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AGLC simplifies access to its self-exclusion program

Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis (AGLC) is improving access to its self-exclusion program, making it easier for gamblers to exercise greater control over their habits and gain greater access to responsible gambling tools.

As of January 10, 2021, bettors who wish to enroll or renew their agreements within AGLC’s self-exclusion program can do so through a virtual process instead of the previous requirement of going through an in-venue gaming facility or AGLC office.

“AGLC is pleased to be one of the few jurisdictions in North America to now be offering virtual sign-ups for our self-exclusion program,” said Kandice Machado, President & Chief Executive Officer, AGLC.

Machado, who was appointed as the organization’s permanent President in September, added that “allowing players to sign-up online creates greater access to AGLC’s social responsibility tools and resources while supporting patrons that wish to control their gambling should they need to stay away from physical venues.”

An AGLC release notes the corporation’s self-exclusion program can be an important first step in helping people to gain control of their gambling behaviours. Players can exclude themselves from casinos, racing entertainment centres, and PlayAlberta.ca for a period of between six months and three years.

PlayAlberta.ca offers various sports betting options, including single-event wagers since September 2021, utilizing NeoPollard Interactive (NPi) and its NeoSphere iLottery Technology. The platform features AGLC’s GameSense Responsible Gambling Program prominently.

To complete the virtual sign-up process, patrons will need to have a valid, government-issued identification, email address, and phone number. The process will continue through virtual meetings with AGLC’s self-exclusion administration team members.

Scientific Games earns WLA responsible gaming honour

Scientific Games has been awarded the World Lottery Association’s Responsible Gaming Framework Certificate, which recognizes the company for its continued improvement in responsible gaming practices across its global lottery operations for retail and digital products and services.

“In the global lottery industry, Scientific Games has truly established its leadership role in responsible gaming,” said World Lottery Association Senior Corporate Social Responsibility Manager Melissa Azam in a statement. “The company’s Healthy Play program, which provides lotteries with real tools to support their own responsible gaming programs, demonstrates Scientific Games integration of the WLA Responsible Gaming Principles throughout the organization, and its investment in the future of the lottery industry.”

The audit was conducted by Corporate Citizenship, an independent, international panel with expertise in corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices.

Following the renewed certification, Scientific Games is now recognized as a responsible gaming company until at least 2024, when another audit will be conducted.

In 2020, the company launched its Healthy Play program, a responsible gaming initiative promoting healthy enjoyment of games through player education. The initiative created lottery employee responsible gaming training, customized in content and multiple languages, to ensure awareness and understanding of healthy, responsible lottery play. Alongside the program, it provided a guide, and it plans to launch a Healthy Play website in 2022 that will be customizable for individual lotteries and accessible by lottery stakeholders through a QR code.

“Scientific Games is honoured to receive WLA’s Responsible Gaming Certification, which recognizes our ongoing commitment to Healthy Play across our global lottery organization,” said Scientific Games Lottery Vice President of Responsible Gaming Carla Schaefer in a statement. “We want to give our lottery customers tools and best practices to help them market their products in healthy and responsible ways. Our Healthy Play program helps lotteries educate their players, establish trust and increase lottery literacy.”

In October 2021, the company announced it is selling its global lottery business to Canadian investment company Brookfield for US$6.05 billion, in a move it says will help it cut debt and pivot to a gaming and digital content provider.

Nova Scotia still weighing up sports betting

Five months on from the enacting of Bill C-218 to legalize single-event sports betting across Canada, Nova Scotia is still assessing how best to roll out that new market.

When the announcement was made on August 27, 2021, Atlantic Lottery Corporation declared it would be offering singles bets in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. But not in Nova Scotia.

That province is one of the shareholders in the Atlantic Lottery but was not included in the jurisdictions that the company said would offer single-game wagering under its ProLine brand. By late January 2022, that has not changed, and Nova Scotia is currently the only of Canada’s 10 provinces without a legal channel for single-event sports betting.

That is causing issues, not least the fact that the province’s residents are looking elsewhere — to the grey market and offshore sites — to place the kind of bets that gamblers all across Canada can place legally with their jurisdictions.

The province continues to weigh up how best to resolve the matter. Provincial government spokesperson Gary Andrea recently told Covers that discussions are ongoing to help determine what approach Nova Scotia will be taking. A further complication has come from the fact that a new Progressive Conservative government was elected in Nova Scotia just weeks before Bill C-218 was enacted.

The sum total of all of this is that while Ontario and other provinces have plans in motion for opening up their existing lottery-run sports betting markets and the single-event betting opportunities within to private operators, Nova Scotians have no legal avenue whatsoever.

Great Canadian-aligned report warns Ontario over online gambling

A new report prepared for and sponsored by Great Canadian Gaming Corporation has warned that Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue as a result of its bet on opening up online gambling.

According to CBC News, the report from industry consulting firm HLT Advisory Inc. warns that a big shift in spending from land-based casinos to internet gaming could have a significant financial effect on the provincial government.

It recommends that officials rethink their approach and suggests that allowing numerous iGaming applicants to receive licenses could result in a robust online gaming market at the expense of land-based properties.

“If an open-license iGaming model is implemented … iGaming would capture a significant share of the total casino market,” the report states.

The report urges that several measures be taken, including:

  • No change to existing land-based tax rates and market structure.
  • A 24-month exclusivity period for land-based operators to offer iGaming, which it says would allow for the growth of legal iGaming jobs through an omnichannel experience without cannibalization.
  • Controlling the number of online sports betting licensees after that initial exclusivity to provide market structure.
  • Offering retail single-event sports wagering exclusively through land-based casinos, which the report says would allow land-based operators to supervise the activity to prevent minors from betting and address concerns related to problem gambling and money laundering.
  • Taxing iGaming revenue at a comparable rate to land-based gaming revenue.
  • Requiring operators to delete existing databases that were not legally gathered before launching legal operations.
  • Preventing digital-only players, with low-cost structures and few employees, from operating with a physical presence and market or brand buildings or lounges.
  • Tailoring advertising and data rules to ensure players can enjoy a coordinated online and in-person experience.
  • Allowing land-based casinos to integrate their customer experience by offering omnichannel services and convenience including single signup, shared loyalty, shared wallet, live gaming, and progressive experiences combining land-based and digital in order to provide best-in-class entertainment, unique experiences and socially responsible service.

Ontario is expected to impose a lower tax rate on online gambling sites than on casinos. Land-based casinos must currently pay 55 per cent of net gambling proceeds to the province; the report bases its findings on the assumption that regulated online gambling will be subject to a 20 per cent tax rate.

The report concludes that the province could lose out on $550 million in annual revenue, amounting to $2.8 billion over the next five years.

That five-year figure is higher than the pre-pandemic annual provincial revenues from lottery and gambling, which totalled up to $2.5 billion. It adds the government’s proposed “open licence” model for iGaming will result in online sites more than tripling their share of Ontario’s overall gambling market, estimated at around $7 billion a year. Ontario municipalities that host casinos would also lose out on $35 to $40 million in annual revenue, according to the report.

Industry figures estimate that Ontarians spend some $500 million a year on internet gambling, nearly all on grey-market or outside-province companies. The provincial government puts the figure at $1 billion.

Natasha Krstajic, press secretary and parliamentary advisor for Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey, told Covers that Ontario’s new iGaming market “will complement existing land-based gaming activity by providing a new opportunity for Ontario’s land-based operators to expand into iGaming to diversify revenue sources and cross-promote between online and land-based sites.” She added that the government, the AGCO, and iGaming Ontario are working with prospective operators to ensure Ontario is ready for the market launch.

Companies question the conclusions

Major industry players queried the key assumptions underpinning the report, not least that existing casino customers will spend much less money in casinos and more on iGaming websites.

“When the regulated market opens in Ontario, nothing is going to change in respect to players’ entertainment habits,” Jeffrey Haas, SVP of DraftKings Inc., told CBC. “People who are playing in online casinos and online sportsbooks and online poker rooms will continue to do so, except they’re going to go from playing offshore to onshore. And anybody who continues to walk into real casinos in order to play games there will continue to do so.”

Tony Rodio, CEO of Great Canadian Gaming, which is the largest operator of land-based casinos in Ontario, told CBC that the report “includes critical learnings from other jurisdictions that introduced iGaming and cannibalized land-based operators in the process. In the U.S., states that have rolled out a legalized iGaming framework have not yet seen casino revenues recover to pre-COVID levels. While we support iGaming in principle, the Ontario government needs to take the time to get this right.”

However, Paul Burns, President and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, added that drawing such comparisons may not provide an accurate picture of what will happen when Ontario starts regulating online gaming.

“Online gaming is [in Ontario], it’s just not regulated, it’s not controlled,” Burns told CBC. “It’s not put to the same regulatory standards the casinos are held to… [Casino operators] are anxious to be able to participate and compete and create an opportunity for their own customers who may be gambling on other people’s sites, to try and bring them back into their business.”

AGEM announces 13 new members

The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) has announced that its Board of Directors has approved the membership applications of 13 new companies.

AGEM recently announced a slate of new officers elected to its Board under the leadership of President David Lucchese, Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Digital at Everi.

Now, the trade group, which is comprised of the world’s leading gaming suppliers, has welcomed 13 new members to bring its membership to a total of 172 members across 22 countries.

The new AGEM members are:

  • Acres, based in Las Vegas, is a systems provider to casinos, specializing in connecting real-time machine and player data to advanced analytics and bonusing.
  • BDO USA, based in Chicago with a large presence in Las Vegas, delivers assurance, tax, and financial advisory services to clients throughout the country and around the globe.
  • Fantalooks, based in Incheon, South Korea, is a display solutions provider for use in slot machines and other casino, sports betting and amusement applications.
  • Fireplay Games, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is focused on innovation in the gaming industry, including implementing skill features for Class III games.
  • Global Payments Gaming Solutions, based in Las Vegas as a division of Atlanta-based Global Payments, provides industry-leading commerce solutions and enables gaming companies to create superior consumer experiences across all physical and digital properties.
  • High 5 Games, based in Mahwah, N.J., is one of the largest independent casino games providers, developing content for the land-based, mobile, online, and social markets.
  • Lewis Roca, based in Phoenix with offices in Las Vegas, Reno and throughout the West, is a full-service law firm with a significant gaming practice focused on land-based, online, and tribal clients.
  • LOTREC Games, based in Orange, France, features a new copyrighted series of Class III casino table games aimed to boost the overall casino table games industry.
  • MicroTouch TES, based in Holland, Michigan, is a global provider of touch display modules and all-in-one multi-touch computer systems.
  • Passport Technology, based in Glendale, California, is a leading developer of technology-based solutions and services for the highly regulated payments, gaming, and financial services markets.
  • Play’n GO, based in Malta, is a leading software development company to operators in the gambling industry with more than 500 employees at hubs in the UK, Malta, Sweden, Hungary and the Philippines.
  • SuperBook Sports, based in Las Vegas with operations in multiple states, is a leader in the in-person and mobile app sports betting markets.
  • Theatro, based in Richardson, Texas, features a solution that enables employees in gaming, hospitality and retail to enhance customer service through the power of voice.

AGEM is a non-profit international technology trade association representing manufacturers and suppliers of electronic gaming devices, lotteries, systems, iGaming, game content, table games, sports betting, key components and support products and services for the gaming industry. The association works to further the interests of gaming equipment suppliers throughout the world and to create benefits for every company within the organization. 

Century Casinos sells Calgary casino land

After selling the casino operations of Century Casino Calgary for $10 million in December 2020, Century Casinos has ended its association with the location by selling the land that houses the casino facility.

Prior to the sale of the casino, Century Casinos Calgary had accounted for seven per cent of the North American gaming group’s total net operating revenue in 2020 and 10 per cent of adjusted earnings.

Now, the company’s Century Resorts Alberta (CRA) subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the land and building it owns in the Canadian city to real estate business Rowanwood Financial Properties for $8.1 million.

The buyer has paid $700,000 related to the sale, with the remaining $7.4m to be paid upon closing, subject to adjustments for property taxes and other revenues and expenses relating to the property. The transaction, expected to close within 30 days, comes 12 years after Century paid $10.5 million for what was previously the Silver Dollar Casino.

Since then, CRA had continued to operate Century Sports, a sports bar, bowling, and entertainment facility located on a portion of the property. Upon closing, CRA will stop operating that facility.

Elsewhere in Alberta, Century Casinos will retain ownership of Century Casino Edmonton, Century Casino St. Albert, and the Century Mile Racetrack and Casino (“CMR”) in Edmonton. It also holds a 75 per cent ownership interest in Century Downs Racetrack and Casino in Calgary.

OpenBet appoints AGA, DAZN execs to help lead sports betting

OpenBet, the industry leader and sports betting business of Scientific Games, has appointed two highly-experienced executives to its senior management team with a view to strengthening the quality of its worldwide offerings.

Florian Diederichsen joins OpenBet from media company DAZN as Chief Technology Officer, wherein he will be tasked with evolving OpenBet’s sports product offering and accelerating the next generation of sports betting via technology. Meanwhile, Jessica Feil joins from the American Gaming Association (AGA) to become OpenBet’s VP of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance. That appointment comes as the company prepares for exponential North American and international expansion in 2022. Feil is the former Vice President of Government Relations & Gaming Policy Counsel at the AGA.

OpenBet, which Scientific Games agreed to sell to Endeavor Group Holdings for US$1.2 billion in cash and stock in September 2021, already boasts a commanding position across the sports betting market and processes the largest share of digital sports bets within Canada, as well as in the U.S., Australia, and the UK.

A Scientific Games release notes that these two senior appointments form part of OpenBet’s “ongoing strategy of investing in people to create value for its customers” and that the company is “doubling down on operational excellence to create competitive advantage and mastermind thrilling betting experiences for billions of fans that will drive the next wave of industry innovation.”

Jordan Levin, CEO of OpenBet, said: “Bringing Florian and Jessica to the OpenBet team changes the game and is testament to the vision we have here at OpenBet. The appointment of two highly-skilled and respected individuals demonstrates the ambition we have to deliver the next generation of sports betting entertainment to operators and bettors worldwide. As we drive for hyper-differentiation, and with legislation moving at a pace, we can entrust both Florian and Jessica to help take OpenBet forward in their respective fields that will add significant value for our global customer base.”

Gateway remains committed to Sudbury casino

Gateway Casinos and Entertainment remains committed to the Kingsway Entertainment District project in Sudbury despite recent issues, says a city manager.

In late November 2021, site grading at the long-planned project, which includes a $60-million casino to be operated by Gateway and had been approved by Sudbury City Council in September, was delayed at the request of Gateway shortly before it was scheduled to start on November 29.

RELATED: Gateway appoints Queenie Wong as new CFO

According to CBC News, the obstacles to progress include a legal challenge from Minnow Lake Restoration Group and an ongoing OPP investigation into reports of council bribery.

On January 11, Ian Wood, the executive director of strategic initiatives, told Sudbury council that the city remains “fully engaged with Gateway on a weekly basis” and is working to resolve the issues. That meeting saw city staff present a report outlining the risks associated with the $100 million arena project and how to avoid them.

City staff say the partners, which also includes landowner Dario Zulich and hotel operator Genesis Hospitality, have pledged to come to an agreement over the next three to four months that would include a construction schedule and help them coordinate completion dates. The report said it would cost $700,000 to move ahead with a request for proposals for designing and building a new 5,800 seat arena.

If all goes to plan with no further delays, construction could begin properly by the end of the year and the new arena could be completed by 2025.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries aiming for online growth

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL) CEO Manny Atwal has suggested that the corporation intends to gamble on growing its online gambling presence in the province in the coming months.

Atwal presented MBLL’s 2020-21 fiscal report at a standing committee hearing on January 11, during which he noted that the corporation has seen casino profits rising upon the previous year as those land-based venues were open for much of 2021. While Ontario and Quebec have ordered all casinos closed amid the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Manitoba’s casinos are still open, albeit at operating at 50 per cent capacity and requiring proof of vaccination for entry.

MBLL’s net income is expected to hit $570 million for the fiscal year ending this March, Atwal estimated. That’s up from $425 million in 2020-21 but still down from the pre-pandemic total of $606 million the previous year.

Looking ahead, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries intends to further its growth by expanding its online gaming operations. Atwal suggested the corporation expects revenues of $50 million to $60 million this fiscal year through its online gaming platform PlayNow.com alone. MBLL estimates the overall value of the provincial gaming market to be $75 million to $150 million in annual revenue, according to CBC.

While PlayNow is currently Manitoba’s only legal gaming site, there is likely to be continued competition from grey market sites. Atwal stressed that PlayNow could take a larger share of that market with stronger brand awareness. “That’s our challenge — we need to get Manitobans to know more about it.”

AGEM elects IGT, SciGames, Aristocrat execs as officers

The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) has announced a slate of new officers elected to its Board of Directors under the leadership of President David Lucchese, Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Digital at Everi.

Among the industry executives who had one-year terms as board officers approved were Luke Orchard, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance & Risk Management Officer at International Game Technology (IGT), who was elected as an AGEM Vice President.

Orchard was joined as an AGEM VP by Bob Parente, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of Gaming at Scientific Games; Ryan Comstock, Chief Operating Officer at Ainsworth Game Technology; and Incredible Technologies’ President and CEO Elaine Hodgson.

Meanwhile, Aristocrat Gaming’s President of Americas & EMEA, Hector Fernandez, was elected as AGEM Treasurer and Thomas Jingoli, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Konami Gaming, was named as the new AGEM Secretary.

The position of Lucchese, who was appointed as AGEM President in January 2021, was not up for election as he transitions into the second year of his two-year term.

Meanwhile, in March 2022, Ainsworth’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel & Group Compliance Officer Daron Dorsey will begin work as AGEM’s new Executive Director, effective March 1, 2022, replacing Marcus Prater.

AGEM is a non-profit international technology trade association representing manufacturers and suppliers of electronic gaming devices, lotteries, systems, iGaming, game content, table games, sports betting, and support products and services for the gaming industry. Its current membership roster consists of 172 companies across in 22 countries.