(ICE) London Calling

(ICE) London calling

As mentioned last week, the Gaming News Canada editorial team (party of one) will be keyboarding this week’s dispatches from both a flat near Tower Bridge Road and ExCel London, host of ICE 2023.

More than 35,000 attendees are expected to seek Epsom salts for their sore hips, legs and feet over the next three days as they navigate their way through the capacious conference centre to visit booths, visit each other, attend panel discussions and sundry other events.?If, by the by, you’re making your maiden voyage to ICE, we recommend reading this morning’s edition of The Startup Month from our friends at Earnings+More.

The conference got underway yesterday with the ICE VOX content program, including the World Regulatory Briefing and International Casino Conference.

For our loyal subscribers who have made the trip across the pond and are looking for some Canadian company, the Canadian Gaming Association is co-hosting a reception at the Nuvei booth on Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking of conferences/summits/trade shows/symposiums, Dave Cook on iGamingNext.com asked yesterday if gaming-industry get-togethers are becoming passe .

In the Thursday edition of GNC, we’ll have more on the conference, including the highlights of today's Canadian roundable which includes iGaming Ontario executive director Martha Otton, CGA president/CEO Paul Burns and Sophia Arvantis from the Ontario Ministry of Economic, along with other panel discussions from inside the halls of ExCel London. We also had a tete-a-tete-a-tete Monday with William Woodhams and Tristan Wootton, the CEO and director of growth respectively for Fitzdares. The long-established UK sportsbook and gaming business launched in Ontario this week, and both Woodhams and Wootton weighed in on their plans for their first foray into North America.

We’ll also have a cross-section of storylines from the betting industry on Sunday’s Super Bow LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

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Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to host May 30-31 symposium

We’ve known for some time now that the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport had plans for this spring to host a symposium on competition manipulation and gambling.

Well, the CCES made it official late last week that its inaugural symposium – which it’s hosting with McLaren Global Sport Solutions - will take place May 30-31 at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, and early registration is now open . National and multi-sport organizations, national and provincial governments, sport gambling regulators, international sport federations, law enforcement agencies, athletes, and research experts are expected to be among the attendees.

While the program for the two days is a work in progress, it will include a keynote speech from Richard McLaren, who participated in an April 2019 symposium co-hosted by the two organizations (a White Paper was published from that event). Some of the discussion will take place around Canada’s new legal single-event sports betting landscape and its impact on sport across the country, and internationally, and there will also be a walk-through of sorts on the policies and best practices of the Canadian Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee.

“The legalization of single-sport betting in Canada has brought up a number of risks to sport integrity that need to be identified and managed before they become commonplace in our sport system,” said Jeremy Luke, who was officially anointed last Friday as Paul Melia’s replacement in the president and CEO’s chair. “The symposium will convene experts from several industries who will highlight both national and international advancements in risk mitigation of competition manipulation and identify the steps organizations can take to the mitigate risks and protect their sport.?In the long run, we’re eager to work with the sport community to develop effective and sustainable approaches that will protect the integrity of sport and ensure safer sport experiences for Canadians.?

“Symposium registration is limited so I encourage anyone who’s interested to reserve a spot as soon as possible.”

Gaming News Canada Show goes on the road

We’ll be doing the LinkedIn Audio thing Thursday as they’re taking down the booths, exhibits and other paraphernalia from ICE 2023. Our on-the-road edition will include a wrapup of ICE, and we’re expecting to joined by The Score’s marketing and content guru, Aubrey Levy, to help us set the table for Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII in Arizona. Regular contributors Amanda Brewer and Will Hill are also scheduled to lend us their voices on the latest happenings.

And in case you missed it Sunday morning, the latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast is available for your listening pleasure. Brewer, Paul Burns, Nic Sulsky, Kris Abbott and Gavin Roth provided their respective perspectives on the comments of Conservative MP Kevin Waugh last week about the Ontario sports betting and gaming marketplace – including the brouhaha over the advertising by operators. Burns and Brewer also teed up ICE London.

The Company Line

On this final day of January 2023, we put The Company Line spotlight on Rootz, which last week received the green light from iGaming Ontario to introduce its online casino brands to the North American igaming market for the first time.

Birthdate:?2018

Home Base:?Malta

Founder:?Lasse Rantala, who is also the company’s CEO.

Raison D’Etre:?Rootz owns Wildz, Wheelz, Caxino and the streaming brand Spinz, and operates the games off of its proprietary platform. The company received its Ontario licence less than three months after joining the regulated German market.

If you’d like to have your business featured in the TCL section of GNC’s Tuesday edition, please drop us an email ([email protected]).

Follow us?@GamingNewsCA ?on Twitter for the latest news on the sports betting and gaming industry. For our daily picks and other sports video content, visit?@theParleh ?and?@Homestand . If you’d like to appear on our Thursday afternoon get-together at LinkedIn Audio, please let us know.

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