The conversation on gambling ads in Ontario just won't go away

For anyone and anything with skin in the game when it comes to the advertising of regulated gambling products in Ontario, specifically as it relates to sports wagering, perhaps Feb. 28 can’t come soon enough.

Or, perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.

The end of next month will bring into force the new standards by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to restrict the use of athletes and celebrities in advertising by legally operating sports betting and igaming operators. The countdown to the imposing of the new standards was a topic of conversation on the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast.

As gambling industry consultant Amanda Brewer pointed out, the window for submitting any further feedback to the changes was Jan. 15, and the AGCO “has been quite clear they have no intentions to change anything”. Brewer called for the commission to be proactive in explaining the new standards when they take effect.

“These standards are really going to have to be carefully explained because it won’t stop that vocal minority that’s still looking to completely ban all gambling advertising,” Brewer said during the podcast. “The AGCO needs to talk about this. . . to explain the regulatory regime they’ve set up, the standards they’ve put into place, and why these changes have been made.

“There has been so much emotional discussion about advertising, specifically sports betting. If these (standards) just get dumped out there with no context, that’s not going to do anything do quell the displeasure, the discomfort, and the outright anger at this type of advertising despite it being legal.”

The recent CBC Marketplace report on the “normalization of gambling” which we reported on last week included research done by the University of Bristol into gambling messages that appeared on seven sports broadcasts over a five-day period in late October.

“That was an opinion piece. It wasn’t research,” Paul Burns, the president/CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association who was interviewed by Marketplace, said on the GNCS podcast.

Reporting by Sean Previl for Global News over the weekend included some calls again for an outright ban on online gambling advertising. Those included Bruce Kidd, one of the members of the Ban Ads for Gambling group.

“We see these ads grooming children and youth to become life-long betters and risk the addictions,” said Kidd, whose belief that sports betting “disembodies sport” is more than slightly curious.

Burns, speaking on our podcast, echoed Brewer’s comment about emotions guiding the conversation around restricting ads. “It hasn’t been factual,” he said.

Both Burns and Jessica Welman, the editor-in-chief of SBC Americas, also disputed the University of Bristol researchers’ work on the Marketplace segment which counted not only commercials, but the logos of sportsbook operators that appeared on rinkboards, the floor/ice and other areas of the venues for both NHL and NBA games.

“What this study mesasured largely was how passively we’re seeing sports betting logos when we watch sport,” Welman said.

Added Burns: “That’s not how people watch TV and broadcasts. They watch the game.”

Sebastien Jedrzejewski, who left the AGCO in November to join U.S. Integrity as its director of regulatory affairs, said he expects the commission to take the same “consultative approach” on the new advertising rules that it was on other issues with regulated operators in the province.

“This is a great way of compromising between the restriction of advertising while still allowing the healthy amount we’ve seen so far,” Jedrejewski said on the pod. “It’s an evolving process. Things will be done on a case-by-case basis, and interpretation will be required.

“It’s really important for operators to have this relationship with AGCO and take advantage in having those conversations on what compliance really means.”

AGCO releases its 2022-23 annual report

As we were shaking the cookie and cracker crumbs out of our keyboard at GNC HQ on Friday, word came of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission making available for the public perusing its 2022-23 annual report.?

While the report isn’t of Margaret Atwood or James Patterson-calibre quality when it comes to the written word, the 124-page document (which includes iGaming Ontario’s annual report for the same fiscal year)?is of value to stakeholders in the business of alcohol, gaming, horse racing and cannabis. Because this twice-weekly dispatch focus on the business of sports betting and gaming, we grabbed this passage from chair of the board Lalit Aggarwal’s message:

This past fiscal year was a particularly meaningful one for the AGCO, given the integral role this agency has played in the launch of Canada’s first open, regulated internet gaming (igaming) market. Like many other jurisdictions, internet gaming in Ontario had, for years, primarily occurred in an unregulated space. Changing that story took the collective efforts of many, from the Government of Ontario to stakeholders across the gaming ecosystem. The AGCO played a leadership role establishing a regulatory framework that supported the government’s objectives, including providing consumers with increased choice, enhancing player protections, and supporting the growth of a new, legal market. The regulator worked closely with iGaming Ontario to ensure a smooth launch of the market in April 2022.?

By most measures, the first year of Ontario’s open, regulated igaming market was a remarkable success. Many jurisdictions around the world have pointed to Ontario’s model as one to learn from and emulate. Indeed, the AGCO was the proud recipient of the International Association of Gaming Regulators’ Regulatory Excellence Award, as well as the North American Gaming Regulators Association’s Excellence in Gaming Regulation Award for its development of Ontario’s igaming regulatory framework.

And, a snapshot of the commission’s financials for its fiscal year:

From the report, on explanation of the recovery of costs from the regulated gambling market:

Recovery of Costs - iGaming Ontario’s Internet Gaming Market Under Section 12.1 of the AGCO Act, the AGCO is permitted to direct payment from iGaming Ontario. The operator agreements between iGaming Ontario and igaming operators establish that igaming operators are responsible for costs charged by the AGCO in regulating the internet gaming market, regardless of whether the costs are initially billed to iGaming Ontario by the AGCO or billed directly to the igaming operator. The AGCO billed and collected payments from the igaming operators directly. For the year ended March 31, 2023, the AGCO received $4,254 (2022 - $nil) from igaming operators, of which $3,690 (2022 - $nil) was recognized to offset regulatory costs incurred during the year. The remaining amount, $564 (2022 - $nil), is recorded as a deposit included in Security and Customer Deposits in the Statement of Financial Position until future costs are incurred.

Groundhog Day happening once again at NorthStar Bets

For the second year in a row, NorthStar Bets is all in when it comes to Groundhog Day on Friday.

Here at Gaming News Canada, we treat the arrival each February of Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam or other marmots with names with the same excitement as walking to the mailbox to grab the latest flyer on TV stands for sale. But, let us put aside our grumpiness for a few minutes to present some bullets sent to us yesterday from a NorthStar cross-Canada survey of 1,500 folks “to better understand the fascination and cultural importance of these local prognosticating legends”.

• Eighty-four per cent of Canadians hope for an early spring in 2024 (the other 16 per cent must be owners/operators of outdoor rinks and/or avid ice anglers. . . .).
• The inhabitants of eastern provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada) are more eager than their western counterparts to see an early spring.
• Almost 70 per cent of Canadians don’t believe the accuracy of the groundhogs’ predictions (don’t tell that to the fine citizens of South Bruce Peninsula, home of Wiarton Willie)
• More than a third of Canadians believe Groundhog Day and its predictions are important to the country’s culture.
• One in five GenZs have never heard of Groundhog Day, while everyone over the age of 55 who responded to the survey know damn well about GD.

And, if you’re interested in placing a wager on the weather according to Shubenacadie Sam. . . .

TheScore Bets seeking shinny skaters to pull an all-nighter on All-Star Weekend

While Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and their fellow attendees at NHL All-Star Weekend are enjoying the fine dining and entertainment in the city below Unionville on Thursday evening, a slew of shinny skaters will be participating in a 2-on-2, 24-hour game on The Well’s ice in downtown Toronto. Teams will be playing for a grand prize of $5,000, and retired NHL gooler Curtis Joseph will drop the ceremonial opening puck and mingle with fans beginning at around 5 p.m. Thursday. The shinny marathon will run through the evening and into the wee hours of Friday morning.?

If you’re 19 years and older, can stand up on two blades and have a group of buddies who fit the same criteria, go to thescorebet24for24.com to register your team.?

The Company Line

This fine Tuesday morning, we give TCL treatment to Swintt which announced yesterday its acquisition of Elysium Studios.?

Birthdate: 2019

Home Base: Sliema, Malta

Founder: Current CEO David Flynn led a group of gambling industry experts in forming the company almost four years ago.

Raison d'être: Swintt, which has targeted Ontario for its first foray into the regulated North American market, creates igaming products and gamification tools.

In other news. . . .?

• There is news of the breaking sort this morning from Conor Mulheir of NEXT.io, that Waterloo sports prediction company Quarter4 - co-founded by Kelly Brooks and Danijela Covic in 2019 - is being acquired by FairPlay Media (the company formerly known as Oddshecker Global Media).
• A reminder that the very good folks at SBC are hosting a Growth Unleashed: Capturing the NextGen Market with Accurate Identity Verification webinar this afternoon. You can register here to watch/listen.
• As first reported late last week in Fortune, BetMGM is getting together with the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
• A tap of ye olde Koho to BCLC which, for the fifth time in a row, has received the World Lottery Association’s Level 4 certification for excellence in player health programming.
• Steve Ruddock produced a few bon mots from his keyboard on the pending partnership between DraftKings and Barstool Sports.
• Speaking of DraftKings, the sportsbook put out Monday morning an early preview for Super Bowl LVIII, including:

• And speaking of Taylor Swift and the Chiefs versus the Niners, wagering on the big game in regulated U.S. states is expected to exceed a billion bucks.
• If you’re opening up your Google calendar to firm up your schedule for next week’s ICE 2024 in London, here’s a link to lend you a hand.
• The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association’s Winter Conference is just around the corner.
• The Responsible Gambling Council is beating the drum for early registration to attend the March 25-27 Discovery 2024 conference in the city below Alton.?
• Sports Business Journal has an early-bird offer to register for the April 15-17 CAA World Congress of Sports in LA.
• Flutter Entertainment went live on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday in Gronkian style:

• Good stuff from Chris Krajcik, who took to the LinkedIn to post a SWOT analysis on Flutter’s FanDuel business.
• From the Dept. of Set Your PVR. . . 60 Minutes will examine online sports wagering in the U.S. of A. this coming Sunday.
• And. . . we’ll leave you with the new BetMGM “Big Game” commercial, also available for your viewing pleasure in Ontari-ari-ari-o:

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