Gaming News Canada

We covered a fair bit of real estate with Amanda, Troy and Jared on three years of Ontario's regulated gambling market.

This week, we'll have the usual Wednesday and Friday newsletters from the keyboard of Dave Briggs. And, on the eve of the third anniversary of Ontario's open, regulated sports betting and igaming industry, the Gaming News Canada Show presented by GBG Plc speaks with a trio of guests who've been in the trenches since Day 1. Thank you to our subscribers for continuing to support our coverage.

The latest Gaming News Canada newsletter presented by GBG Plc has reporting from Dave Briggs on the February figures released by iGaming Ontario on the province's regulated sports wagering and igaming marketplace. Despite a marquee matchup for Super Bowl LIX and the hugely successful Four Nations Face-Off, sports wagering was done 33% month over month. Also, Briggs riffs off reporting by Tom Nightingale on BCLC and Atlantic Lottery putting out an RFP for a sports betting technology partner, with an invitation to other provincial lottery and gaming bodies to join the party. Happy weekend, all.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to our loyal subscribers. . . and sure, everyone else on this platform. No podcasts this week as Steve McAllister takes some R&R, although you cna listen to our interview with WagerTalk and @OddsLogic boss Rick Allec from last week. Dave Briggs is scheduled to be at the keyboard for the regular Wednesday and Friday newsletters. https://lnkd.in/gJ7h9eJQ

The Friday morning newsletter presented by GBG Plc falls into the shortie-but-goodie category, as Dave Briggs riffed off an X post by Geoff Zochodne from the NEXT.io - The World’s iGaming Community Summit in The Big Apple on Thursday. The Covers journalist reported a comment from Canadian Gaming Association boss Paul Burns at the summit that the awaited regulated gambling industry in Alberta will launch in early 2026. You can also find links to a conversation between Steve McAllister and long-time sports betting industry owner/entrepreneur Rick Allec. Have a great weekend, all.

In the Friday edition of the Gaming News Canada newsletter presented by GBG Plc, Dave Briggs digs into the recent comments by PENN Entertainment, Inc head honcho Jay Snowden about the continued success of theScore in Ontario's regulated sports betting and igaming marketplace while ESPN Bet continues to struggle in the U.S. of A. From Snowden: “theScore and theScore BET continue to be a very good story for us in Canada. Ontario is our number one market in North America in terms of revenues, gross profit, and contribution margin today and we delivered another strong year of performance in 2024. We believe the strength in Canada will only grow once we launch in Alberta, pending all requisite approvals, given the affinity for and loyalty to the Score brand across the country.” Also, Loto-Québec will host the Council of Europe for a two-day symposium on match fixing next month at the Casino du Lac-Leamy in Gatineau. A link to register can be found in the newsletter. And, you can access the latest edition of the Gaming News Canada Show with GeoComply new chief legal beagle ILKIM HINCER as our guest.

February was a very good month for Gaming News Canada - which feted its fourth anniversary - as we welcomed 70 new subscribers on Substack and LinkedIn for our weekly newsletters and Gaming News Canada Show podcasts. Thank you to everyone who follows our coverage and appear as guests on the GNCS. Thank you to Dave Briggs for his reporting chops and insights in banging out the newsletters. And thank you to GBG Plc for its support as the presenting sponsor of Gaming News Canada over the past three months. Upwards and onwards! https://lnkd.in/gJ7h9eJQ

A heads-up that our Wednesday newsletter will be out and about at noon ET. In the meantime, you can listen to or watch the conversation between GBG Plc Director of Gaming Rebekah Jackson and Steve McAllister on the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast.

“The way data is presented and used is very smart and the expert personal support I receive from GBG is top notch. They collaborate on proof of concepts and cost/benefit analysis with every change we make. I don’t see GBG as a vendor, it’s a very strong strategic partnership.” Read more on the case study put together by GBG Plc on behalf of Atlantic Lottery: https://lnkd.in/gu9pR9i4

Four years ago today, at the urging of The Parleh founder/CEO Mark S. and with the support of Mike Day, Kevin Kennedy, Gavin Roth and Jonah Morris, we launched a then-weekly newsletter to cover the emerging expanded legal sports betting and igaming landscape in Canada. Along with that first newsletter, with Steve McAllister handling the reporting and writing duties, sprung weekly live audio shows - first on Clubhouse, then Twitter Spaces, and on to LinkedIn Audio before making the move to the Gaming News Canada Show podcast (which also appears on our YouTube channel). To mark the four-year anniversary, Steve is joined on the latest GNCS presented by GBG Plc by Amanda Brewer, Dave Briggs and Mark S. for a look back and lookahead at the Canadian gambling industry - including Brewer's thoughts on regulated gaming coming to Alberta and legal action taken recently by Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation against offshore gambling website bodog. We're incredibly grateful to our Substack and LinkedIn subscribers, and the readers, listeners and viewers of our coverage since February 2021. Thank you to our sponsors, including GBG as our current presenting sponsor of both the newsletter and podcast, and to the people across this industry who have given us their time and expertise to help us shine a light on the stories and issues. Finally, a tip of the toque to the journalists who cover this industry so well.