Online casino brand Betty has expanded its Toronto sports partnerships through new deals with Major League Soccer team Toronto FC and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts.
Betty signed a landmark deal with those teams’ ownership group, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), last year which made the slots-focused operator an official online casino partner of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. Now, it has expanded its collaboration with MLSE to include TFC and the Argos.
Betty said in a news release on Tuesday that the new partnerships will give Betty a major presence both in-venue at the teams’ BMO Field home and through digital media channels, including in-game interactive fan experiences and in-stadium activations on the Toronto stadium concourses.
The Toronto FC partnership launches this Saturday, Feb. 21, with the start of the MLS season, while the Argos partnership begins May 23 with a pre-season game in Hamilton, Ont.
Leafs and Raptors deals leveled up Betty’s presence
Betty Canada has added the new strands to its MLSE deal as it looks to capitalize on a year of surging growth in its Ontario gaming operations, and as it looks to enter Alberta when that province launches regulated iGaming later this year.
For now, Ontario is the slots-focused online casino operator’s only active market in Canada. Betty reported growth of around 200% in both revenue (up to around $38 million CAD) and active players (up to 134,000) in that province in 2025.
Betty Group CEO Justin Park said in an update last October that the company had “a breakthrough on brand” in the latter half of 2025, an increase in visibility and recognition that was likely boosted by the deal with the Leafs and the Raptors.
Speaking to Canadian Gaming Business at the time the MLSE deal was initially announced in June 2025, Betty Canada CEO Chavdar Dimitrov said the sponsorship was “a big step forward” for Betty.
“Putting our name next to Scotiabank Arena is a big achievement,” Dimitrov said at the time. “And with all the other names in the industry that are out there, it adds credibility to the brand. The MLSE opportunity came about at the right time. We ended last year strongly and decided we could afford it.”
Build it and the sponsorships will come
Canadian Gaming Business spoke to Dimitrov for another interview earlier this month, when the company confirmed its application to enter Alberta.
“We managed to improve our position very rapidly and significantly, moving from 15% brand awareness in March to 40%-plus in December,” Dimitrov said. “That was based on a number of initiatives we started, including out-of-home digital advertising from Q2 and the partnership with MLSE, which actually kicked in properly in Q4 of the season.”
Betty also gained visibility last year as a sponsor of the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) and the Ottawa BluesFest music festival. “We spent quite a few marketing dollars on the brand itself, and the results were pretty decent,” Dimitrov added.
Betty to launch new iGaming vertical in Ontario
While Betty Canada steps up its marketing game, its current gaming operational focus is on slots-style casino games. But expansion is coming on that front, too. Dimitrov told Canadian Gaming Business that the company will add a new vertical in the coming months.
“It’s a new vertical that is going to put us in a different space, and we’re pretty excited about it,” he added. “We worked hard on that for the last 12-18 months.”
Dimitrov also confirmed what he first hinted to Canadian Gaming Business last year: Betty Canada is now “actively exploring” the retail gaming market.
“It’s somewhat limited in terms of what’s available out there and licenses, but we’re working on how we can penetrate that space as well,” he added. “We’re definitely interested in diversifying our portfolio with an omnichannel solution. We think there is room for innovation there as well, that we can bring our know-how from the online business into retail.”
Will Betty pursue Alberta sports sponsorships?
While Betty does not offer sports betting, it is one of a few brands in Ontario’s market that have shown the value of partnerships with sports teams even when your product focuses on casino.
After the initial success and now the expansion of the MLSE deal, could the operator follow the same playbook in Alberta?
“We’ll be doing a lot of localization,” Dimitrov added. “We don’t want to run the same promotions and everything. I’m sure there will be some cultural differences. But there’s a lot of travel between Alberta and Ontario. Our research shows that between 20% and 30% of people visit the other province. What we would like to deliver to our customers is a seamless experience.
“Betty was created for Ontario, but a lot of our conversations internally are about what comes next. In Alberta, we want the local support, the local marketing teams. Local partnerships are something we’ll look into. We have our playbook for market entry. Partnerships might not come in the first 12 months, but as we gain more traction, it’s definitely something to explore.”
