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Playtech to power NorthStar Gaming’s launch

Leading gambling technology company Playtech will power Canadian media and gaming brand NorthStar Gaming’s launch in the Canadian market.

The agreement will see Playtech fuel NorthStar’s upcoming iGaming launch in Ontario through its IMS platform to deliver what NorthStar says in a press release will be “one of Canada’s premier online casino and sports betting experiences”.

NorthStar, which aims to provide customers with an innovative, transparent, and secure online casino experience, will launch Playtech’s IMS Platform, Casino, Live Casino, Poker, and Bingo software to Canadian audiences. Playtech’s IMS platform, a comprehensive online back-end solution for iGaming and sports betting, will provide NorthStar Gaming with an industry-leading offering across multiple products, says the release.

The partnership is subject to the completion of regulatory approvals and the licensing process.

“NorthStar Gaming is thrilled to be the exclusive Canadian partner in the media and publishing sector with Playtech, the world’s leading gambling technology supplier,” said Michael Moskowitz, Chief Executive Officer and a founding partner, NorthStar Gaming. “Playtech’s exceptional suite of tools will give us an unmatched edge in the marketplace, given our proprietary content and localization – something we know consumers are looking for.”

Playtech, which recently joined the Canadian Gaming Association, provides top-tier products and services and works with its licensees to raise industry standards in responsible business and safer gambling.

Mor Weizer, Chief Executive Officer at Playtech, added: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with NorthStar Gaming as it prepares to launch its market-leading online gaming business in Canada. Our success is driven by strategic partnerships with industry-leading operators around the world, and we are excited to partner with a leading entertainment company like NorthStar Gaming. At Playtech, we are driven to deliver a sustainable, commercially viable and engaging entertainment experience – for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

NorthStar has partnered with reputable and established media players in recent times with an aim of establishing a prominent position in Canada and Ontario’s newly regulated industry. The company believes its Canadian-owned gaming business will help to lead the industry.

Moskowitz, the former Chairman and CEO of Panasonic North America, was named as NorthStar’s CEO in October 2021 as the company geared up to launch. By that point, the company had already agreed to a landmark omnichannel advertising and marketing services arrangement with Torstar Corporation.

Woodbine takes North America’s largest 2021 handle

Woodbine Entertainment has announced that the 2021 Standardbred racing season at its Woodbine Mohawk Park in Milton, Ont. produced an all-sources handle of over $324 million, the highest total taken by any Standardbred track in North America last year.

That new record mark was set despite a second consecutive year of business at the track being heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, only 157 cards of an originally scheduled 223 contested were held, a total that was 21 fewer than the 178 completed in 2020.

Despite a pair of government-enforced stoppages, Woodbine Mohawk Park recorded an average nightly handle of over $2 million for a second consecutive season, with a $40,749.86 increase from 2020. $235,451,948.26 (73 per cent) of the $324 million total handle was from foreign wagering, with home market wagering at $62,568,269.10.

The track’s principal competitor, New Jersey’s Meadowlands Racetrack, had a much higher average handle of over $3 million per card in 2021, but had lower total wagering on the year due to the fact it held races on 65 fewer dates.

“To see wagering remain steady and increase throughout these uncertain times has been a great reflection of the strength of the Woodbine brand and our Standardbred racing product,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of Woodbine Entertainment. “As a year-round racing product, we focus on consistency and see many encouraging signs to continue our success and growth in 2022.”

The 2022 Standardbred racing season at Woodbine Mohawk Park launched on January 1 and, if all goes to plan, will feature 223 race dates.

PointsBet named NHLAA’s exclusive betting partner in Canada

PointsBet Canada has announced a multi-year deal that will see it become the NHL Alumni Association’s (NHLAA) exclusive sports betting partner in Canada, as well as its official partner in the United States.

The partnership will give PointsBet Canada the marketing and licensing rights to the NHLAA and iconic NHL Alumni across North America.

Nic Sulsky, Chief Commercial Officer of PointsBet Canada, said: “The NHL Alumni Association has always been at the top of our list as PointsBet entered Canada. Saturday night hockey is an institution from coast to coast to coast. Being able to partner with the likes of Paul Coffey, Nicklas Lidstrom, Mike Vernon, and the countless other NHL Alumni that skated across our screens will allow us to deliver the authentically Canadian gaming experience that we want to bring sports fans.”

Glenn Healy, President and Executive Director of the NHLAA, added: “What made the partnership with PointsBet Canada so attractive was their appreciation of what makes our Alumni unique. From the very beginning, PointsBet Canada understood our mission at the NHLAA, which is to ‘Honour the Past’ and provide hope and help for all NHL Alumni and their families… It was clear in all of our conversations that PointsBet would play within the rules as a responsible gaming operator, and they were willing to partner with our players to deliver this important message to Canadians.”

The latest partnership continues PointsBet’s rapid expansion into Canada amid the launch of single-event sports betting in the country in August 2021.

Last summer, the company appointed Scott Vanderwel as Chief Executive Officer in Canada as just one of a slate of senior hires. In September 2021, PointsBet Canada was announced as the official sports betting provider of ice hockey sites Dailyfaceoff.com and the Nation Network, and the following month it became Curling Canada’s exclusive sports betting partner.

AGEM Index creeps up to round out 2021

The AGEM Index ended 2021 with an improvement of 11.39 points to 971.59 in December, marking a 1.2 per cent increase on November.

Compared to this time one year ago, the index increased by 284.47 points for an annual growth rate of 41.4 per cent.

In November, the Index had suffered its first decline since July 2021.

In the latest period, seven of the AGEM Index companies reported stock price increases. This ultimately led to eight companies posting positive contributions and four companies recording negative contributions to the overall index.

The top contributor to the monthly index was International Game Technology (IGT), whose seven per cent increase in stock price led to a 7.98-point gain for the index. Scientific Games was also a significant contributor to the overall growth in the index, adding 5.65 points as a result of its 4.6 per cent rise in stock price.

The largest negative contributor to the index was Konami, whose five per cent drop in stock price led to an 8.48-point decrease in the Index.

All three major U.S. stock indices increased over the month, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 experiencing increases of 5.4 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ experienced a 0.8 per cent increase.

The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) produces the monthly AGEM Index that comprises 12 global gaming suppliers throughout the world.

Gateway appoints Queenie Wong as new CFO

Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited has announced the appointment of Queenie Wong as Chief Financial Officer, effective January 1, 2022.

Wong has been with Gateway since 2011, previously serving in key finance roles such as Chief Accounting Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. A release notes that over the past 10 years, she has been integral to facilitating the major growth of Gateway and instrumental in several strategic growth transactions including the acquisition of Playtime Gaming, which added six properties to the company’s portfolio, the successful expansion into Ontario that now includes 12 properties, and the completion of company’s refinancing in October 2021.

Prior to joining Gateway, she worked in the Audit and Assurance Group at the multinational accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“Queenie’s leadership has been instrumental in facilitating Gateway’s growth across the company’s portfolio of properties and new developments, as well as being a strategic leader throughout the COVID recovery period,” said Tony Santo, CEO of Gateway.

Part of Wong’s immediate brief will be to help the company mitigate the effects of the current casino closures in Ontario and Quebec.

Gateway operates 26 gaming properties in British Columbia and Ontario and two additional properties in Edmonton, Alta. As of July 14, 2021, it had approximately 6,500 employees in British Columbia and Ontario.

JCM, Caesars sign exclusive master supply deal

JCM Global has announced that it has signed a master supply agreement with Caesars Entertainment that will see it provide its award-winning bill validation and thermal printing technology to more than 50 Caesars Entertainment destinations in Canada and the U.S.

Previously, JCM had executed master supplier agreements with Eldorado Resorts, Inc. and Caesars Entertainment Corporation separately before those two companies merged in 2020.

“JCM has enjoyed an enduring business relationship with Eldorado and Caesars, and we are thrilled to continue and expand our relationship with them under the new Caesars Entertainment, Inc. brand,” said JCM SVP of Sales, Marketing & Operations Dave Kubajak. “JCM’s superior peripheral technologies and system solutions are field-proven to enhance the guest experience, increase security, and boost operational efficiencies. We are very honoured to provide our premium technology solutions to Caesars Entertainment.”

The partnership will affect Caesars’ more than 50 casinos in the U.S., as well as its locations in Canada which include the prominent Ontario border location of Caesars Windsor.

“JCM has been a valued partner of both Caesars Entertainment and Eldorado Resorts for many years,” said Josh Jones, Chief Marketing Officer of Caesars Entertainment. “Now, as a combined group, we are very pleased to continue our strategic relationship with JCM and to enhance our ability to provide our guests with the world-class experiences they expect from Caesars Entertainment.”

JCM’s advanced iVIZION bill validator, GEN5 Thermal Printer, and ICB systems solutions operate through its  FUZION system, which brings new opportunities for revenue, heightened security, increased productivity, and marketing and promotions to the casino floor.

Casinos closed in Ontario, Quebec amid Omicron surge

The last weeks of 2021 and the first days of 2022 are proving to be somewhat of an unwelcome throwback to 2020-21 for Canadian gaming, with casinos closed in Canada’s two most populous provinces.*

On January 3, 2021, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that as of January 5, the province is returning to a modified version of Stage Two of its pandemic response plan. That includes the closure of casinos, bingo halls, and other gaming establishments across the province.

The move will see casinos closed for a minimum of 21 days, until January 26.

In addition, horse racing tracks will see indoor areas shuttered. Outdoor spaces can remain open with restrictions, including mandatory reservations and capacities limited to 50 per cent.

Not only does this close off avenues of land-based gaming for consumers and players, it will have a significant effect on casino operators, staff, and the surrounding communities.

It’s the latest in a long line of closures for Ontario’s casinos, which had shut down in March 2020 during the early pandemic panic, before slowly reopening that summer, then being shut again in the winter of 2020-21. Ontario gaming centres had only finally been able to enjoy unrestricted operation for the first time in over a year in late October. Now, they are completely shut again for the near future.

Casino Rama is just one of the many gaming centres that will have to close its doors. Orillia Matters reports that hundreds of employees will be temporarily out of work later this week.

Robert Mitchell, a spokesperson for the casino’s operator Gateway Casinos & Entertainment, said that he was not able to provide exact details about the number of employees impacted at Casino Rama. He stressed that the company will “remain optimistic” that the measure will indeed be lifted in 21 days.

It remains to be seen how Ontario’s latest closures will affect pipeline projects such as Gateway’s Cascades Casino project in North Bay. A recent update had suggested that the casino, initially slated to open in 2020 before the pandemic struck in March 2020, was on track to open in early 2022.

Ontario’s move followed Quebec, which had ordered all casinos closed as of December 20. VLTs, bingo, and bar games are also temporarily shut down in the province. It is estimated that those closures will affect roughly 2,300 employees, who are now reportedly being reassigned to customer service roles with Loto-Quebec across the province.

That announcement had come just days after a COVID-19 outbreak had been declared at Casino du Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Queb.

While Ontario and Quebec are currently the only two provinces to order casinos closed again, 50 per cent capacity restrictions are in effect in most of the country’s other provinces including British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

*Please note that on January 20, Ontario announced that casinos will reopen on January 31.

Fandom Sports launches P2P eSports betting

British Columbia-based technology company Fandom Sports has announced that it has launched its peer-to-peer eSports wagering platform.

The company, which enables users to watch and play eSports and bet on outcomes, is now offering fully integrated payment solutions to facilitate player-to-player wagering on eSports. It also has plans for sports and other iGaming offerings to be deployed in the first quarter of 2022.

The platform, which operates on both Android and iOS mobile devices, has both a wagering model for users 18 years or older and a separate all-ages predictions model that focuses on digital rewards for users like skins, avatars, tickets, and other promotional material.

Fandom Sports joined the Canadian Gaming Association in May 2021, and completed its all-ages sports predictions modules for NBA, NHL, MLB, and NASCAR in September. It will be launching beta versions of the sports prediction and wagering platform once a sports data provider contract is finalized and internal compliance and risk management procedures are reviewed.

“We are super excited to have completed our banking and payments integrations. Now that the first iteration of our modular wagering platform is live, the company will be transitioning to an operating and revenue generation trajectory. The P2P Esports is the first instance of our modular approach to building out a holistic wagering and prediction platform,” said David Vinokurov, CEO and President in a statement. “Given that the platform as of launch has been purpose-built from scratch since Fall of 2020, I am pleased with the corporate progress and development road map to date. Furthermore, with the steady flow of product rollouts and additional potential partnerships on the horizon, I’m confident that 2022 will be a transformational year for value creation and an even more fruitful one than this past year.”

Fandom Sports estimates that video games are now a US$180 billion industry, with over 2.2 billion gamers worldwide. The 2019 League of Legends World Championships drew an audience of roughly 137 million viewers from around the globe, almost 40 million more than the Super Bowl that year.

Canadian Gaming Association announces new Chair, welcomes new members

Looking ahead to another momentous year in Canadian gaming, the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA). Canada’s national trade association representing leading operators and suppliers in Canada’s gaming, sports betting, eSports, and lottery industries, has announced the appointment of llkim Hincer, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer at Hard Rock International, as the new Chair of its Board of Directors.

The CGA has also named George Sweny, Vice-President of Compliance at Flutter Entertainment, as a Vice-Chair of the Board.

In addition, the association has welcomed several new prominent members at the turn of the year, including Toronto-based betting giant theScore Bet, as well as Playtech, Paramount Commerce, and LeoVegas.

In welcoming Hincer, CGA President and CEO Paul Burns highlighted the new Chair’s “strong track record” in gaming.

“I am pleased that Ilkim has accepted the role of Chair of the Board of Directors,” said Burns in a CGA statement. “I’ve known Ilkim for years and have followed his notable career in the gaming industry. Ilkim has a strong track record with some of the world’s largest gaming operators, both here in Canada and in the United States. I look forward to working alongside him as we bounce back from the pandemic and position the CGA to capitalize on all of the exciting technology, iGaming, and sports betting developments across Canada.”

Hincer, who will replace Carrie Kormos, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Gateway Casinos & Entertainment, said he is “honoured” to serve as the new Board Chair.

“The CGA has played a key role in helping our industry weather this incredibly challenging pandemic,” he added. “I want to thank Carrie Kormos for her transformational leadership during her term as Chair, and look forward to working with Paul, the Board and our many diverse stakeholders as we recover and continue to grow in these rapidly evolving times.”

These appointments come the month after the CGA named four new board members: Scott Burton, CEO of FansUnite Entertainment Inc.; Danielle Bush, Counsel at McCarthy Tetrault, LLP; Dean Ehrlich, Executive Vice President & Games Business Leader at Everi; and Neil Erlick, Chief Corporate Development Officer at Nuvei.

Hincer and Sweny will join Bush and Robert Scarpelli, Managing Director at HLT Advisory Inc., who hold the roles of Corporate Secretary and Treasurer on the CGA’s Board.

The full 2021/2022 CGA Board of Directors is as follows:

  • llkim Hincer, EVP & Chief Legal Officer, Hard Rock International, Chair
  • George Sweny, Vice President Compliance, Flutter Entertainment, Vice-Chair
  • Danielle Bush, Partner McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Corporate Secretary
  • Rob Scarpelli, Managing Director, HLT Advisory Inc., Treasurer
  • Scott Burton, CEO, FansUnite Entertainment Inc.
  • Dean Ehrlich, EVP & Games Business Leader, Everi
  • Neil Erlick, Chief Corporate Development Officer, Nuvei
  • David Flinn, Regional Vice President Sales, Canada, South America, Central America, IGT
  • Jeffrey Haas, SVP International Strategy, DraftKings
  • Chuck Keeling, EVP Stakeholder Relations & Responsible Gambling, Great Canadian Gaming Corporation
  • Carrie Kormos, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment
  • Adriane McGrath, Director, Business Development, Konami Gaming Inc.
  • Bob Parente, EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, Gaming, Scientific Games
  • Richard Taylor, President, Niagara Casinos
  • Shelley White, President & CEO, Responsible Gambling Council

 

Scientific Games drops bid to buy remaining SciPlay stake

Scientific Games has withdrawn its all-stock offer to acquire the remaining 19 per cent equity interest in its SciPlay social gaming division.

In July 2021, the company had proposed to purchase all SciPlay shares that it did not own, at an estimated value of around $2 billion. The decision to withdraw the proposal will see the corporation retain its 81 per cent economic interest and 98 per cent voting interest in SciPlay.

Previously the social division of Scientific Games, SciPlay became an independent business in 2019.

“In line with our approach to capital management and disciplined M&A we have decided that continuing to pursue this opportunity would not be prudent for our shareholders at this time,” Scientific Games president and chief executive Barry Cottle said. “We remain committed to our strategy of leveraging our unparalleled portfolio of hit franchises, world-class talent and premium content engine to develop great games fully cross-platform.

“SciPlay remains a strategic asset and has the opportunity to drive meaningful value as it grows its social casino market share and expands into the $20bn casual genre leveraging its expertise in engagement and monetization. We will continue to invest in this sector in a disciplined manner. Importantly, as we advance our strategy, we will continue to take a holistic approach to capital management as we focus on allocating capital to drive growth in earnings per share.”

Scientific Games has made numerous moves in recent months, including the acquisition of Swedish games developer Elk Studios in December 2021, nth and casino solutions provider Authentic Gaming in November 2021, the latter of which signified the company’s first foray into the live casino market.

The corporation announced last summer that it would be divesting its sports betting and lottery businesses to focus on digital operations.

Since then, it has agreed to sell its lottery business to Canadian private equity company Brookfield Business Partners, and its sports betting division to Endeavor.