GeoComply boxes out Ontario outsiders, and NorthStar Gaming-Playtech have a new deal
The Vancouver-based company took care of business on behalf of its operators during Super Bowl Week, two Ontario players expand their partnership, and Rogers appears to be ditching its SNBets brand.
In this issue:
GeoComply blocked attempted blitz of betting in Ontario by outsiders
NorthStar Gaming has a new deal with Playtech
Join us on LinkedIn Audio this afternoon
America’s legal gaming industry enjoys another robust year
GeoComply (also) put up digital wall around Ontario
On Tuesday morning, your (usually) kind resident keyboarder included in our perusal of betting news from Super Bowl Week the work of GeoComply in guarding against fraud attempts in the U.S.
It turns out that the Vancouver-based business was just as busy on this side of the border, most notably in Ontario where bettors outside the province attempted to access licensed operators here - a no-no according to the law and the regulations set by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
We’re told that there were more than 9,000 blocks identified by GeoComply last week, with the majority coming from the United States although there were attempts made from other parts of the planet.
One thought with regards to the U.S. is that underage American gamblers (under 21) were hoping to place their same game parlays in Ontario, where the legal betting age is 19.
“If American consumers wanted to skirt the age requirement, turning to sportsbooks in Ontario could be a way to get around the restriction,” said John Pappas, the senior VP of government and public affairs for GeoComply. “It’s just another reason that geolocation compliance assurance is critical on both sides of the border.”
The company was also busy blocking suspected proxy betting in the days leading up to the Big Game. One example was someone accessing their Ontario sportsbook account, and then 30 minutes later the same account was access in another part of the province, that unless the person had superpowers. . . . GeoComply said it blocked almost 300 attempts at proxy betting.
From Pappas: “As part of the regulatory mandate, GeoComply is constantly combatting attempts from around the globe to access our customers’ platforms in Ontario. This is always more pronounced around major sporting events, so we were not surprised by the Super Bowl.
“Our anti-fraud systems were optimized well in advance of the Big Game, not just in the U.S. where the Super Bowl is the most popular sporting event of the year, but for our Canadian customers as well.”
NorthStar Gaming gets a helping hand from Playtech
The Kansas City Chiefs and many of their fanatical followers were most likely still celebrating another Super Bowl win early Monday morning when NorthStar Gaming put out a news release announcing a reshaping of the partnership between NorthStar and Playtech, the long-time online gaming and sports betting software supplier.
The high-level, as they say, nuggets from the announcement:
Investment of C$12.25 Million completes concurrent fundraising in connection with RTO, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of C$22.33 Million
Playtech to act as a strategic investor and advisor to the Ontario-based online casino and sportsbook operator
NorthStar Gaming is in the process of completing its application to become publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange
(Full disclosure: Parleh Media Group, the proprietors of Gaming News Canada, is a partner of NorthStar Gaming).
Also, NorthStar and Playtech are expanding their partnership, and extending it by 10 years with the right to expand the agreement beyond Ontario to other parts of our home and native land. Playtech’s current support of NorthStar Bets includes the company’s IMS platform, casino and live casino software.
"Playtech's unparalleled expertise in the gaming industry will help NorthStar accelerate our growth and rapidly expand our user base," said Michael Moskowitz, Chief Executive Officer and a founding partner, NorthStar Gaming. "With the additional investment, we look forward to expanding our market share across Ontario and further enhancing our premium, content-driven experience for consumers."
From Playtech CEO Mor Weizer: "We are excited to deepen our partnership with NorthStar and become the market-leading online gaming platform in Canada. As a key partner of NorthStar in their early stages, we understand and were impressed by NorthStar's unique business model and product offering and are excited to further expand our partnership."
Please join us on LinkedIn Audio this afternoon
The aforementioned Moskowitz will be our guest on the Gaming News Canada Show on LinkedIn Audio at 2:30 ET this afternoon to provide some additional thoughts on the NorthStar-Playtech deal, and also to chime in on the Ontario market.
Our regular contributors, including Kindred Group’s Amanda Brewer, Will Hill of Sightline Payments, and Gavin Roth, Mark Silver and Mike Day from Parleh Media Group, will lend us their voices with their post-Super Bowl takes, and we’ll go around the horn on the week that’s been in the sports betting and gaming biz. We’ll also discuss Jonah Sigel’s reporting (see Media Musings) overnight on the future of Rogers Sports & Media’s SNBets brand.
2022 another record revenue year for U.S. gambling industry
The state of the legal U.S. gaming industry is in state of riding high, the American Gaming Association’s state-of-the-industry webinar revealed.
If you've been put into a state of rage from the series of states referenced above, we apologize and attribute it to jet lag from our ICE London calling trip last week.
Enough of that.
From Rege Behe’s reporting for CDC Gaming Reports:
Despite lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the continued presence of illegal betting markets, and recent staffing and supply chain issues, the gaming industry is thriving.
The American Gaming Association Wednesday held its State of the Industry webinar, and the results are mind-boggling. Commercial gaming revenue reached $60.4 billion in 2022, a year-over-year increase of 13.9%.
“Our industry’s comeback (in 2021) was fueled by pent-up demand that set a high bar for 2022,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller during the webinar. “And frankly, some folks thought we couldn’t replicate those results. We didn’t. We exceeded them – 2022 was a phenomenal year.”
“That growth (of 13.9%) is almost the equivalent of adding another Las Vegas Strip to the gaming market,” said AGA Vice President, Research David Forman.
From the AGA:
And this:
As Ryan Butler reported for iGaming Next, the Las Vegas Strip, led the charge south of the border as the highest-grossing market with $8.2 billion (U.S.) in revenue, while New Jersey remained at No. 2 with almost $2.8 billion.
Also from Butler’s keyboard:
The New York City market was No. 6 by total revenue in 2021 with nearly $1.5bn in revenue. Three full-scale, “Las Vegas-style” casino gaming licenses are set to be awarded later this year, setting the region up to be among the nation’s top-five highest grossing in 2024.
It’s also worth noting that unlike Ontario, which provides both legal sports betting and online casino through its 40 operators (and OLG), only seven states offer any type of regulated igaming product.
On the Home Front
Responsible Gambling Council grand poobah Shelley White discussed on CasinoBeats.com how the organization is using player education to reduce the risk of gambling harm among 18-24-year-olds.
Homestand and Bet99 did the collaboration thing on a Super Bowl Sunday rendezvous at the Rec Room in Toronto.
Fitzdares celebrated its arrival in Ontario with a Super Bowl bash at the posh Harbour 60 restaurant in the city below Vaughan.
As mentioned in the reporting from our interview last week with Fitzdares CEO William Woodhams, FSB is making its first foray into Canada as the UK operator’s platform provider.
An Ontario bettor is taking legal action against Caesars, alleging breach of contract.
Conor Mulheir at iGaming Next reported that online casino operator Betty’s, ahead of soft launching in Ontario this month, has raised $5 million.
BF Games has received its suppliers licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission.
Let’s Get Together
Better Collective is the latest gaming business to join the not-for-profit All-in-Diversity Project.
Everi Digital will be providing online gaming content to Caesars Sportsbook & Casino.
Upon reading “power slap” and “integrity” last week in the same news release, we spit our Earl Grey all over the floor at the ExCel Centre. Here’s hoping for sportsbooks. . . umm. . . to turn the other cheek when it comes to this stoopid sport.
Trustly, which was featured in The Company Line section of Tuesday’s newsletter, is joining forces with PointsBet and Cross Link on a payout play.
Matters of M&A
Games Global is acquiring the Digital Gaming Corporation business from Super Group.
From Jake Evans at iGaming Next this Thursday a.m.: LeoVegas is selling a quarter of its shares in BeyondPlay.
Parthenon Capital is acquiring the gaming division of Global Gaming Payments Solutions.
Quarter(s) Pole
Bally’s Interactive’s latest financial results, particularly as they related to the North American operations, didn’t sit well with the company’s new CEO.
The folks at GiG are rather giddy about the company’s record Q4 revenue.
States Side Stories
A tweet for thought from Chris Krafcik of Eilers & Krejcik:
And this tweet from E&K’s Brad Allen this morning:
From the Twitter account of iGaming Next’s Ryan Butler yesterday on the soon-to-be-launched Maryland mobile sports betting market:
FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment, is giving some thought to listing on a U.S. stock exchange.
From the tweeting account of ESPN’s David Purdum late yesterday afternoon:
Steve Ruddock opines for Gambling.com that concerns around responsible gambling in the newish regulated American industry need to be addressed.
Ruddock’s piece was partially inspired by Nathaniel Meyersohn’s feature for CNN.com on problem gambling.
The list of speakers and panels for the May 9-11 SBC Summit North America is coming together rather nicely.
Bet365 has released several new markets around the PGA Tour this year in concert with its Tour partnership and the release of the Netflix series Full Swing.
A veteran New York congressman wants sports betting advertising taken off the air. . . full stop.
Whilst doing the media rounds last week, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe said she expects the company to be turning a profit this year.
Jeff Edelstein, writing for Sports Handle, has some concerns with the state of New Jersey mandating that sportsbooks use hard data to help spot potential problem gamblers.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is calling for the tax rate on sportsbooks to be doubled to 20 per cent.
The door has been opened a little wider for legal sports betting to come to M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.
Kris Johnson at Gaming Today wrote about the continuing rise in microbetting and what’s coming next.
Speaking of microbetting, Simplebet saw an almost-50 per cent YOY increase in in-play betting for Super Bowl LVII.
JohnWallStreet weighs in on the investment by Arctos and Norwest into GeoComply Solutions.
Betfred has opened its long-awaited sportsbook inside the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Finally, Steve Freiss, writing for PlayUSA, asks if online poker is going the way of the hula hoop, the Slinky and disco.
Across the Ponds
Ouch. 10Bet has been fined $1 million (Cdn currency) by the UK Gambling Commission for dropping the ball on anti-money laundering and social responsibility.
A tap of the old cricket paddle to the ICE Consumer Protection Zone on raising $85,000 for charities during last week’s conference.
And, a tap of the Sherwood PMP to GeoComply CEO Anna Sainsbury for her commitment to the Code Like A Girl Vietnam program.
Esports Reports
Having enjoyed immensely our recent business/pleasure visit to the United Kingdom, we pass along this bit of info on UK post-secondary schools which offer esports degrees.
Michael Hassall of Esports GG wrote about CS:GO knocking down its all-time concurrent online players record over the weekend.
In his latest Sharpr newsletter, Cody Luongo explains why the marriage of esports and sports betting makes good business - and perhaps necessary - sense.
The director of UK-based Tundra Esports is launching a creative studio focused on content both by and for people much younger than your humble correspondent.
The company backing Indian business Penta Esports is receiving an investment of the strategic variety from nCore Games.
The CEO of UK gaming and esports biz Gfinity is departing.
Media Musings
Jonah Sigel, who covers the Canadian sports media landscape, reported overnight that Rogers Sports & Media is about to shut down the SN Bets brand it launched less than a year ago. We’ll discuss further on LinkedIn Audio this afternoon.
The soon-to-be-declared bankruptcy by Diamond Sports Group, owner of Bally’s 19 regional sports networks, will have an impact on professional sports leagues and teams across North America.
Some keyboarding by SBC’s Jessica Welman on lawmakers in both West Virginia and Maryland taking a gander at instituting legislation that would require sportsbooks to audit content creators with whom they work.
Quick Hits
Jake Evans has a smartly written explainer on the recent job cuts in the igaming business.
Entain exec Martin Lycka waxed poetic on ICE London.
SBC’s Jessica Welman and Dustin Gouker got together to do some reminiscing about the early days of Catena Media and what’s out there today in the online casino space.
Global Innovation Group is separating its media division from its platform business.
Playtech COO Shimon Akad appeared on ICE365 last week to shine a light on the company’s expansion plans in the U.S. of A.
GeoComply executive Simon Marchand and Sightline Payments CEO Omer Sattar did some tag-team talking about fraud trends.
Checkd Group has unveiled its Smart Picks tool in North America.
People on the Move
There were a couple of promotions at CFL HQ over the past week: Owen Welsh to Associate Vice President, Sports Betting, Gaming & Innovation; and Derek Gross to Associated Vice President, Global Partnerships.
Speaking of the three-down football league, Matt Maychak is leaving his post as Chief Communications Officer after a 15-year stay to start his own consulting firm, Major PR Ltd.
Ben Wood has been promoted at Bally’s Interactive to VP Commercial Content.
Warren Steven has departed DraftKings to become Managing Member, Libera Gaming Consultancy.
A couple of personnel moves at Paysafe over the past seven days. Guy DiMaggio has come on board as the SVP & Strategy Officer, Merchant Solutions, and Daniel Fagan was introduced as SVP Product, Merchant Solutions.
Jared Seguin has joined theScore as Sports Trader while Hannah Heinson has been promoted to Design Systems Manager, and Hassan Naveed to Senior Data Analyst - Compliance.
Classified (Jobs) Information
Wanted by iGaming Ontario, a Team Lead, Anti-Money Laundering Risk.
FanDuel Canada is on a seek-and-employ mission for a Customer Marketing Manager, Retention Strategy.
Bet99 has an opening for a KYC Associate in Montreal.
The Responsible Gambling Council is in recruitment mode for a Manager, Strategic Communications.
Intelitics is searching for a Sales Development Representative.
Niagara Casinos is seeking a Human Resources Advisor.
Rootz, which recently got the green light from iGaming Ontario to set up shop in the province, is hiring an Affiliate Manager.
FOTP Jesse Learmonth is looking to bring on board a Podcast Producer & Coordinator for the Betting Startups podcast.
The CFL is in hiring mode for a Director, Global Partnerships, and also for a Manager, Media Sales & Global Partnerships.
Florida-based Digital Gaming Corporation is looking for a Games Specialist.
The Canadian Hockey League has an opening for a Manager, Media Relations.
SBC is in the market for a UK-based Junior Marketing Content Writer.
Sportsnet is on the lookout for a Marketing Manager.
Bally’s Interactive is hiring a Japanese-speaking Content Specialist.
The 2025 Canada Games group on St. John’s, Nfld. has an opening for a Manager, Brand and Marketing.
The Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 is in the market for a Commercial Coordinator.
Major League Soccer is looking for a Senior Coordinator, Communications and Content.
About the Numbers
With the March 3 NHL trade deadline fast approaching, Celine Trimarchi and Justin Pooni at Homestand shared their thoughts on where Arizona Coyotes defenceman Jacob Chychrun is headed.
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