations. Dr. Michael Naraine from Brock University’s sports management program joined to offer his thoughts on potential changes to the rules around sports betting and gaming advertising from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. And Brewer gave an update on the plans for iGaming Ontario to deliver a centralized self-exclusion program to the province’s licensed operators. Roth, a veteran of the partnership/sponsorship industry, led a conversation about the discussion at a Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting this week around the use of branding by sportsbook operators and potentially ordering them to incorporate age requirements into that branding. Finally, we announced that our newsletter sponsor GBG Plc is presenting a What’s Next for iGaming Regulation in Canada webinar on June 10, including GBG’s Rebekah Jackson, Brewer and Gaming News Canada editor-in-chief holding the moderator’s microphone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In case you didn’t believe the tweets, LinkedIn posts and dispatches from other platforms that the Meadlowlands Exposition Center was buzzing this week at the SBC Summit, we present the proof in live audio form. The latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP was an abbreviated edition of the rapid-fire variety. Over the fortysomething minutes, we had guests moving in and out of chairs in a corner of the SBC Sales Lounge (thanks to Bob McFarland and Sue Schneider for letting us set up shop there) as fast and furiously as the Florida Panthers’ forecheck against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. GeoComply government and public affairs savant John Pappas stopped by to provide his thoughts on the many conversations around igaming and M&A during the Summit’s three days, and also on his company’s acquisition of fellow Vancouver company OneComply to kick start the week.  Brock University sports management professor Dr. Michael Naraine joined us remotely to discuss the need for third-party research on responsible gambling in Ontario. Regular contributor Kris Abbott from Betano Canada also sat with us for a few minutes, as did Tallysight technology guru Masheed Ahadi to answer a few questions about the San Diego company’s latest partnership deals with Sportradar and Homestand Sports.  Avenue H Capital founder and FOGNC Benjie Cherniak shuffled his schedule to join us and provide his insight on the hottest topics of the Summit. And we gave the last word this week to Homestand Sports CEO Mark Silver (simply to guarantee we had a lift to Newark International Airport for the flight home. . . . ). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In yesterday’s edition of the Gaming News Canada newsletter, Canadian Gaming Association head honcho Paul Burns preached patience when it came to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and the province’s sports betting and igaming industry finding a compromise on revising some of the standards around advertising and the use of athletes, other celebrities, cartoon characters and social media influencers.Burns’s call for an approach of the methodical and consultative sorts was followed by the AGCO announcing Thursday that it was extending by a week (to May 15) the deadline for feedback on its proposed changes. The president/CEO of the CGA explains the national body’s role in collaborating with its members and the regulators to evolve in a brave new regulated gambling world in providing a responsible and sustainable industry. Kindred Group’s Amanda Brewer and Kris Abbott from Betano Group also lend their voices to the conversation, echoing Burns’s words that the Ontario market is a unique one that can’t be compared with other jurisdictions. The trio of industry veterans also discuss the role of broadcasters, other media and social media businesses, and government in helping to establish the parameters for a responsible gambling environment.Woodbine Entertainment CEO Jim Lawson talks about his decision to step down later this year. Lawson also provides an update on Woodbine’s efforts to integrate sports betting into its business and working alongside regulated operators in Ontario, and tees up the company’s plans at its Toronto racetrack for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby party. Last but not least, Homestand Sports CEO Mark Silver explains the media company’s latest partnership with sports gaming software business Tallysight, announced Thursday.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we prepare to draw the curtain on April, the final Gaming News Canada Show of the month provided perspective on a plethora of topics, presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.Canadian country managers Amanda Brewer (Kindred Group) and Kris Abbott (Betano/Kaizen Gaming), Nic Sulsky of PointsBet Canada, Parleh Media Group partner Gavin Roth, gave three thumbs-up to Nuvei bringing part-time actor/entrepreneur/emerging sports tycoon Ryan Reynolds on board recently as an investor and ambassador for the Montreal-based payments company.This week’s announcement by esports and sports betting business Rivalry to land igaming operator Pinnacle as a partner in a $10 million financing push, along with NorthStar Gaming’s acquisition of Slapshot Media, kickstarted a conversation on the latest happenings in a dynamic industry which include M&A activity and regulated Ontario operators getting their ducks lined up to take their business into other provinces.Finally, we took the roundtable route on the habits of sports bettors in a month which includes the start of the MLB season along with the opening rounds of the NBA and Stanley Cup playoffs. Abbott and Sulsky provided a few surprises on what’s been most popular among their brands’ customers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.