Gaming News Canada Show

This morning, Sharp Alpha Advisors – the New York-based venture capital firm which specializes in sports, gaming and entertainment – announced the closing of Sharp Alpha Fund II, an oversubscribed $250-million VC fund investing in early-stage businesses. Lloyd Danzig, the managing partner of Sharp Alpha Advisors, joined the Gaming News Canada Show from Dallas to provide more details around the breaking news. He also spoke about the flurry of M&A activity so far in 2024, including the acquisition of Quarter4 by FairPlay Sports Media Group, and what’s motivating those transactions, and what investors are looking for when it comes to providing funding to companies in the sports, gaming and entertainment spaces. And, what excites him about the innovation and products appearing in the world of sports wagering and online gaming these days. Danzig, who will be speaking at next month’s Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto, also addressed the opportunities north of the border. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three years since doing the incorporation thing – and less than a year before the opening of Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry – Parleh Media Group’s journey has been one of twists and turns for its Homestand, Bettor Content and The Parleh/Gaming News Canada brands. Mark Silver, the PMG chief executive officer who brought together the company’s six founding partners in early 2021 and Homestand’s content/brand grand poobah Kevin Kennedy appeared on the Gaming News Canada Show for some reminiscing and a lookahead at the opportunities in the always-changing world of betting, gaming and media. Silver spoke about his latest experience in a startup business, and the need for continuous experimenting and shifting strategies to meet the needs of some 10 clients which Parleh has served in Ontario’s two-year-old regulated marketplace. Kennedy was asked for his thoughts on the merger of sports betting and sports media – including The Locker Room program that’s available on the Sports Interaction app - the continuous search for unique content in a market that remains crowded despite the challenges faced by traditional media, and the content opportunities around Ontario’s robust online gaming business. Both PMG leaders gave their own taps of the hockey twig, Silver to investors and other supporters of the company, and Kennedy to the group of established and just-starting content creators who are finding a different path these days to telling stories in the world of sports. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The leadership group at U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance took its own version of the Nestea plunge last month when it announced the merger of the two companies under a new brand, IC360. Matthew Holt, the chief executive officer of the new company, and IC360 president Eric Frank appeared on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. The main drivers of the merger gave us the back story on how U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance came together since launching ProhiBet at the beginning of 2023, and the new business’s integration of integrity and compliance products. Holt explained the creation of an education and training team led by former EPIC Global Solutions employees Mark Potter and Dan Trolaro while both Holt and Frank got into the fast-moving evolution of artificial intelligence in supporting its integrity and compliance services. The interview also included a discussion on IC360’s plans for the Canadian market, including the hiring of Sebastian Jedrzejewski from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario last year and U.S. Integrity’s collaboration with the AGCO in the days leading up to the opening of the province’s regulated gambling marketplace. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some 5,000 people working across various sectors of the sports wagering and gaming industry in the U.S., Canada and countries around the planet will gather inside at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ, next week for the annual SBC Summit North America. It’s one of two major conferences organized this spring by SBC, which will co-host with the Canadian Gaming Association the June 18-20 Canadian Gaming Summit at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. Gambling industry veteran Sue Schneider, the VP of Growth and Strategy for SBC’s North American business, was our guest on this edition of the Gaming News Canada Show. Schneider, who was inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame during the 2022 North America summit, teed up next week’s rendezvous in Secaucus, provided some helpful hints to first-time attendees and gave her perspective on the evolution of the SBC events, and the industry itself over a quarter of a century. We also asked what attendees of the Canadian Gaming Summit can expect next month in SBC’s second year of co-hosting the conference. One of the most-passionate advocates for women working in the industry, Schneider also spoke about the progress that’s been made, including the creation of companies such as Ontario-regulated online gaming business Betty, and Betting Ladies, and the need to continue those efforts. She also weighed in on the current state of the gambling industry in the U.S. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a homecoming of sorts when Will Hill joined the Canadian Lottery Coalition as its executive director. Hill, who spent 11 years with OLG, these days represents a collaboration of the Alberta Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, BCLC, Loto-Québec, the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation, and the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority. On the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, he addressed the coalition’s advocacy for legal gambling across Canada and the work that’s been done in trying to limit gambling advertising by regulated operators in Ontario within the province’s borders. And, we asked him about the apparent road to regulation that’s happening in Alberta. The former journalist and Toronto Blue Jays employee also teed up a panel discussion at the Canadian Gaming Summit in June which is scheduled to include crown corporation leaders Kandice Machado (AGLC), Pat Davis (BCLC), Patrick Daigle (ALC) and Jean-Francois Bergeron (Loto-Québec). Hill also provided some thoughts on the current state of the gambling industry in North America, including a decline in casino visitors in some U.S. states. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As sports betting and gaming continue to evolve, along with almost everything else, in the digital space, so do the methods of payments for people placing a sports wager and/or playing online poker, casino and slots. On this episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, Paysafe executive Greg Kirstein was our guest. Kirstein, who joined Paysafe in the summer of 2013 and is currently the general manager, iGaming for the company’s North American business, discussed the business’s work with the lottery and gaming corporations in Ontario and Quebec, and regulated operators in Ontari-ari-ari-o. He also got into the expanding inventory of online payment products. And, of course, we asked the Montreal-based Kirstein about the potential for expanding regulated gambling into other provinces across our home and native land. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week’s suspension of Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter by the NBA for violations of the league’s gambling policy poured more fuel on the fire on the relationships between professional sports leagues and sports betting companies operating in legal gambling jurisdictions across the United States and Canada. Doug Smith, who’s been covering the Toronto Raptors since Day 1 for the Toronto Star, appeared on this episode of the Gaming News Canada Show with Legal Sports Report gambling biz journalist (and former NBA beat writer) Mike Mazzeo. Smith spoke about the conversations he’s had with Raptors players about the new world of online sports wagering, and the ties that bind leagues and betting operators while Mazzeo weighed in on the measures being taken by all stakeholders in the fight against match-fixing and other potential betting scandals in pro sports. Daniel Umfleet, the founder and CEO of Kindbridge Behavioral Health, then joined the show from Southampton, England to weigh in on the Porter ban. Kindbridge’s partners include NASCAR, Entain, BetMGM, DraftKings, U.S. Integrity and Sportradar, and Umfleet answered our questions about the roles companies in different sectors of the sports wagering landscape play in preventing situations such as Porter’s, and the pressures faced by today’s athletes – current, former and those who are trying to prepare for life after playing. He also got into the evolution of responsible gambling programs in the U.S., which traditionally have been based on bricks-and-mortar sportsbooks and casinos to deal with the still-newish world of online gambling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some 24 hours before iGaming Ontario released its fourth-quarter and 2023-24 year-end market performance report, Canadian Gaming Association president and CEO Paul Burns made his return to the Gaming News Canada Show for somewhat of a rapid-round episode. Burns provided a plethora of perspectives on a number of topics, including the two-year anniversary of regulated gambling in Ontari-ari-ari-o and what’s next, what may lie ahead for regulated sports betting and igaming in other Canadian provinces, the work that’s been done in our home and native land on responsible gambling, and the role that Canada plays internationally in the gambling space. We also asked Burns about preparations between the CGA and SBC for the annual Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto, taking place June 18-20. And, there was also some girls/women’s hockey talk as the CGA’s head honcho walks away from the bench after a lengthy coaching tenure in the Leaside Wildcats organization. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Brianne Doura-Schawohl joined the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling in the fall of 2013, the overturning of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in the United States was five years away and amending the Criminal Code of Canada to pave the way for legal single-event sports betting was eight years away. Since then, Doura-Schawohl has gone on to become a leading voice on responsible gambling and problem gambling in senior leadership roles with the National Council on Problem Gambling, and EPIC Risk Management. In her current role as CEO of Doura-Schawohl Consulting LLC, she’s working with stakeholders across the regulated gambling industry to address the growing concern around problem gambling. On the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, Doura-Schawohl discussed the impact that the fast-moving mobile/online gambling industry in the U.S. is having on people, the influence of gambling advertising and famous brand ambassadors on players, concerns about increased gambling activity among college students, the need for more research into problem gambling, and the responsibility that stakeholders across the industry have to make gambling safer. Doura-Schawohl, who doesn't shy away from advocating for more tangible action on RG, also provided more than a few words of praise to RG efforts in Ontario and across the rest of Canada by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario – when creating the province’s regulated sports betting and igaming marketplace – the Responsible Gambling Council and BCLC with its GameSense self-exclusion program that is being used by operators in the U.S. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In March, Basketball Forever announced the completion of a $4 million funding round led by Yolo Investments. Gambling industry veterans Paris Smith, Seth Young and Friends of Gaming News Canada Benjie Cherniak and Chris Grove were among the folks putting some dollars – and their faith in the digital sports media company. The successful round of fundraising, explained chief strategy officer Nick Kelland, was the result of pounding the pavement – including the halls of The Venetian during last fall’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Kelland was our special guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show to answer our enquiries about BF’s journey through the worlds of startups, social media, sports media/content, fantasy sports, free-to-play gaming, and sports wagering. Kelland also explained the company’s success in attracting millions of hoops aficionados from Down Under, in the U.S., Canada and other parts of the planet. And, of course, we asked about the Caitlin Clark effect on the growing popularity of women’s basketball with the betting public. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The regulated sports betting and igaming industry in Ontario recently turned the page on its second year of existence and begins Year 3 amidst gambling controversies involving the biggest star in Major League Baseball and a Toronto Raptors player, angst around sports betting advertising that won’t go away, concern on how serious stakeholders across the business of wagering and gaming are when it comes to problem gambling, and illegal operators still having a prominent place across North America. Scott Vanderwel, the chief executive officer of PointsBet Canada, returned to the Gaming News Canada Show to discuss those topics, while also discussing the recent closing of the acquisition of PointsBet USA by Fanatics, PointsBet Canada’s newish partnership with Strive Gaming to enhance its online gaming offering, the impact of University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark on the business of sports betting, and the successes and lessons learned by operators, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario is a highly competitive marketplace. Vanderwel was also joined by Nic Sulsky for a conversation on the breaking news this morning (Tuesday) that Sulsky is leaving his chief commercial officer position with PointsBet Canada to become a partner and CEO of the newly formed The Curling Group. Sportsnet announced this morning that The Curling Group will take over ownership and operations of the 12-year-old Grand Slam of Curling series. Sulsky told us the story of how The Curling Group was created, the opportunities for continuing to grow the sport globally, PointsBet Canada’s early . . . er. . . gamble on curling, and he also provided his thoughts on the industry he’s leaving. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second anniversary of Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry lands April 4th, and in the midst of investigations involving MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani and Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors around sports betting. Meanwhile, the debate continues around gambling advertising, sportsbooks placing limits on bettors, and problem gambling. Also, the state of New York just had its second most successful week in sports betting handle from legal operators since the launch of its regulated marketplace in January 2022. And the regulated sports betting business in North Carolina has launched with a bang riding the March Madness wave. The latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show brings together a media roundtable with SBC Americas editor-in-chief Jessica Welman, the managing editor of Catena Media’s Play Canada, Play Michigan and Play Pennsylvania websites, Dave Briggs, and Geoff Zochodne, the gambling industry beat writer for Covers.com. The trio of journalists joined Steve McAllister to discuss the good, bad and ugly that is the current state of gambling across North America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fourteen years ago, Justin Park was an analyst with a pharmaceutical/biotech management consulting firm in New York. These days, Park is the chief executive officer of Betty, which launched 14 months ago its online casino and “casual mobile gaming” business in Ontario’s regulated igaming industry. The startups veteran was our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, joining us from the Big Apple. Park spoke about the creation of Betty, why Ontario is the company’s first foray into regulated igaming, its success so far competing against the big players in the province, his laser focus on the future opportunities in other Canadian provinces, and the focus on women as customers, and employees. Park also provided some words of wisdom for startups in the gambling industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Zitney, the director of content and brand for Sports Interaction, and Kevin Kennedy – who holds the same title for Homestand – were our guests on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Zitney and Kennedy discussed the Sports Interaction/Homestand partnership and the creation of The Locker Room – a live show available on the sportsbook’s app during the past NFL season and during other major sports events. Sports Interaction’s content/brand lead also answered our questions about the business’s integration into Hockey Night in Canada this NHL season and tailoring its advertising and marketing strategy around the new standards put into place by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to restrict the use of athletes. Kennedy spoke about the attraction – and evolution - of live events for sports fans post-COVID pandemic, and the ongoing efforts to inform and entertain fans and fans who wager on sporting events. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Almost 10 months after holding a symposium on competition manipulation and gambling in sport, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and McLaren Global Sport Solutions have co-authored a white paper with five recommendations to address match fixing. McLaren senior vice-president Robert Copeland was our special guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show to answer our questions about the white paper. Copeland addressed the challenges for the Canadian sport system to combat match fixing, including no mention of competition manipulation in the Criminal Code of Canada, and our home and native land so far not being a participant in the Macolin Convention. Copeland also got into the need for further education of athletes and other sport stakeholders around sports betting - especially in an Olympic year with the Summer Games coming to Paris- and the need for funding to support education and other programs. He also offered a couple of thoughts on the Shohei Ohtani controversy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sports betting and gaming industry veterans Amanda Brewer, Kris Abbott and Phill Gray returned to the Gaming News Canada Show for a rapid-fire roundtable on what’s happening, starting with the news of a gambling connection to the firing of Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. The start of March Madness and the NCAA women’s and men’s basketball tournaments also sparked a discussion on the decision by sports betting regulators in some U.S. states to place a ban on prop wagers involving college athletes. With the two-year anniversary of Ontario’s competitive sports wagering and igaming industry coming April 4th, the panel weighed in on the departure of Unibet and the due diligence being done by operators to enter the province’s regulated marketplace despite a crowded house of almost 50 operators plus OLG. Brewer also brought up the potential impact that a regulated industry in Alberta – along with the possibility of legal igaming coming to New York and other states – could have on Ontario. And our learned trio were also asked about the impact from the first month of the AGCO’s new standards around the use of athletes in advertising and marketing campaigns, including Connor McDavid’s responsible gambling message for BetMGM. 🎙️ Worth A Listen Our most popular Gaming News Canada shows from the past few months. LISTENLISTENLISTENLISTENLISTEN Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During Andreas Krannich’s tenure working in the Bundesliga – Germany’s top soccer league – two decades ago, sports wagering was pretty much limited to pre-match betting. With apologies to Bob Dylan, the times they have a changed with the boom around in-play and microbetting. What hasn’t changed is the potential for the manipulation of matches, and efforts by sports leagues and organizations to provide a product where integrity of competition is front and centre. Krannich is one of the good guys trying to protect that integrity in his role as the Executive Vice President, Integrity, Rights Protection and Regulatory Services for Sportradar. Krannich joined us from his Munich office on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, just days after Sportradar’s integrity services department released its Betting Corruption and Match-Fixing in 2023 report. Highlights of the report include the detection of 1,329 suspicious matches in 11 different sports across 105 countries, with soccer leading the way (880 cases). Europe had the highest number of suspicious matches with 667, up from 630 in 2022. North America, despite an increase to 35 suspicious matches in 2023 from 24 the previous year, continued to trail Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. On the podcast, Krannich points to the diligence of North American sports leagues when it comes to monitoring suspicious betting activity. The Sportradar EVP also delves into the helping hand artificial intelligence has lent in tracking some 850,000 sporting events last year while acknowledging the ongoing need for human brainpower to complement AI in trying to prevent and detect risks to integrity in sport. Krannich addresses his company’s work with organizations around the world, including the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, to educate athletes and other sport stakeholders on red flags around match fixing. And, he weighed in on the ongoing presence of organized crime in the world of sports. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Adams has been a passenger on the fast-moving train of regulated gambling in the U.S. since the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The founder and CEO of Baltimore-based SharpRank is our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show to talk about his journey from auditor to investment banking, to enrolling in business school, and to hearing the radio commercial that steered him to the sports wagering industry. Adams spoke about the evolution of SharpRank’s business since it shared first-prize honours with Parleh Media Group at the SBC First Pitch competition in December 2021. A company which originally focused on the merging of content, influencers and sportsbooks to protect the marketplace, SharpRank has since emerged as a respected voice among legislators and regulators, including the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Adams explains the similarities between investing and betting, the blurry lines that can occur when it comes to information being provided to sports bettors, and the challenges operators face in dealing with different legislation and regulation in provinces and states across North America. We also asked him about SharpRanks’ plans for the remainder of 2024. If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, please let us know by emailing steve@gamingnewscanada.ca. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast, regulated gambling industry veteran Troy Ross of TRM Public Affairs offered his thoughts on the path to a competitive digital gaming marketplace in Alberta. Ross was among the folks with whom Dale Nally, the Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, met during last month’s ICE conference in London, and a new online gaming regime was mentioned in the provincial government’s budget presentation last week. Ross was joined by regular contributors Kris Abbott, Amanda Brewer and Phil Gray for a roundtable discussion on the odds of British Columbia and Quebec also following the Ontario road to regulation. The GNCS panel also had a chin wag about the shifting advertising and marketing strategies of licensed operators in Ontario coinciding with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s new rules to restrict the use of athletes in paid advertising. Mark Silver, the head honcho of Parleh Media Group – proprietors of Gaming News Canada and Homestand Sports – addressed the already-existing change in direction by operators in promoting their sportsbook and igaming products. Finally, Brewer, Ross, Gray and Abbott provided some bon mots for Silver and Gaming News Canada editor-in-chief Steve McAllister on the news that GNC is shifting to primarily a podcast format. If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, please let us know by emailing steve@gamingnewscanada.ca. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest edition of the Gaming News Canada Show, regular guests Amanda Brewer, Kris Abbott and Phill Gray were joined by Covers gambling industry beat writer Geoff Zochodne for a rather robust roundtable. Zochodne provided his thoughts and layers on spending two days inside an Ontario Superior Court of Justice courtroom last week to listen to lawyers for iGaming Ontario and the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke lay out facts and arguments in the council’s civil proceedings against Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry. Gray, Abbott and Brewer added their perspective on the case, in which Judge Lisa Brownstone is expected to submit a ruling before summer. With the changes to the AGCO’s standards around advertising and marketing taking effect tomorrow, the panel discussed the transition by Ontario’s licensed operators to the new regulations around the use of athletes and celebrities, and the continuing presence of .net operations pitching their products on television networks. The announcement by Unibet last week that it will officially leave the Ontario market on March 26 sparked a conversation on the likelihood of other licensed operators vacating the province before Year 3 of regulated sports betting and igaming begins in early April. That conversation prompted Brewer to point out that smaller operators are leaning into the Canadian grey market to support their Ontario businesses. Finally, there was reaction from Abbott, Brewer, Gray and Zochodne to the American Gaming Association releasing a third straight year of record numbers for regulated gambling across the U.S. of A. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.