RGC's annual report has an Ontarian slant to it

While the Responsible Gambling Council is in the business of helping prevent problem gambling across Canada and other parts of the world, the past year had the RGC devoting time, energy and resources in its own backyard.

That shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given the Toronto-based non-profit organization had a front-row seat to the opening of regulated sports betting and igaming in Ontari-ari-ari-o. The council released late last week its 2022-23 annual report, and among the highlights are:

• With funding support from the Ontario Ministry of Health – included in the $3.6 million that came from the province – the RGC developed new public information and education programs for youth, young adults, and ethno-cultural communities.
• The RG Check accreditation program became a must-have for all operators entering the Ontario market. The first round of accreditations with nine operators were conducted, “providing RGC and the industry operators with valuable insights into the strengths of the operators’ RG strategies and programs. This also provided the opportunity to identify where improvements are required to optimize consumer protection”.
• At the beginning of this year, the council conducted a poll to collect insights into plans for Ontarians to both watch and bet on the Super Bowl. The results were used by the RBC to develop targeted harm-prevention public education.
• The organization’s partnership with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, its staff connected with more than 65,000 visitors to the PlaySmart centres, while providing support to more than 5,000 people.

Also, when the tidal wave of operators to Ontario more than a year ago brought an accompanying tsunami of advertising, the council got together with thinkTV to produce the Know the Risks marketing campaign and promote responsible gambling.

RGC chief executive officer Shelley White will be our guest this week on the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to discuss the annual report, and other goings-on within the council these days.

Speaking of the show, we’re hanging the Gone Fishing sign on LinkedIn Audio again this week, and instead will deliver interviews with both White and veteran American media executive Peter Scott will join us on the podcast.

And, in case you were off the grid and away from all devices last week, sports betting, gaming and innovation executive Owen Welsh from the CFL, and Quebec Online Gaming Coalition spokeswoman Nathalie Bergeron were our special guests on the GNCS.

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The Company Line

The latest edition of TCL shines the LED light on the International Betting Integrity Association.

Birthdate:?2005

Home Base:?Brussels, Belgium

Founders:?A somewhat deep perusing of the internets came up empty in finding the founding mothers/fathers of the agency although we’re told that it was a coalition of sportsbooks that got the ball rolling. Khalid Ali is the current chief executive officer, and Betway’s Jonathan Russell is the chair of the board.

Raison D’Etre: IBIA, originally called ESSA when it launched, is a global voice on integrity for the licensed wagering industry, and its members share the common goal of fighting against corruption and match-fixing to protect the integrity of sport and their businesses. The association represents more than 125 sports betting brands and around 70 per cent of Ontario’s regulated market. It also has a partnership with the Canadian Gaming Association, and announced last month that it will contribute – along with bet365, Betway and FanDuel – $300,000 over the next three years to a Canada-wide education plan for athletes on match-fixing and corruption in sport.

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Revisiting a deep dive into early days of Ontario market

Our executive producer got into the spirit of the summer rerun season on the tele-o-vision over the weekend. Instead of settling down to rewatch old episodes of Transplant, The Equalizer and/or one of the NCIS offerings, they did a digital digging of the Gaming News Canada archives and came across the webinar produced in collaboration with Spotlight Sports Group in May 2022.

Spotlight executive Rick Wolf, theScore marketing/content chief Aubrey Levy and PointsBet Canada CCO Nic Sulsky tossed around several topics on the first seven weeks of Ontario’s regulated sports betting and igaming industry. Some 14 months later, it’s more than interesting to see what’s evolved – and what hasn’t changed – since market opening on April 4, 2022, including the marriage of sports media and sports betting, putting product over promotion, and regulated operators in Ontario trying to be creative with advertising and marketing efforts in a market where promoting bonuses and enhancements is, and continues to be, verboten. It’s also worth noting Sulsky’s mentioning of Billie Jean King, Jayna Hefford and women’s hockey, given the recent happenings around the world of female puck.

While we await an announcement from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario on expected changes to advertising standards, we suggest giving the webinar a watch/listen. In the meantime, we’ve added to our Summer of 2023 To Do list bringing the Wolf-Levy-Sulsky trio back together to pick up the conversation.

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