All eyes are on Alberta as the market gears up for its July 13 launch date. The regulator has been named, the finer details of the regulations have been polished, and industry operators and suppliers are already in the process of registering for a licence.
But in the weeks running up to that all-important go-live date, there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered: Who will go-live from day one? Can Alberta emulate the success seen in Ontario? Is the hype going to pay off?
At SBC Summit Canada last week, if you listened into the conversations taking place across the expo floor, you’d find that the overwhelming majority of people are confident that Alberta is most certainly going to live up to expectations. However, as with any new market launching, there are going to be a number of challenges too.
For Soft2Bet’s VP of Business Development, Harrison Barrett, one of the biggest challenges that face operators entering the newly regulated market is not only ensuring that you deliver a product that appeals to players, but also ensuring that your strategy is truly localized to the Alberta market.
Speaking on a panel entitled ‘Alberta: The new sheriff in town’ last week, Barrett shared that Soft2Bet has already had great success in the Ontario market; entering Alberta gives the provider the opportunity to leverage the lessons learned in Ontario, and ultimately use that experience to deliver stand-out experiences for players.
He said: “When we’re talking with our prospects and partners ahead of the Alberta market launch, we’ve been able to ultimately present a product-first led strategy as the market looks to go live. An example of that with Soft2Bet, is our Motivational Engineering platform that allows players to ultimately put the product first.
“We understand that some of the smaller operators don’t have the budget to go toe to toe with the big guys on things like acquisition or bonus offers. So, for us, it’s really about making sure that the product is the best it can be, and making sure that our partners are as competitive as they can be.
“We look at how we can put the product first, how we can keep those players within our ecosystem and ultimately extend that player lifetime value – that’s particularly important in the first few months of the market going live. It’s important for our partners to ultimately make sure that they’re as competitive as they can be.”
You can be a global company, but you must think local
With more than 31 sportsbooks and casinos registered for a licence from Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) – six of those platforms planning to launch multiple brands – the market is already shaping up to be a busy one.
However, Barrett warned that operators must err on the side of caution when it comes to replicating the strategy that they might have used in Ontario. A new market, he said, requires a totally different approach – in terms of marketing, product, compliance and innovation.
“Alberta is a very different, different province, and it carries different characteristics and different players,” he continued. “Having spent some time in Alberta – Calgary, Edmonton, and a few other places – it’s been so important that we try to demonstrate that we understand the local element.
“We tried to showcase our knowledge of the local market with ToonieBet in Ontario and play on that Canadian association. But now, as we move forward into Alberta, it’s ensuring that we take that layer of localization even further. How do we create a true association that resonates with Albertans? And for our partners, how do we make sure that they can contribute to the local market?”
This emphasis on localization was echoed by fellow panellist Andrew Moreno, Assistant Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs at bet365. Headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK, bet365 has certainly made a name for itself in markets all around the world; and, as of this week, it has outlined its plans to debut its platform in Alberta.
But with over 20 years of experience launching in different jurisdictions, Moreno shared that bet365 takes a “very hyper-localized approach to every single market launch that we have”.
“I think that is the way that you build trust with the players, showing them that you know the market, that you can showcase your products and how it’s adapted to local players. That strategy has been something that we’ve been doing for quite a while,” Moreno said.
“Every single state that we’ve launched in the United States is the same way. We’re very hyper localized, we know that what works for players in Missouri doesn’t necessarily work for players in New Jersey.
“Of course, the only time that a one size fits approach applies is to consumer protection and responsible gaming. Those are principles that never go away; you want to be to the highest standards when it comes to that. At bet365, we ensure that every marketing strategy that we have for every single locality is subject to a very robust review process, responsible gaming and consumer protection process.”
Not all Canadian markets are the same
The comparisons between Ontario and Alberta have, arguably, been inescapable. It’s been a few years now since Ontario launched its regulated framework; during that time, the market has gone from strength to strength – recently hitting a record-breaking month in terms of amount wagered during the month.
But sportsbooks and casinos must ensure that those comparisons don’t creep into replication of strategy. For Ron Segev, Founding Partner of Segev LLP, Alberta should be treated as an entirely different kettle of fish.
“It’s critically important to understand that Edmonton and Calgary are two completely different places. It’s almost like a different country. Western Canada is then completely different to the rest of Canada.”
At the beginning of the session, Segev focused his attention on some of those key differences between the two provinces – particularly how Alberta has learnt from some of the mistakes made during the early days of Ontario launching.
“Alberta didn’t really reinvent the wheel. So many hallmarks of the Alberta approach will be instantly recognizable. Similar to Ontario, Alberta will have a dual entity structure, where we have a regulator and Crown Corporation, which is your commercial partner.
“I think the big difference, with all due respect for the great job that the AGCO did, was that Alberta has the benefit of hindsight and the ability to make some improvements after gauging how effective the Ontario regime was. In my experience, the most effective change for the registration process was to just inject a little bit more foreseeability and transparency with respect to the fee structure, especially for investigations.
“I think Alberta took a good approach. It’s just a $50,000 application fee. Alberta also has a centralized self-exclusion from day one. Ontario recently adopted the BetGuard platform. Alberta requires you to API into their self-exclusion platform before launch. It’s the same for responsible gambling requirements. Ontario gave some runway to adopt that.”
