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Ontario Senator submits new bill aimed at uniting govt & provinces in sports betting ads battle

Senator Marty Deacon is stoking the flames of the sports betting ads argument further with a proposal of her own to curb the amount Canadians are subjected to on a daily basis.

Under the terms of the legislation suggested yesterday through a Senate Public Bill, the government would collaborate closely with the country’s provinces and relevant stakeholders in order to set guidelines and regulate sports betting ads in Canada.

“The reality is you cannot sit down in this country to enjoy a sport without being exposed to a barrage of such advertising,” bemoaned Deacon at a press conference on Tuesday. “These ads, though, are much more than just annoying, and they can lead to addictions and other harms, through gambling problems.”

Speaking at Parliament Hill, Deacon referenced this year’s NHL play-offs which saw one game in particular – the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Florida Panthers – include nearly nine minutes of sports betting ads within its broadcast.

According to the Senator, this situation is “getting out of hand”.

Proposing changes to the current system, she said: “The truth of the matter is, we do have national advertising standards on tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis – so it makes little sense to me that sports betting would be exempt from this.

“I also think it would be in the interest of the industry to have one set of rules to abide by nationally.”

According to Deacon, the legislation would see the government working with provinces and other stakeholders to:

  • “identify measures to regulate the advertising of game sports betting in Canada, such as limiting or banning the participation of celebrity athletes, restricting the use of non-broadcast advertising, or by limiting the number, scope or location of such advertisements;
  • identify measures to promote research and intergovernmental information sharing in relation to the prevention and diagnosis of minors involved in problematic gambling activities and support measures for those who are impacted by it; and
  • set out national standards for the prevention and diagnosis of problematic gambling and addiction and for support measures for those who are impacted by this; and
  • task the CRTC with reviewing its regulations and policies to assess their adequacy and effectiveness in reducing the incidence of harms resulting from the proliferation of advertising and sport event betting.”

Sat next to Deacon at the press conference was Senator Brent Cotter – himself a former law professor – who agreed that the pervasiveness of the ads deters from the sports event itself.

Cotter remarked: “People can make their own choices about how they enjoy sporting events, but it has detracted from the kind of core and culture of what we have generally embraced with respect to sports.”

Deacon, meanwhile, is aware of the difficulties surrounding the movement, but is adamant that any kind of support from the federal government could change the course of history.

She said: “The government can do whatever they like on whatever day they wish with this.

“If the executive of government phoned us up tomorrow and said we have a slightly better bill, I would be as happy as can be.”

AGCO charges Fitzdares Canada & BV Gaming over CHL transgression

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has issued a fine to two operators – Fitzdares Canada and BV Gaming – for alleged breaches of its Standards pertaining to minor league sports.

The current regulations – specifically paragraph 15 of Standard 4.34 – prohibit operators from offering bets on ‘minor league sports’ in Canada, including the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).

But, according to the AGCO, both Fitzdares Canada and BV Gaming have breached the rules by each offering bets on all three CHL leagues – Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League – in the 2022-23 season.

As a result, an ‘Order of Monetary Penalty’ totaling $15,000 has been imposed on each operator.

Dave Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, AGCO, commented: “As the regulator of Ontario’s sports betting industry, the AGCO is resolved to maintain the integrity of sports betting which, in turn, may serve to protect the integrity of sport. This includes a clear prohibition on offering bets in Ontario on minor league sports, including Canadian major junior hockey.

“We will continue to carefully monitor Ontario’s sports betting markets to ensure the public interest is protected.”

The AGCO further noted that both operators hold the right to appeal the Registrar’s action to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), which is an adjudicative tribunal independent of the AGCO and part of Tribunals Ontario.

Fitzdares Canada and BV Gaming are not alone in facing the wrath of the AGCO – LeoVegas Gaming, Bunchberry, and Mobile Incorporated were all issued with fines in April for breaching standards – but breaching rules relating to minor league sports is particularly pertinent given the recent review into advertising standards by the Ontario Crown agency.

As previously reported, the AGCO has been gathering feedback as it looks to potentially place a ban on the use of athletes, entertainers and the like in online gambling ads.

The main purpose of this would be to negate the impact of gambling ads on vulnerable groups including children; industry stakeholders and organizations have always been keen to show a commitment to protecting younger people, and this latest proposal would go a long way to help proving it.

These latest fines meted out to operators – although still alleged at this point – are likely to further fuel the arguments of those that demand increased protection for children and vulnerable groups.

Lance Agostino, Betsson: Ontario full catalogue offers quicker path to profitability

Betsson aims to take the “Amazon approach” when expanding more throughout Ontario after the firm went live in the province in February. 

Speaking to SBC Americas and Canadian Gaming Business Editor Jessica Welman at the Canadian Gaming Summit, Lance Agostino, Director of B2B Sportsbook at Betsson Group, expressed that the “economics are better” in Ontario when compared to the US. 

He stated: “The province can expect a sportsbook that we’ve been building for 15 years. Betsson took what I like to call the Amazon approach. We took this solution that we’ve been building for 15 years, this beautiful sportsbook… we want to take this solution and offer it to potential partners here in Ontario. 

“We’ve seen in Ontario, it has 46 operators. The economics are better, certainly in Ontario compared to states in the US where it’s sportsbooks only because you’re able to offer igaming and Live Casino, so when we look at potential partners here in Ontario they don’t essentially need all the things we look for in US because there’s a path to profitability faster because of the full catalogue.”

Towards the backend of February this year, the online gambling firm inked a partnership with Neccton to provide the latter’s Anti-Money Laundering and Responsible Gambling tools to its Betsafe brand in Ontario. 

That alliance witnessed Betsafe now being supported with Neccton’s ‘mentor’ software, which monitors player behaviour in real time and communicates with both player and operator should negative play patterns emerge. 

This announcement followed closely after Betsafe entered the Canadian province earlier this month after obtaining the necessary licences to operate with both a B2C and B2B offering. 

Expanding more on Betsafe, which is powered by Betsson’s sportsbook, Agostino expressed that, while being live in several markets inside and out of the US, Betsson aimed to create a brand that could “windowshop” in North America. 

“We went out and got access to Colorado and we’re operating our own brand,” expressed Betsson’s Director of Sportsbook. “But within the brand, the Betsson sportsbook, we deliver and offer to other partners as a licensed and regulated sportsbook provider in Colorado and in Ontario since February. 

“We migrated from the unregulated space, like a lot of operators did here in Ontario whereby we were operating on our own platform and our full techstack. We’ve since partitioned Ontario like the regulations require and the Betsson sportsbook has been powering Betsafe here in Ontario since February.”

Delving more into how Betsson’s operations have performed since going live in the Canadian province, Agostino stressed that the firm had already been live for a couple of years but just in the unregulated space so it was more on transitioning players to the regulated vertical. 

He explained: “We already had a built in player database here so it’s about reengaging those players. There were some KYC and administrative things players had to do when they came over to the regulated brand. 

“Sure, we saw a little bit of a dip from what we expected moving the players over from the unregulated to the regulated brand but since then it’s been great.”

Linemate Captures Inaugural CGS First Pitch Title

The phenomenon that is the SBC First Pitch competition made its way to Toronto last week for the first-ever Canadian version of the start-up competition at the Canadian Gaming Summit.

Linemate, We the Bookie, and Flex Fantasy competed for bragging rights and a comprehensive prize package before host Jesse Learmonth and an esteemed panel of judges comprised of:

  • Benjie Cherniak, Principal at Avenue H Capital LLC
  • Mohit Kansal, Managing Director at Clarivest
  • Dani Lipkin, Managing Director of the Global Innovation Sector of TMX Group
  • Emily McIlquham, Investment Analyst at Relay Ventures
  • Scott Secord, Partner at Cardinal Capital Sports

In the end, the judges chose Linemate, a B2C app for entry-level sports bettors.

“What we are really focused on at Linemate is really being the sports betting research brand for [new] users. We believe that with the right motives, it can be deemed as simple enough as just about knowing where to start,” explained Linemate co-founder Calvin Konya in his pitch.

“In the sports betting landscape, there are really two things we know for certain. One, the opportunities calculated are significant. We all know that by 2030 this industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10 points to reach $182 billion. We know that for one and two, we know that operators are deploying significant amounts of capital against media investments to draw in or acquire this new user.”

Linemate currently offers an aggregation of odds, analytics, and data across major sports leagues and sportsbooks. Konya explained that the soon-to-launch Discovery page on the app to maximize appeal with brand-new bettors as opposed to more engaged sports betting customers. He compared it to what Expedia offers for travel.

Linemate focused on time-saving and simplicity

“We’re essentially redefining analytics and we’re doing this through two focal points. One is solving for time,” he explained. This is through aggregation as well as an emphasis on data visualization so bettors can quickly glance at something and draw conclusions as opposed to diving deeply into a set of numbers. The other goal is to make sports betting more simple.

“How do we reduce complexity? For us, while most of the competitive landscape is really focused on analytical depth to beat the book as their motive, we’re really focused on the visual component of our platform, making sure that our UI/UX strategies are in line to be able to engage the user, allow them to consume data in a meaningful way, and allow them to actively use it.”

After an initial period behind a paywall, Linemate is now pursuing a freemium model and also works with a dozen or so affiliates. One of the questions from the judges was how they planned to make money while another inquired about how to expand the rollout.

Konya noted they have organically acquired 36,000 users without deploying capital on marketing costs. He did note that those customers are generally more experienced sports bettors and the brand-new bettors the brand hopes to acquire in the long-term.

What Linemate wins along with First Pitch title

When asked about how the victory felt, Konya said the validation was the most important part.

“We’re definitely proud. We’ve done a lot of work. We’ve been at this for over two years. We feel like we’ve got a bold mission statement and value prop, so it’s refreshing to see that people feel the same as us. They believe in us and they feel like we can accomplish a ton. We appreciate the opportunity and it’s been a good ride.”

For the win, Linemate receives a prize package worth C$35,000. The package includes:

  • An exclusive brand or web design package worth over C$3,700 from Vegas Kings, the leading iGaming design and development agency
  • SBC Media promotional package including six months advertising on SBC Americas (sbcamericas.com) or Canadian Gaming Business (canadiangamingbusiness.com), newsletter advertising, and two featured editorials promoting the business valued at over C$16,000
  • Two drafted press releases at any time during 2023 with any news/product updates that you would like to share with the industry, distributed to all iGaming B2B media and the US via Business Wire (Ensuring coverage on Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, etc.), a video interview produced and shared by GameOn, and two additional thought leadership articles that would be placed within a media partner of SBC (valued at over CA $4,900)
  • A Receptional prize pack valued at C$ 13,000 (The Receptional team will collaborate with the winning company to provide a tailored digital marketing package)

The importance of individualization – Managing player risk through tech

Personalizing technology is the crucial next step in managing player risk and decreasing the levels of problem gambling, according to experts at the Canadian Gaming Summit.

Moderated by Bill Pascrell III, Partner of Princeton Public Affairs Group, the ‘Managing player risk through tech’ panel held a wide-ranging discussion on the collection of data in gambling and how information can be best utilized to protect and empower consumers.

After captivating the audience with a personal, thought-provoking story of his own, Pascrell III invited Paul Foster, CEO of Crucial Compliance, to explain the cutting-edge technology that the industry is using to help with consumer protection.

“The actual cutting edge technology is data – that’s as good as it gets,” said Foster. “What we’ve been able to do over the last few years is collect huge amounts of data, analyse it, and actually create [player] behaviour models. If we then take that and apply the research that everybody else is doing, that creates the technology itself.

“Everybody talks about ‘is it an AI system?’ It doesn’t matter. It’s the quality of the data. That is the difference that we’ve got today. We’ve got so much more data.”

Collection of data, though, is only part of the process.

Foster continued: “What we’re trying to do is look for key markers of harm. These are the points where you change your behaviour. Your behaviour changes for a reason.

“There are lots of reasons why you change behaviour. But what’s critical is having a number of points that you’re tracking on that player’s behaviour. And when it changes, you interact.”

Keeping players entertained is also paramount to the process, opined Mary Donohue, CEO of Digital Wellness Center.

In Donohue’s view, players need to be stimulated and incentivized.

“It’s [about] making responsible gaming fun for the consumer,” she said. “We gamify things with three minute breaks; we don’t interrupt their gambling, we just give them a fun puzzle to do, and they get rewards for doing the puzzle. We already know they have a behaviour of addiction.

“So I think one of the things that we look at doing is collaborating with peer reviewed research and data, and introducing the gamification of wellness proactively for your consumer to mitigate the risk of a bad consumer. And that’s where technology looks into patterns, and what’s going to happen to prevent that pattern? Make it fun for your consumers. What kind of rewards can you give them for good behaviour versus bad behaviour?”

Talk soon turned to personalization, with Pascrell III questioning how AI helps companies to accomplish that goal.

Providing an instant response to that query was Rasmus Kjaergaard, CEO of Mindway AI, which proves scientific-based RG solutions and knowledge by combining neuroscience and AI.

He said: “What we have focused on is to build the solution, to try at its best to to make this behavioural pattern individualised, and that’s quite a job when our biggest customer’s biggest jurisdiction has roughly two million active players a day. That’s the strength of AI.

“We give the algorithm this strong tag and we are then able to do a much more individualized at risk and problem gambling behaviour detection, at quite a high accuracy.

“We have tested and validated our software and found that in 87% of the cases problem gamblers are detected with our algorithm in the same way they would be by psychologists, bearing in mind that human psychologists are not always 100% accurate.”

The issue of affordability checks was later touched upon by Bo Gray, Co-Founder of Wager Score, who explained information has never been as instantaneous as it is now.

He said: “The other thing that we have now, that we never had before, was affordability to have within 48 hours, if you’re getting on Wager Score, I know who you are, I know your house, your discretionary income, I know your spending habits. I know how much you have to spend on gambling.

“I believe affordability is a key component. Chasing is part of gaming, but when you start chasing with money you don’t have to lose is the beginning of the end.

“We’re more statistical, we analyse player behaviour; so you started making five bets a week, nine, now you’re making 15 bets a week. So we’re telling the younger consumers you’re three for 36 in the last 30 days – that’s why you should take a break and look at the analytics, or your bets have increased from $50 to $500 over the last 30 days.

“But we’re showing them and not telling them. So this is a ‘take a break and this is the reason why’. Or click here to take a self assessment. We do hybrid testing through a funnel where we recognise behaviour, they get a ping that says ‘take an assessment’ and then you can schedule a time to talk to a counsellor and seek help.

“I like to call it smarter betting in the consumers hands. We’re more focused on empowering the consumer and putting responsible gambling and making that part of their toolkit and giving them the tools to do it responsibly. But affordability data plays a massive part of what we have now, which I think is the strongest thing that we understand how much money someone has before they start gambling.”

iGO report says gaming brought $1.5B to Ontario last year

The first full day of the Canadian Gaming Summit kicked off with a bang of an announcement from iGaming Ontario. The group released a report compiled by Deloitte on the economic impact the industry has had on the province during the past year and the numbers are eye-popping.

Per the report, the industry’s economic impact amounted to C$1.54 billion, with $900 million of that coming in the form of wages. The jobs created by the industry numbered almost 12,000. Moreover, the report speculates those numbers are all on the rise. Here is a look at the ten-year projections:

“It’s having a real impact on the Canadian and Ontario economies. And we have a broad spectrum of operators but also suppliers that have joined this market,” Canadian Gaming Association CEO Paul Burns said in his opening remarks of a panel that was focused on innovation but inevitably addressed the numbers from the report.

Average Ontario gaming salary exceeds $100K

The report also noted that the average wages for workers in the igaming space amount to C$103,000, which is $30,000 more than the average salary in the province.

The high wages are, in part, tied to the specified nature of the positions, which include several STEM-related fields like product development, fraud services, and other tech-related fields. The provincial government has put emphasis on growing STEM opportunities, particularly with women and indigenous people, and the gaming industry is doing just that.

“One of the things that the Deloitte report talked about in this building upon some of the infrastructure Ontario had. The human capital, being able to leverage partnerships with other high value-add sectors, the tech innovation that’s already going on here, and obviously, being able to create the marketplace in the first place,” Burns observed.

First year generated $700M for Canadian government

That is paying dividends directly back to the Canadian government in addition to contributing to the GDP. The industry generated $761 million in revenue in year one and the report projects that number grows to almost $2.2 billion in ten years.

While some have suggested that 46 operators is too crowded for the market and consolidation is on the horizon, Burns noted in his comments that this report suggests there is room for many to succeed, and that is by design.

“Today’s report reveals that the newly regulated igaming market in Ontario is delivering real benefits to every resident of Ontario, whether they play or not,” said Dave Forestell, Chair of iGaming Ontario. “The igaming industry is a real economic driver in Ontario. Together, we can help realize our goal of leading the world’s best gaming market right here at home.”

“Over the past year, Ontario’s igaming market has been internationally recognized for creating a safe, legal, and competitive landscape while supporting the province’s economy and displacing the existing unregulated market,” added Attorney General Doug Downey. “By driving innovation, creating exciting new opportunities for workers, and providing protection and choice for players, this made-in-Ontario market will remain a global leader in this sector.”

Operators agree Ontario needs a local approach

The operators represented on the panel along with Burns echoed how vital having boots on the ground in Ontario has been for their success and also lauded the province for its talent pool.

“We felt a very strong need to put staff here. We have a Toronto office. We rely on our tech through our ownership via Entain and obviously, with the MGM side of our business,” noted BetMGM Canada CEO Scott Woodgate. “A strong part of that omnichannel perspective already existed in Canada. So, from our perspective, it was a strong need. We do have a staff of AML, customer service, and creative across pretty much every vertical and we’re very thankful for the fact that we did that right away because I think we’d be behind the eight ball if we didn’t.”

Amanda Brewer, who manages Canada for Kindred Group, summed up why operators thought it was in their best interest to set up shop locally and contribute to the economic growth in the province.

“You cannot compare the Ontario experience to anything you see in Europe and you cannot compare it to anything you see south of the border. Ontario is a very unique market. How gaming is conducted and managed, which are two words that don’t exist anywhere else in the world, is very unique to Canada.”

Great Canadian Entertainment to unveil Toronto Resort next week

Great Canadian Entertainment is looking forward to ‘reimagining’ casino gaming in Toronto as it opens the doors of its Vegas-style casino next week. 

The property – Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto – will begin welcoming patrons from 5pm ET on June 20 as the firm aims to ‘revolutionize Toronto’s entertainment landscape’.

Located adjacent to Woodbine Racetrack, the property aims to be a Vegas-style resort and will boast 328,000 of gaming floor space, filled with 4,800 slot machines and 145 table games. 

Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto will also have a 400-room hotel on site, as well as a 5,000-capacity entertainment venue. 

Matthew Anfinson, CEO of Great Entertainment, stated: “We are thrilled to announce that our highly anticipated new casino will open on June 20. With meticulous attention to detail, state-of-the-art amenities, and a commitment to exceptional guest experiences, our landmark entertainment resort is a game-changer in Toronto.”

Before the grand debut of the new casino resort, Casino Woodbine will remain open without interruption to ensure a smooth transition between old and new properties. 

The $1bn resort, the casino operator explained, is expected to generate over $500m in positive economic impact to the Toronto economy. 

As Great Canadian strives to be a responsible operator, the new resort will feature a PlaySmart Centre on the gaming floor, offering patrons responsible gambling tools and information on the risks of problem gambling. 

The latest edition of the Canadian Gaming Magazine saw Gavin Whitely, CMO of Great Canadian, look ahead to the opening of the Great Canadian Casino Resort. 

Noting that the resort would ‘reimagine’ casino gaming, he stated: “Our network of destinations offers a complete entertainment experience – live concerts and entertainment, various dining options, dedicated in-person service, all complementing the gaming or betting experience by itself. 

“There is a social experience to visiting one of our casinos or resorts that is inherently distinctive from an individualized online experience.”

Ontario’s bettors focus searches on licensed sportsbooks

The arrival of regulated online sports betting in Ontario in April 2022 has had a major influence on what players are searching for, with Google data appearing to indicate that the province’s gamblers are now very much focused on finding licensed sportsbooks to bet with. 

In the first part of this feature, Canadian Gaming Business partnered with international iGaming affiliate Leadstar Media to analyze the change in search volumes for specific  sportsbook brands between the 12 months before and after the launch of Ontario’s regulated online gambling market.

In part two, Alex Goldstein of Leadstar’s Mybettingsites.com/ca examines how the debut of legal sports betting impacted the number of searches for head terms – the broad non-branded phrases players use while looking for information about Ontario’s sportsbooks.

This again involved a comparison of Google data from April 2021 – March 2022, with that of the first year of legal sports betting, April 2022 to March 2023. The head terms analyzed included ‘betting sites’ (searches from Ontario), ‘Ontario betting sites’ (searches from Ontario), ‘betting sites’ (searches from all of Canada), and ‘sports betting bonus’ (searches from Ontario).

Looking for licensed sportsbooks … and bonuses

  • Searches for ‘Ontario betting sites’ experienced an increase of 2,261% after regulation
  • All terms spiked in April 2022, the month of the launch, and have since levelled out
  • Despite getting a similar search result on Google, people living in Ontario tend to search specifically for ‘Ontario betting sites’ rather than just ‘betting sites’, indicating that people want to bet with a licensed operator 
  • Despite the restrictions on advertising inducements, there are still plenty of searches for terms around ‘sports betting bonus’

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the publicity around the opening of Canada’s first regulated online sports betting and iGaming market resulted in a spike in interest from the public.

The data shows that the launch of legal sports betting in the province most affected the phrase ‘Ontario Betting Sites’, which experienced a 2261.22% year-on-year rise in search volume. There was also strong growth in people looking for sportsbook offers, with a 235% rise in the number of searches for ‘sports betting bonus’.

The one phrase analyzed that decreased was ‘betting sites’ (from Ontario), which saw an 8.27% fall in search volumes as local players appeared to focus their attention on the province’s licensed sportsbooks. However, Google data showed that the number of searches for ‘betting sites’ from the whole of Canada climbed by 51.79% during the first year of the regulated Ontario market. 

Goldstein said: “The 51.79% increase in the search term ‘betting sites’ in all of Canada shows that the launch of legal sports betting has possibly influenced search in all of Canada along with Ontario. 

“One interesting thing to note is how search behaviour has changed around searches looking for betting sites from Ontario. Search for ‘Ontario betting sites’ experienced the most significant growth in Ontario among the phrases we analyzed, while the phrase ‘betting sites’ (searches from Ontario) was the only phrase to decrease. 

“Another thing to note is that despite the limitation on advertising inducements, Ontario users are still interested in finding information about sports betting bonuses, as searches related to them have also grown significantly.” 

New or old – which brands are Ontario sports bettors searching for?

When Ontario’s regulated online gambling market launched in April 2022, the authorities decided to allow established grey market operators to apply for licenses. It was a move that raised the question of how great an advantage those established sportsbook brands may have over the operators that waited for the regulations to be in place before targeting players in Canada’s most populous province.

To examine the issue more closely, Canadian Gaming Business partnered with international iGaming affiliate Leadstar Media to see what the search data reveals about the competition between the old and new brands.

Alex Goldstein of Leadstar’s Mybettingsites.com/ca compared the search data from April 2021 – March 2022, with that of the first year of legal sports betting (April 2022 to March 2023) to see how player search intent changed.

He focused on brand searches for four operators (Betway, bet365, Sports Interaction, and Bet99) that had been active in Ontario’s grey market and analyzed the difference in search volumes between the 12-month periods before and after regulation. 

To assess whether the established brands or newer brands were getting more searches on Google after the legal framework was implemented, he repeated the process with four operators (FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, and theScore.bet) that were not present in Ontario’s grey market. 

Search volumes decline for former grey market operators

  • Branded searches (location Ontario) decreased after regulation for all four brands
  • International giants bet365 and Betway saw the biggest declines
  • Canadian brands, such as Sports Interaction and Bet99, saw less of a decline

While the data, pulled from Mangools, showed that bet365 was by far the most searched for of the eight brands during the first year of regulated sports betting in Ontario, it also revealed that its search volume dropped by 25.36% from the level of the previous 12 months.

Betway experienced the largest fall, with a 42.19% year-on-year decline that saw its search volume drop below that of Sports Interaction. However, the two established Canadian brands were also less searched for than prior to regulation, as Sports Interaction and bet99 experienced drops of 12.11% and 17.48% respectively.     

Explaining the pattern, Goldstein said: “Betway & Bet365 are two world leaders in iGaming, with significant followings in Canada. Search data also indicates a willingness of Canadians to support local with homegrown brands, as Sports Interaction and Bet99 are also very popular. 

“We feel that these drop-offs are due to the fact that new brands are available, and there is more certainty amongst searches surrounding legality. 

“Players before the launch were more inclined to search for these four brands due to their trusted reputations, while after the launch, the assurance of iGaming Ontario inspires more people to try brands that may have never heard of before the launch.”

New to Ontario and rising fast

  • FanDuel, DraftKings and theScore experienced significant boosts in search volume
  • Caesars sportsbook experienced a drop of 95% after regulation

The sportsbooks that launched in Ontario after the regulated market opened experienced very different trends to the longer-established brands, with one eye-catching exception.  

While the number of brand searches remained well below the level of those for the former grey market operators, there were significant increases in the volumes for ‘DraftKings sportsbook’ (up 147.16% year-on-year), ‘FanDuel sportsbook’ (126.74%), and ‘theScore bet’ (380.37%). However, the number of searches for the phrase ‘Caesars sportsbook’ tumbled by 95% after the launch of the legal market.  

Goldstein said: “FanDuel and DraftKings have both built popular brands in North America through their provision of Daily Fantasy Sports. theScore, a reputable sports media brand, is also a household name in Canada. Search indicates that brands that have built reputation through their provision of other services seem to have increased significantly in search, and are not showing signs of slowing down. 

“Caesars, however, presents somewhat of an anomaly, as searches for the phrase ‘Caesars sportsbook’ showed the biggest drop among the phrases we’ve analyzed. Upon analyzing user reviews on Trustpilot and the app store, we found that Caesars’ product had a turbulent introduction to operations in Ontario, specifically in terms of issues with their app. 

“Another thing to note is that out of the four, Caesars is the only brand that hasn’t had a long history of offering a sports-related service. While being a leader in the gambling industry with their casinos, perhaps Ontario users are more interested in betting with brands that have built a name for themselves in the realm of sports.”

Tiidal completes $13.25m sale of Sportsflare to Entain

Tiidal Gaming has officially completed the sale of New Zealand subsidiary Sportsflare to Entain.

The Toronto-based esports firm has sold 100% of its shares for a fee of $13.25m, and has now been released of all of the esports betting developer’s assets and operating activities.

An agreement was first struck between Tiidal Gaming and Entain in March, just seven months after the former’s Board had decided to focus its efforts and resources exclusively on its Sportsflare technology division and ‘embark on the process of divesting its competitive esports team assets’.

The sale of Sportsflare received shareholder approval in April as more than 99% of the common shares represented at the shareholder meeting voted in favour of the transaction.

The deal was expected to close ‘in or about May 2023’ and has now been completed today, June 9.

Today’s announcement further added that the $13.25m will be retained by Tiidal in a holding account for 180 days, during which the company may access the funds to ‘satisfy any working capital adjustment or claims brought by Entain’, while it can also access up to 20% of the funds to pay ‘reasonable costs related to the transaction’.

In connection with the deal, Tiidal granted 2.5 million restricted share units to its CEO – Tom Hearne – which were immediately all vested into 2.5 million common shares of the company. 1.91 million common shares were also issued to Sportsflare personnel.

Today’s press release further stated: “The sale of Sportsflare constituted the sale of substantially all of the assets and operating activities of the Company. The Board of Directors of the Company will assess the available options to return capital received pursuant to the sale of Sportsflare to its shareholders following the expiry of the Holding Period.”