International events and media company SBC has agreed to terms to acquire the long-running Canadian Gaming Summit (CGS), Canada’s premier annual conference and trade show for land-based and iGaming professionals, from current joint owners the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) and MediaEdge Communications.
The acquisition will be completed after this year’s edition of the summit, which takes place June 7-9 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto. Included in the deal is the Canadian Gaming Business news website, e-newsletter and print magazine.
As part of the arrangement, SBC will work with MediaEdge and the CGA to bring more content and commercial opportunities to this year’s summit. This includes all three organizations hosting a Special Gaming Industry Reception on April 4 to celebrate the launch of Ontario’s new online gaming regime.
After the acquisition, the CGA will continue to be involved as an official and strategic partner of the summit and will work with SBC to ensure the CGS supports the continued development of the gaming industry in Canada.
“This is a wonderful acquisition for SBC as it fits perfectly with our growing portfolio of market-leading events and media properties in the U.S. and Latin America,” said Rasmus Sojmark, founder and CEO of SBC. “We are delighted to bring the Canadian Gaming Summit into the SBC family, as the opening of single-event betting is likely to be transformational for an already vibrant Canadian gambling sector and enables us to build on what is already a great conference.”
Canadian Gaming Association Chair Ilkim Hincer commented, “The CGA is a national trade association that represents leading operators and suppliers in Canada’s gaming, sports betting, eSports and lottery industries. The board is thrilled to support this deal, as it enables us to focus our efforts even more on our members and on bringing them the greatest value.”
Canadian Gaming Association President & CEO Paul Burns added, “The CGA’s membership has grown significantly in the last year, and we are excited to open new opportunities to broaden our members’ access to networking and exchanging ideas on issues of common cause. We already have a great working relationship with the SBC team and look forward to working together for many years to come.”
“We are proud of what we have achieved in partnership with the CGA over the years and the relationships and friendships we have established,” added Chuck Nervick, senior vice president of MediaEdge, “but believe now is the perfect opportunity for the Canadian Gaming Summit to start a new chapter. We’ve greatly enjoyed working in the gaming sector and believe SBC has the ideal team to take the reins from here.”
