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OLG report suggests it holds one-fifth of Ontario online gaming market

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG)’s full-year report suggests that the lottery corporation captured one-fifth of Ontario’s regulated online gambling activity in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Earlier this month, OLG published its full-year figures for the FY that ended on March 31, 2024. The FY report showed that OLG’s digital operations grew year-over-year despite immense competition from commercial operators.

The crown corporation reported total gross online gaming and sports betting revenue of $630 million, up 12% from the $561 million it posted last year. CEO Duncan Hannay noted that monthly average player counts rose by 11% year-over-year.

Ontario’s online gaming and betting revenue is reported by two separate entities: OLG and iGaming Ontario (iGO), which discloses the official numbers for the commercial regulated market that consists of 51 operators and 83 websites at the most recent count. iGO released its own year-end report way back in April, posting $2.4 billion in gross gaming revenue.

Total Ontario online gambling hits $5 billion

Combining the OLG and iGO reports for the period from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 suggests that total revenue for the second FY since the province welcomed commercial operators into the fray was just over $3 billion. That represents a 54.5% increase on year one’s total of just short of $2 billion. Ontario’s regulated online gambling market opened three days after the start of the 2022-23 FY, on April 4, 2022.

Overall, regulated Ontario online gambling has now yielded fractionally less than $5 billion in gross gaming revenue through two years from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024, of which OLG has contributed $1.2 billion.

It also means that, taking the numbers at face value, OLG held down 20.8% of Ontario’s regulated online gambling market in FY 2023-24 in terms of total gross revenue. That doesn’t take into account any unregulated grey market gambling activity that may still be going on despite the plethora of licensed options.

In total, OLG has now contributed a net profit of $634 million to the Ontario government over the last two fiscal years ($302 million in FY 2023-24, $332 million in FY 2023-24).

While OLG grows online, overall gaming proceeds slide

While the OLG appears to be acquitting itself fairly well online, its digital gaming, which includes online casino-style games and sports betting products as well as online lottery sales, makes up just 13.4% of its total revenue. Retail lottery sales and land-based gaming (casinos and charitable gaming) each represent a far bigger slice.

The OLG’s overall gaming revenue slipped 6.5% year-over-year to $4.7 billion as it suffered a marked drop in the retail lottery sector. Its lottery revenue dropped 5.5% to $1.76 billion last year, while net profits from lottery sales suffered twice as large a drop, at 11%.

Land-based gaming revenue stayed flat at $1.98 billion compared to $1.96 billion in 2022-23, but casino gaming profit to the province was down 3%.

“Despite significant challenges to the business this year, including the delayed opening of a casino development in Toronto and fewer high value lottery jackpots, we were pleased to see OLG deliver a strong financial return to the province in fiscal 2023-24,” wrote OLG Chair Jim Warren in the report.

BetVictor signs former Toronto Raptor Tracy McGrady

Former Toronto Raptor Tracy McGrady has plenty of experience as a victor, having twice been named NBA scoring champion during his career.

Now, the seven-time All-Star is making it official. The 45-year-old has signed up with BVGroup as the BetVictor brand’s Safer Gambling Ambassador in Canada.

McGrady only played three of his 16 NBA seasons in Toronto but remains a popular figure among the city’s basketball fans, thanks in no small part to the double-act he formed with his cousin, Raptors legend Vince Carter, in the 1999-2000 season which led the franchise to their first-ever postseason berth.

Now, he will help to promote BetVictor’s responsible gambling practices and raise awareness of responsible betting behaviours among the brand’s Canadian customers.

“Safer gambling is an important issue across Canada and I look forward to helping to promote this message alongside BetVictor to encourage Canadian customers to bet and play safely and responsibly,” said McGrady.

“We are thrilled to have signed Tracy McGrady to BetVictor to promote Safer Gambling,” said BVGroup Chief Commercial Officer Brent Almeida. “Tracy is a perfect role model, with an amazing career across 16 seasons in the NBA. Aligning with him is a perfect fit for the BetVictor brand.”

BetVictor is a licensed betting operator in the Ontario market, having been green-lit by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario in June 2022.

Licensed operators in Ontario are not permitted to use athletes or other celebrities in their marketing unless it is specifically for the purpose of promoting responsible gambling measures, per AGCO standards.

The Gibraltar-headquartered operator is also licensed in its home market as well as the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland.

Last year, BetVictor revealed its new BVGroup corporate identity to “reflect its position” as a multi-brand gambling operator and B2B technology solutions provider. As well as BetVictor, BVGroup also has the likes of Betano UK, Heart Bingo and Wiz Slots under its umbrella

ESE Entertainment buys gaming production company Bombee Americas

Vancouver-based gaming technology and esports company ESE Entertainment has completed the acquisition of Bombee Global Entertainment Ltd., known as Bombee Americas.

Bombee Americas is the North American arm of Bombee Event Production AB, a global production company specializing in live production, special effects, broadcast and event management for the gaming sector. The two companies have collaborated in the past on ESE’s premier event production services and customer service in North America and beyond.

ESE acquired all outstanding shares of Bombee Americas in exchange for a total cash consideration of $1.5 million CAD, including half to be paid on closing and the other half to be paid within a year of closing.

In a release, ESE said that Bombee Americas will continue to grow and scale under its oversight while maintaining its own entire team and global support. Bombee Americas’ founders have signed three-year service agreements and will continue to run the business after closing.

“Today marks the next stage of ESE — a 2.0 version of our company,” said ESE CEO Konrad Wasiela. “With the acquisition of Bombee Americas, we are not only solidifying our presence in North America but also paving the way for growth and innovation in the gaming industry. This is a major step, positioning us to deliver even greater value to our partners and elevate the gaming experience for our clients globally. We’re thrilled about the opportunities ahead and the exceptional talent joining our team.”

Founded by Wasiela, a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback, ESE focuses largely on providing a unique and engaging esports experience to both seasoned esports players and newbies. Wasiela has spoken in the past of how he believes esports is the “entertainment 2.0” of the present and future. With Bombee on board, his company is primed to continue to help drive that innovation.

Responsible Gambling Council explains how it drives change with action

The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) has illustrated how a year of education, certification and other action continued to propagate responsible gambling in Ontario and beyond.

In its 2023-24 annual report, titled “Impact: Action Drives Change,” the RGC noted that as rapidly evolving technology, media, politics and culture continue to transform the industry, it has become more important to raise RG standards and produce evidence-based recommendations to guide the strategic development of policies and regulations.

Against that backdrop, the RGC said industry leaders have contributed increased funding to advance evidence-informed recommendations for gambling marketing and advertising and digital health policy. The RGC called that “an impact that will result in ripple effects throughout our industry.”

The momentum of those industry-wide efforts is resulting in meaningful impact, said the council.

In particular, RGC conducted research in partnership with Playtech into where new opportunities exist for technology to deliver information and support to players. The council recommended that operators emphasize measures including offering personalized tools tailored by player segment, destigmatizing tool usage and generating operator buy-in to facilitate the development and implementation of a standard suite of digital tools.

The RGC also added Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) to its roster of partners as part of its quest to develop strong relationships within the Canadian sports industry to support integrating responsible gambling practices within the rapidly evolving sector. The RGC developed a workshop for MLSE to equip staff with sports betting harm prevention knowledge and tools.

RG Check has busiest year ever

The RGC operates the RG Check accreditation, which it said “continues to be the most comprehensive responsible gambling accreditation program in the world.”

Last year, more online and land-based operators completed RG Check accreditation than ever before. The RGC doled out 44 new accreditations, 12 land-based and 32 in iGaming, with a particular focus on operators entering Ontario.

“The whole purpose of RG Check is to raise all boats,” said retiring CEO Shelley White on Steve McAllister’s Gaming News Canada podcast. White is stepping down at the end of the year and the RGC expects to name her replacement by the end of November.

As it continues to expand its efforts, RG Check added more analysts and redesigned the team to include new management roles aimed at enhancing delivery and customer service capacity.

PlaySmart Centres go virtual

The RGC also runs the PlaySmart Centre program, in collaboration with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which dedicates designated centres and highly trained staff in casinos and charitable gaming centres to provide players with facts, tools and advice about gambling.

The council stated that last year, PlaySmart Centers reached more than half a million players, patrons and gaming staff at 67 land-based gaming venues across Ontario. Some 410,915 players and patrons accessed support, 218,728 visitors received responsible gambling information, 186,766 visitors participated in an interactive educational event series and 5,411 visitors received support and assistance related to gambling concerns.

The RGC also took the PlaySmart Centre program virtual for the first time, giving Ontario gamblers unprecedented access to the toolkit and support resources.

Busting the ‘illusion of control’ myth

Much of the RGC’s outreach over the last year has focused on breaking down what it calls “the illusion of control,” which can cause individuals to experience overconfidence in their ability to predict a win based on knowledge or skill.

In particular, The Randomizer program replicates a video game with a smartphone as the game controller. Users play a replica of a coin collection challenge, but the controller arrows swap positions at randomized intervals between levels. The intention is to illustrate that gaming outcomes are highly unpredictable no matter the player’s level of skill at a certain game. The program had 3,600+ meaningful young adult interactions through 25 in-person activations across Ontario, said the RGC.

Those efforts were supported by the council’s latest public service announcement, “Gambling School.” Viewers were prompted by a call to action to learn more about the risks of gambling and safer play strategies by visiting a custom campaign landing page. RGC and its partners including ThinkTV targeted a wide media mix spanning digital and traditional channels, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and strategically placed websites including theScore. RGC reported the campaign yielded tens of millions of impressions.

VP of Marketing and Communications Elaine McDougall told McAllister that RGC staff are working on new PSAs that will go to market next month, one tailored for sports betting and the other for iGaming.

Northstar Bets hopes to draw in customers with $100K Blackjack tournament

NorthStar Bets is offering up Ontarians an opportunity to win their share of $100,000 by putting their Blackjack skills to the test.

Blackjack winner will receive 10 ounce bar of gold

From Oct. 21-N0v. 25, the site will be running the NorthStar Blackjack Championship. Participants in the competition earn points for every consecutive set of winning hands they post at the tables. They will have a month to earn those points and move up the leaderboard before the top 50 are invited to take part in a final one-week playoff.

The winner of the final week will take home quite the trophy, as NorthStar Bets will be awarding a 10-ounce gold bar valued at $35,000 unless the winner opts for the equivalent cash value.

The rest of the prize pool will be spread around to other players. There will be nightly leaderboard winner prizes of $250 throughout the promotion as well as substantial weekly leaderboard prizes for the top three finishers, who can win as much as $2,000.

“We believe this is a first-of-its-kind tournament that provides an incredible opportunity for our online players to showcase their skills in one of the world’s most thrilling and renowned casino games,” said Chair and CEO of NorthStar Gaming Michael Moskowitz.

“We’re excited to unite an online community of Blackjack fanatics for a chance to demonstrate their talent and win big. The idea behind this tournament underscores our commitment to innovation and positions our platform as a premier destination for players seeking a unique and exciting experience.”

NorthStar’s continued growth not without speedbumps

Q2 was a record quarter for NorthStar, a brand that is outpacing the growth rate of the regulated Ontario market. The site has already taken more than $1 billion in bets.

This massive growth is not without its hiccups though.

Just last week, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) fined the operator $30,000 for geolocation failings. The AGCO discovered the issue during compliance monitoring where the group attempted to log in to NorthStar Bets from Quebec and New York.

In addition to the geolocation issue, the AGCO also reprimanded NorthStar Bets for its failure to file paperwork with the regulatory body in a timely manner.

Nally’s approach to Alberta is to lead with the carrot

Speaking at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last week, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally offered no exact timeline on when Alberta might establish a regulated online gambling market, but he did give some insights into how he is approaching the process and how conversations are going.

He joked about the humour in someone tasked with reducing red tape insisting on regulations, but he also reiterated his passion around bringing regulated gaming to the province.

“To be clear, my job is not to reduce regulation,” he told attendees at G2E. “It’s actually to reduce red tape. We define it as duplication of regulation and unnecessary regulation.”

Nally wants to lead with the carrot, not the stick

For Nally, an open market creates what he sees as unnecessary limitations on the industry. Opening it up to grey operators is an example of what he called leading with the carrot instead of the stick.

“When you use incentives, I think you have more buy-in from the industry. And it’s a fundamental belief I have that the world is full of good people that sometimes make mistakes, and so you should meet that with coaching training.”

He applauded Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), explaining how he went on some ridealongs and was very impressed with how the provincial crown corporation officers educated those in violation as opposed to ruling with an iron fist.

That is why Nally is more open to converting the grey market than some opponents in Canada have been; he fundamentally believes these operators are good actors eager to comply and follow a regulatory model similar to what is available in Ontario.

His conversations with operators only affirmed his stance that they are people who deserve the opportunity to work within a regulatory framework.

“I will say I was pleasantly surprised by this, but what I heard from the industry was their commitment to responsible gaming, and I didn’t expect that message to be as loud as it was,” he added. “I love it because that makes my job easier as I go back to Alberta and speak to my colleagues and tell them about your commitment to responsible behaviour.”

Alberta committed to First Nations involvement

Cabinet members are not the only people Nally has had conversations with on the subject.

As Canadian Gaming Business has previously reported, conversations with First Nations groups began this summer. Nally spoke a bit about why the province is putting a lot of emphasis on making sure that the groups are comfortable with how gaming moves forward.

“We drew a line in the sand in 2019 when we got elected, and we said that we are going to treat First Nations as partners in prosperity,” he said. How that partnership will look is TBD.

According to Nally, it is the First Nations who are undecided about how things move forward.

“They want to have a role in this iGaming market. They’re not sure what it looks like right now. Is it going to be a partnership with a current operator? Is it going to be a consortium of First Nations that come together to launch their own brand? I don’t know where they’re going to land,” he said.

“Time will tell. Ultimately, we view them as partners in prosperity, and we welcome them into this iGaming space.”

Timeline dictated by enabling legislation approval

Canadian Gaming Association President and CEO Paul Burns moderated the panel Nally appeared on and ended the discussion by asking what, this time next year, Nally hopes to be saying about online gaming in Alberta.

“If I’m back here a year from now I’m bragging about [how] the Edmonton Oilers have won the Stanley Cup. We’ll be talking about an open and free market in Alberta, and I’m hoping that the feedback that I get is, ‘Thank you for making our entry into your market seamless and easy.’”

In order to do that, Nally will need to introduce enabling legislation that is approved by the provincial. The earliest that can take place is next spring, so whether or not October 2025 is before or after launch is very much still up for debate.

NorthStar Gaming fined $30K for failing to ID device outside Ontario

NorthStar Gaming has run afoul of Ontario authorities over a geolocation test issue.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has fined NorthStar Gaming (Ontario) Inc. $30,000 after an assessment found the operator had failed to identify that a test device trying to access its Ontario-only northstarbets.ca site was located outside the province.

NorthStar operates two NorthStar Bets-branded websites. The dot-ca website offers AGCO-licensed and regulated iGaming and online sports betting in Ontario, powered by the company’s leading technology and services partners Playtech and Kambi. The dot-com version is owned and operated by the Abenaki Council of Wolinak and is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, offering services to Canadians outside Ontario.

The regulator stated that as part of its ongoing compliance monitoring of the gaming sector, AGCO identified the issue with northstarbets.ca during “a proactive, third-party assessment” of multiple registered internet gaming operators. Tests were conducted from physical locations in Quebec and New York state to determine whether Ontario gaming sites were accessible outside Ontario. AGCO found one instance of northstarbets.ca failing to accurately identify the location of one of the devices during the tests.

“NorthStar Gaming takes regulatory compliance very seriously,” a company spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business. “We employ the most advanced technology and third-party vendors in order to maintain the integrity of our systems. We are investigating this incident with our geolocation compliance vendor to uncover the possible causes of the incident and identify any remedial steps.”

While the spokesperson did not name that geolocation compliance vendor, the northstargaming.ca website lists Vancouver-based geolocation leader GeoComply as a partner.

In addition to the geolocation test violation, the $30,000 fine reflects two further breaches of the AGCO standards for iGaming.

The commission further cited NorthStar for “repeated failure” to provide the Registrar with requested data, information and documents in a timely manner. The AGCO asserted that NorthStar failed to show “a commitment to character, integrity and high ethical values demonstrated through attitude and actions” and engage with the Registrar “in a transparent way.”

“Ontario’s gaming sector is carefully regulated to ensure it’s conducted legally and with the public interest in mind,” said AGCO CEO and Registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr. “The AGCO will continue to take all appropriate steps to ensure that regulated gaming sites are operated with integrity and within the province’s legal framework.”

The AGCO says it will continue to engage with NorthStar to ensure the issues are appropriately addressed. Failure to do so may result in further enforcement action.

NorthStar launches Sports Insights 2.0 after record quarter

In happier news for the Canadian operator, NorthStar launched its improved Sports Insights 2.0 content vertical across all NorthStar Bets platforms last week.

Through Sports Insights, NorthStar provides its users with a range of sports and gaming analysis, betting strategies and predictions and tips aimed at augmenting the bettor experience.

The rollout of NorthStar Insights 2.0 had been teased by NorthStar in its Q2 2024 earnings release and call.

In August, the company reported that net revenue rose 61% year over year in the quarter to reach $7.5 million, while total wagers on NorthStar Bets rose 41% to an all-time high of $225.5 million. That record Q2 exceeded the previous record set in Q1 of this year, when NorthStar Bets took $218 million in handle, GGR of $7 million and net revenue of $5.9 million.

The CEO told investors that one of NorthStar’s major priorities moving forward is to explore how best to monetize the remainder of the Canadian market outside Ontario. In particular, the company wants to increase its operational footprint in Western Canada. Moskowitz noted that this approach should give NorthStar “a headstart” if and when other provinces open a regulated commercial online betting market.

Gambling targeted by online fraud more other industries: TransUnion

Gambling is the industry in Canada that is most susceptible to digital fraud attempts, and that activity has risen sharply over the last year.

Those are some key findings of a new report from TransUnion Canada that looked at digital fraud in numerous industries across the country in the first half of 2024.

The report found that gambling, including online sports betting and poker, saw proportionally more suspected online fraud attempts than any other sector in Canada, with a rate of 9.6%. That was just ahead of retail, at 9.2%, and government services, at 7.7%.

It’s particularly interesting to compare Canadian gambling’s results with the industry in other countries.

Across the 19 markets where it provided country and regional breakdowns, TransUnion noted that the average rate of suspected digital fraud attempts within the gambling industry was 7.2%, which actually represented a 9.2% decline between H1 2023 and H1 2024. The average rate across all monitored industries and jurisdictions also declined, albeit by a smaller amount. Overall, gambling was more susceptible than the average industry rate (5.2%).

In stark contrast, the rate found within Canadian-specific gambling soared 79.3% year-over-year, the second-biggest increase of any Canadian industry monitored by TransUnion.

However, even Canadian gambling’s above-average suspected fraud rate was significantly below that of the U.S., where it was as high as 13.3%.

“Protecting customers and their businesses from fraud is essential to enabling safe and tailored consumer experiences,” wrote TransUnion Canada Head of Identity Management and Fraud Solutions Patrick Boudreau. “These findings reveal that despite the good-faith efforts that are being undertaken by companies to identify and prevent fraud to date, fraudsters continue to evolve and it’s vital that fraud prevention methods keep up with the changing times.”

He urged businesses including gambling companies to take advantage of fraud prevention technologies such as identity verification, IP intelligence, device reputation and synthetic identity detection and make them “critical components” of their fraud prevention programs.

TransUnion’s methodology consisted of blending proprietary insights from its global intelligence network with a specially commissioned TransUnion business survey in Canada, India, the U.K. and the U.S., and a specially commissioned consumer survey in 18 countries and regions globally.

Canadian soccer players complete IBIA betting integrity program

Canadian Premier League (CPL) soccer teams have undertaken an International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) sports betting integrity program designed to educate players in the league on the intersection of sports and gambling.

Created by the IBIA using its 3Rs training model, the program utilized a combination of dedicated in-person training and online resources. Sessions were delivered by the Professional Footballers’ Association Canada (PFA Canada) through its Protecting the Integrity of the Game workshops.

In total, nearly 200 players have been trained through the IBIA/PFA Canada partnership at all eight CPL teams. The program started in Ontario and finished in Alberta, also covering teams in Nova Scotia, Manitoba and British Colombia.

It concluded the first part of a two-year player education agreement between IBIA and PFA Canada. The program, first announced in May, was the first to be delivered from a $300,000 three-year fund invested by IBIA and its members bet365, Betway and FanDuel. That fund allows Canadian sports and athletes to receive free face-to-face integrity education designed to protect Canadian sports from the potential threat of match manipulation and corruption.

“The IBIA sports betting integrity training, in partnership with PFA Canada, was an incredibly beneficial experience for our players,” said Marco Carducci, goalkeeper for Calgary’s Cavalry FC  and president of PFA Canada. “Effective and easy to understand, it made clear what professional athletes need to know about sports betting integrity and how to report attempted corruption. We are grateful for IBIA’s support to help safeguard the integrity of the game and to protect and educate our players.”

In addition to highlighting the potential threats from betting-related match-fixing, the program educated players on rules and sanctions surrounding gambling, the scale and accuracy of technology-enabled sports integrity monitoring and how to report criminals and corrupters using the red button app.

Dan Kruk, PFA Canada’s executive director, added that the program ensures that stakeholders can be confident that the association’s members know their obligations regarding gambling and match-fixing in their sport, as well as how to recognize an approach to fix a match and their duty to report any person attempting to manipulate a match.

“We take our responsibility to protect regulated sports betting markets, sports and athletes seriously,” added Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA. “Decades of experience has shown that a combination of efficient regulation, education and collaboration are essential to safeguarding the sports integrity ecosystem. We are delighted that the PFA Canada education program has been so successful and look forward to year two of the project.”

Andrew Maclean on Aristocrat Interactive’s Canadian iGaming push

Aristocrat has had a big year in North America, and Canada remains a big focus moving forward.

Following a number of notable developments in 2024, including the company’s acquisition of NeoGames and the formation of the Aristocrat Interactive division, SBC spoke to Aristocrat Interactive’s Content & Aggregation VP of Sales & Business Development Andrew Maclean to learn about the progress that has been made.

Previously at NeoGames subsidiary Pariplay, Maclean works on Aristocrat Interactive’s Content & Aggregation team, one of five verticals that make up the division, along with Gaming Systems, iLottery, iGaming & Sports and Gaming White-Label.

“The advantages of this merger were clear, and we expect the joining of each of our expertise to strongly propel Aristocrat Interactive’s position as a must-have content supplier to operators across the globe,” Maclean tells SBC.

Aristocrat Interactive has an estimated enterprise value of approximately $1.7 billion CAD and is expected to deliver a number of key opportunities, with a strong focus on the North American market.

Taking strides in Canada

Over the last few years, Pariplay and NeoGames have established a firm foothold in the U.S. with entries into numerous states, as well as a significant presence in the Canadian market.

Last year, NeoGames struck its first digital content partnership in Canada with Atlantic Lottery Corporation, giving it access to numerous east-coast provinces.

That partnership was the only regulated lottery and iGaming operator in Atlantic Canada was made possible through NeoPollard Interactive, a company jointly owned by Pollard Banknote and NeoGames which powers several Canadian lotteries.

NeoPollard has also long been the iLottery provider for Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis’ Play Alberta platform, while Aristocrat is Alberta’s top retail slot terminal supplier. This summer, Aristocrat Interactive struck a deal to offer a range of its gaming titles on Play Alberta’s website. AGLC launched the Play Alberta app earlier this month; sportsbook-only at first, it will be expanded to include online casino and lottery next year. which will give Aristocrat Interactive a mobile presence in the province.

Maclean and Aristocrat Interactive have their eyes on more expansion in the future, both north and south of the border.

“We work closely with start-ups, medium-sized studios and well-established suppliers to be able to distribute them across North America,” Maclean adds. “Growing as a team post-acquisition has opened the doors to expand our market growth.”

Looking to new horizons

The situation in Alberta could well change before too long, as the government continues to explore opening a regulated commercial online gaming market. So far, only Ontario has laid down the blueprint for regulating iGaming in Canada, but Aristocrat Interactive has experience operating not only in that province but in several U.S. states that have opened their doors.

Maclean says there is much more to come from Aristocrat Interactive in North America, with some “exciting” opportunities in the crosshairs.

“Our strategy is simple – apply for online casino licenses as soon as a new state opens up so we can fully support our operators within that market with both our in-house studios and full aggregation offering,” add Maclean. “This is a big priority for us. The North American market is at times a challenging one, but we are confident in our abilities to navigate through the different requirements for day one market entry.

“We have some very exciting new opportunities on the horizon. Based on the trends we’re seeing, we are heavily focusing on the North American market, with a vision to expand across the U.S. and Canada. In the next year, we also plan to continue expanding into additional markets, releasing new games, and bringing fan-favorite land-based titles online.”

As Maclean puts it, Aristocrat Interactive is “only just getting started.”