The recently held Canadian Gaming Summit examined the success of the Ontario single-event sports betting system since the end of a federal ban almost two years ago.
Since the province went with regulation in 2019, Ontario has 47 licensed operators, with more than 70 gambling sites and 500-plus games sanctioned.
The gray market in Canada has operated for decades. Ontario sought to go after the unregulated revenue while still adding player protection agendas.
“The sports-betting piece [of the Canadian rollout] has really overshadowed what was the more fundamental launch, the igaming piece, because that piece is more important from a revenue perspective in the overall business context,” said panelist Bruce Caughill, managing director Canada for Rush Street Interactive, according to CDC Gaming Reports.
Canada’s framework demands provinces conduct and manage gambling, much like the U.S.
Mike Maodus, associate at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, spoke about interprovincial conduct in management.
“The Canadian criminal code criminalizes all gaming and betting subject to certain exemptions,” he said, per CDC. “The most common exemption … says the provinces can conduct and manage offerings within their jurisdictions.”
The pervasiveness of the digital product lends itself to interprovincial opportunities.
“There are certainly synergies to this and there’s a product that lends itself to it, so it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds province by province or maybe national,” Caughill said, per CDC.
Rush Street Interactive, a member of a coalition which features Betway, Bet99, DraftKings, Entain, Flutter, Games Global, and Apricot Investments seeks to develop Quebec regulations as they are in Ontario. In so doing, it can meet the growing concerns over consumer safety, responsible gambling, and advertising. The prospective rollout will grow government revenues.
A lot of provinces are taking a closer look at the Ontario model.
“At the very least, there needs to be serious discussion province by province about the experience in Ontario and what elements of that, if any, should play a role in their respective provinces,” Caughill said. “There’s a player protection story, economic development, a revenue story – and there’s a lot of commonality province by province.
“You have two options: try to do something on the enforcement side or regulate and migrate like Ontario did,” he said, per CDC.
An IPSOS survey showed that the province shifted more than 85 percent of players from unregulated sites to regulated sites.
“It’s still a new market here. There’s still a lot to sort out,” said Brent McCurdy, deputy COO of AGCO.
