Sports betting operators are positioning themselves to compete in Ontario, Canada’s soon-to-open sports betting market, which has about 15 million adults eligible to make wagers.
The Ontario government is still working on the legal underpinnings of the market, which will be regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The market is expected to launch sometime this spring.
Among the two operators expected to be top competitors are PointsBet and FanDuel. Both had senior management members on a sports betting panel organized by Western University on January 22.
Also on the panel was Playmaker CEO Jordan Gnat, a company that focuses on customer acquisition for sports betting companies. He observed that 10 percent is “about the local market and its nuances, and getting that 10 percent right is really the difference between success and failure.” He continued, That 10 percent is truly about authenticity. It’s proving that you bothered to understand the local market, and without that, the risk of just being another company increases. Being authentically Canadian is what will make a local market success story work.”
Conor Murray, senior growth director at FanDuel, said that company’s global reputation is a strength and a weakness when it comes to appealing to the locals. One challenge is its reputation as that “big sportsbook in the U.S.”
Murray added, “We’ve become the number one sportsbook in the U.S. Really proud of how we built that business. We’ve written the playbook on launching markets to this point. But we would be so naive to copy and paste that and bring that to Canada and then expect to win.” He said the company is “about entertainment” and “We look to make sporting moments more entertaining and engaging.” And finally, “Our ambition is to add so many more layers of excitement to that game.”
PointsBet, based in Australia, has different challenges, said its Canada Chief Commercial Officer Nic Sulsky. He continued, “Let’s face it, PointsBet is a challenger brand. We have to outthink folks, we can’t necessarily outspend them.” He added, “really engaging our Canadianism, really building an authentic connection to what it means to be a Canadian sports fan, is something we’re diving into.”
To do that PointsBet has partnered with many pro sports teams in Canada, including the Trailer Park Boys, the NHL Alumni Association, and Curling Canada.
It also will take advantage of its technology of being able to offer live, in-game betting opportunities. As Sulsky put it, “There was no lag between something you’re seeing on the field and betting markets you’re being able to execute within the app.”
Other top operators expected to compete in the market are DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, BetRivers, and theScore Bet.
