“Nobody’s gonna look at High Roller and think it’s a bowl of soup. This is clearly an online casino business, and it’s a good one.”
Those are the words of new High Roller Technologies CEO Seth Young ahead of the iCasino operator stepping into Canada this year.
Young and his predecessor as chief executive, Ben Clemes, are certain the company can get a significant foothold in Ontario’s lucrative online casino-heavy online gaming market. The Las Vegas-headquartered operator is awaiting the green light from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and iGaming Ontario (iGO) after applying for a license in May.
The current plan is for the flagship eponymous online casino to hit the ground in Ontario in the final quarter of 2025, once the expected approvals come in, and Young told Canadian Gaming Business that High Roller will be “knocking at the door” to be a day-one entrant in Alberta when that province opens up in 2026.
The confidence is palpable. But in an Ontario pool with more online casinos than likely some observers can count, what will stand out from the crowd?
A box full of tools
Image: Seth Young
Speaking to Young, the former chief strategy officer who took over from Clemes as CEO on Sept. 1, it’s evident that High Roller Technologies leaders believe they have laid the kind of groundwork that pays off.
When it does plant its flag on Ontario soil, the operator will be able to call upon a selection of more than 5,600 games from over 90 game providers. It got out in front of its launch by partnering with several renowned service providers: It will use Playtech’s technology platform, Xpoint’s geolocation capabilities, Kinectify’s AML compliance tools and CheckIn’s ID verification.
The company can also lean on what it believes is a key edge on the marketing side: Spike Up Media, which Young described as arguably the world’s greatest iGaming customer acquisition firm. “They’re effectively doing our marketing with campaigns across all digital channels and amazing proprietary technology,” Young said. “It really is a great advantage. It’s unique, not everybody has that.”
Those are the tools at its disposal but, above all, the operator believes it is bringing one of the very best brand names and positions into the market.
“To have a vehicle like High Roller to take into Ontario is super exciting,” Clemes told CGB. “It is the best brand in the industry and it’s a market that’s been on the radar for us, one we’re really excited to get into. I think we’re coming in at a really good time.”
While the High Roller platform is somewhat positioned as a VIP-facing brand, the aim is to cater to all cohorts of iCasino players.
“Sometimes, gambling doesn’t feel cool anymore.”
“Sometimes, gambling doesn’t feel cool anymore,” Young told CGB. “We’re a publicly traded company, but it’s like, where’s the personality, the cool factor, the entertainment? Ours is a brand that embodies that. We’re not afraid of doing interesting things and we’re definitely not afraid of personality. I think that’ll come across.
“We provide an experience that we ourselves would want as gamblers. Everybody wants to feel like a high roller. It’s an incredible brand and the product matches; it’s slick, it’s fast. We’re coming in with a team that understands gamblers and with really strong underlying technologies that allow us to lean into great VIP programs, rewards, all kinds of relevant things for our consumer. There’s something for everybody.”
Master of some trades, not jack of all
Another thing that is evident from talking to Young is that High Roller Technologies wants to be great in a few markets rather than unimpactful in numerous. The strategy is focused on Canada as well as Finland, where the firm operates the High Roller and Fruta brands and added a third, Kassuuu, in early September.
Young noted the markets it is focused on — Finland, Ontario and then Alberta — share some characteristics, such as high levels of player engagement and high player values, as well as longstanding government gaming monopolies with robust grey markets before commercial operators were welcomed in.
“You have an educated consumer resulting from what was a very light grey operating profile,” acknowledged the new CEO. “So, we don’t have to go in and do education for a player. Will we be perfect on day one? I hope so. Probably not. But our product is sophisticated, and it should resonate with the Canadian consumers’ wants and needs.”
“We provide an experience we ourselves would want as gamblers. Everybody wants to feel like a high roller.”
In Ontario, the flagship High Roller brand will be the sole focus, at least at first. That’s by design, because the company feels it has a winner. But the province hosts several multi-platform operators, from Caesars to Super Group to DraftKings‘ recent launch of Golden Nugget Online Casino north of the border. Could High Roller Technologies company launch Fruta or another brand in Canada down the line, if the eponymous platform does well?
“We have a multi-brand strategy in other places,” Young noted. “Who’s to say we can’t do the same thing in Ontario in the future?” It’s fair to say Young and Co. are considering all kinds of opportunities, be that more skins, ancillary products or even some kind of sports offering.
Putting down roots
Young acknowledged that in Ontario, High Roller is stepping into the sixth-largest regulated iGaming market in the world and the fastest-growing over the first three years of ramp-up of any in North America. A wide range of U.S. giants, European names and made-in-Canada brands jumped into the province with both feet in the early days of regulated iGaming; fast-forward three-and-a-half years, and Ontario hosts 50 commercial operators running 87 sites, the large majority of which offer online casino.
But Young is bullish in his belief that competition should be no deterrent if you have what it takes to compete.
“If we’re really good at acquiring casino customers, if we have a great product and entertainment experience, a great team, we look at a market that is three years old with 50 operators and we say, on some level, it doesn’t matter,” Young insisted. “We’re used to competing.”
“Any market worth going into is going to be competitive.”
Key to sticking the landing, he acknowledged, is knowing where you’re putting your feet. High Roller has installed Toronto-based gaming marketing veteran Carlo Scappaticci as its managing director of Ontario operations and intends to hire more staff in the province. Down the line, the aim is to have a full team that recruits locally and puts back into the province and local communities.
With Ontario in full bloom, High Roller is ready to hit the ground running. Or rolling, perhaps. Stepping into a provincial market that is hitting maturity and showing no signs of breaking its long strides, is it a case of better late than never for the newest operator to hit the shores of Lake Ontario?
“I wouldn’t suggest it’s late to enter a regulated market, especially one in which online games have been around for a while,” Young reflected. “But it’s now a different era. Maybe the prologue has been written, but we’re in chapter one. It’s a big market, it’s growing all the time. Why wouldn’t we want to be here?”
