Future looking bright for Canada’s largest casino firm.
The executive board members of Great Canadian Gaming (GCG) are
putting on their shades after last week’s gleaming revenue report
highlighted excellent second quarter results with a brilliant outlook
for the next half of 2019. Revenues and shares were up, divestments
and projects were completed, and new partnerships were forged.
GCG Chief Executive Officer Rod Baker is particularly pleased with
the company’s performance over the last three months ending June 30,
2019, and is looking forward to a very bright future – especially
in Ontario, where a powerful focus is resulting in the most growth.
He believes its the company’s “disciplined approach” to
fortifying GCG’s infrastructure with strategic expenditures that’s
driving the firm ahead at such a phenomenal pace.
Revenues Soar for Canada’s Largest Casino Firm
In the financial highlights segment of last Tuesday’s GCG second
quarter (Q2) 2019 earnings conference
call, Baker noted a 20% increase in revenue, rising from
$295.2 million in Q2-18 to $354.4 million in Q2-19. He attributed the
boost in revenue to a variety of rationale:
One extra month of operations at properties in the company’s West
GTA Gaming Bundle, compare to the same time period last year.
Additional revenue from newly introduced table games at Woodbine
Casino.
Additional revenue from expanded gaming opportunities at Elements
Casino Mohawk.
Heightened revenue from East Gaming Bundle following grand openings
of Shorelines Casino Peterborough (Oct. 15, 2018) and Shorelines
Slots at Kwartha Downs (Dec. 19, 2018).
GCG’s expenditure budget for the Ontario Gaming Bundle was nearly
doubled year over year from $12.7 million to $23.6 million in Q2-19.
Revenue also rose in the British Columbia market, but the increase
was attributed primarily to a single occurrence – a labour
disruption at Hard Rock Casino Vancouver “that resulted in limited
gaming and hospitality offerings for a portion of 2018.”
Shareholders earnings were a topic of much rejoicing during the
conference call. GCG’s investors experienced net earnings of $48
million ($0.81 per common share) during the second quarter, an
increase of $7.4 million ($0.15 per common share) YoY.
H2-19 Strategy: Spend Money to Make Money
“2019 is a year of significant capital expenditures as we build our
infrastructure in Ontario to execute our strategic plan,” explained
CEO Baker. “We have already accomplished several major milestones
in the first half of the year including the new building addition at
Great Blue Heron Casino and the gaming expansion at Elements Casino
Mohawk. For the remainder of 2019, we continue to work towards
completing several developments in Ontario, particularly at Elements
Casino Flamboro and Elements Casino Grand River, which will include
expanded gaming and new food and beverage offerings that we expect to
complete by the end of 2019.”
Baker also spoke of the two-phase opening of Pickering Casino Resort,
the first of which is scheduled to occur in Q1-20. The first phase
will include gaming and dining venues. The timeline for the second
phase has yet to be determined, but it will include “premium
nongaming amenities”, like a hotel, retail stores, entertainment
venue and additional dining options.
In closing, Baker credited the company’s recent and ongoing success
to its “disciplined approach to use of capital opportunities and to
explore opportunities that will improve our business and increase
value to our shareholders.”
Court of
Appeals decides GotSkill’s skill-based games are gambling, therefore
illegal in Ontario.
Games of skill versus games of chance – is there really that much
of a difference? Ontario Superior Court Justice Andras Schreck
thought so last year. Turns out, he was wrong. The Court
of Appeals overturned his decision this week regarding a
collection of popular skill-based gaming cabinets from the company
GotSkill.
The new decision is not being taken lightly – not by the executives
at GotSkill, nor the owners of more than two hundred local bars and
clubs where the games were installed. Despite their outrage, there’s
absolutely nothing that can be done, except for removing the now
illegal games, of course. According tot he appellate court’s
decision, GotSkill has no grounds to appeal this decision, making it
unquestionably final.
GotSkill’s Skill-Based Games are Gambling in Ontario
If you’re one of the countless fans of GotSkill’s gaming cabinets,
present throughout locations all over the province, don’t be
surprised if these games are missing from your favorite bar or
restaurant the next time you visit. Following a legal battle that’s
been ongoing for more
than a year now, the machines have been declared to be in
violation of Ontario’s gaming laws.
According to the Court of Appeals, Justice Schrek made one critical
error in his evaluation of the company’s SkillBet cabinets last year.
He had determined that players of superior skill would be capable of
beating the game, winning more money from the games then they paid to
play them. Based on this assumption, he decided that they did not
fall under the definition of a game of chance, therefore were
not illegal.
The Appellate Court disagreed with this theory based on the fact that
only those of exceptional skill could consistently beat the games.
The average player, on the other hand, would be reliant more on
chance than skill to win, thus losing more than they win. Therefore,
the amusements could only be defined as games of chance.
When the appeal was filed earlier this year, GotSkill was confident
that another ruling would go in their favor. They weren’t the only
ones, either. Many more bars chose to install the skill-based gaming
cabinets, while some retailers who already offered the games upped
their number of installments by 2-3 times. You can imagine their
disappointment now, following an unimagined outcome.
Despite its former confidence, GotSkill did state months ago that if
the appeal did not return a decision in their favor, it would result
in an abundance of job losses for the company. So far, there’s been
no word from corporate as their heads are surely still reeling from
the news.
Furthermore, the courts have not issued a timeline for removal of the
skill-based games from local area bars and clubs. It’s safe to assume
the machines will be made inoperable before the month is out.
AGCO Won’t Tolerate Illegal Gambling in Ontario
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which
filed the appeal back in January, is pleased with this latest turn of
events. They feel that their rules in regards to gambling in Ontario
are very strict, and must not be violated lest the public well-being
be put at risk.
AGCO regulations expressly prohibit gambling in bars and restaurants.
Gambling is confined to commercial casinos and charitable gaming
venues, all of which must obtain authorization from the Ontario
Lottery and Gaming Corp (OLG). Only First Nations casinos may
operate without an OLG license, and even they must abide by certain
restrictions.
Canada iGaming firm The Stars Group is teaming with New York’s Akwesane Mohawk Casino for live and online sports betting; online poker to follow?
The legalization of sports betting in New York has caused quite a
stir, not just in the Empire State, but across the border into
Ontario and Quebec, Canada. New York happens to have a few tribal
casinos near its borders, granting rather convenient access for
Canadian sports fans to enter the country and place all the wagers
their hearts desire.
Here in Canada, it’s not illegal to bet on sports, but it is highly
restrictive. We are forced to make bets with long odds – parlays,
they’re called. Multiple picks, and they must all win, or the bet is
lost. For years, many Canadians have trusted offshore gambling
websites to place the bets they really want. But now – or rather,
very soon – New York will present the same single event betting
opportunities we crave, live and in person.
Oddly enough, it’s one of our own who will operate the first
sportsbook across the St. Lawrence River. The Stars Group
(TSG, formerly Amaya Inc.) of Toronto have inked a deal with the
Akwesane Mohawk Casino Resort to run the property’s upcoming
sports betting business.
Canada iGaming Firm TSG Signs with NY’s Akwesane
Mohawk Casino
TSG’s benchmark contract gives the Canadian firm a foothold in the
budding iGaming business of New York. The group’s contract gives them
operational rights over an online sportsbook for the property, and
will also see them performing support services for the casino’s
retail sportsbook.
TSG’s newly appointed CEO, Robin Chhabra, comments:
“We are excited to announce this agreement with Mohawk, which further strengthens our market access as we work to build our Fox Bet business into one of the leaders in the emerging U.S. online betting and gaming market.”
The terms of the agreements are extensive, giving Stars Group the
right to launch its online poker and online casino offerings as well,
if and when New York takes the next step to legalize those iGaming
activities. TSG is, of course, the owner of PokerStars, the world’s
largest online poker room. And if more casinos sign sportsbook
contracts with major operators like TSG, maybe it will help motivate
New York legislators to move in that direction, based on the success
in neighboring New Jersey, if nothing else.
At this point, it’s been widely speculated that New York will become
the fifth US state to regulate online poker. No doubt Stars Group is
banking on it, hoping to tap into yet another lucrative market on US
soil. For the time being, their focusing on the growth of their US
sports offers via another recent partnership with Fox Sports,
which has the two brands collaborating on the production of Fox
Bet.
PokerStars Events Getting Closer to Home?
It’s worth noting that single-event bets aren’t the only thing off
limits to Canadian players. PokerStars is another area of legal
contention in the Great White North. While the operator claims to
accept Canadian customers, it’s no secret that their doing so teeters
of the border of unlawful internet gambling.
Canada’s iGaming laws are known to be far less restrictive than our
neighbors to the south. The only thing we must abide by is the law
that states no entity with a physical presence in Canada may provide
gambling services without a provincial license to do so.
With Toronto being home to TSG headquarters, and having no license
from any provincial regulator in the country, Canadian players would
be wise to keep their distance from the online poker room. But what
about PokerStars Live? If the New York casino were to open a live
branded poker room so close to the border, it could open the flood
gates for Canadian poker pros to hit up new PokerStars sponsored
events a lot closer to home. It’s all speculation for now, but I have
no doubt the gears are turning in the minds of TSG executives.
OLG “closing the gender gap” in live, online gaming technology.
Women have enjoyed a strong presence
in the work force for more than half a century. Their roles, however,
have yet to catch up to that of men, especially when it comes to
higher positions of power, or more tech savvy roles. It’s a
recognizable problem, and one that’s receiving more attention in the
Canadian business world.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming
Corporation (OLG) has been taking a closer look at gender equality in
recent years. The province’s gambling regulator mapped a resolution,
putting the plan into effect in 2018. Now, 12 months into the
project, their efforts are proving fruitful.
Women in Live and Online Gaming Technology
In April 2018, OLG began a new
movement they termed the Gender Strategy. Prior to the project, the
corporation’s 2017 employee dockets revealed only 22% of their
technology department was staffed by females. Over the next year, a
strong focus was put on ensuring that women had equal employment
opportunities within the field.
Slowly but surely, the the gender
gap began visibly shrinking, and by April 2019, 29% of the technology
department was staffed by female employees. An increase of 7% may not
seem like a huge difference, but in the grand the scheme of things,
it puts OLG’s tech staff 5% ahead of the national average in
employing women.
Even more impressive is OLG’s
managerial staff numbers. On the senior leadership level, the number
of women in higher positions rose 14%. Having made such an impressive
leap in gender equality, OLG was the obvious choice as presenting
sponsor of the 2019 #movethedial
stories event, held last month in Toronto.
Inspirational Commentary of OLG’s Executive Women
Two of OLG’s leading ladies, Wai
Yu and Jessica Ylanko, spoke at the event. Both were
enthusiastic about sharing
their valuable experiences with the corporation over the
years.
Ms. Yu was promoted to Senior Vice
President, and Chief Digital, Marketing and Customer Experience at
OLG, in August of last year. It might be the Gender Strategy program
that helped get her recognized, but it was her long-term expertise
that earned her the position. She spent 6 years as Board Director of
the Information Technology Association of Canada (2010-2016), and
another as Chairman of that Board (2017), before moving into her
current role at OLG.
“As an industry facing shifting demographics and advances in technology, OLG is focused on transforming how it engages with customers… Transformation is hard, especially in tech, but we shouldn’t be afraid of the challenge. I’m excited to help OLG become the customer centric, digital enterprise it wants to be in the future.”
Ms Ylanko, a self-described
‘strategic thinker in the digital space’, has spent more than
two year’s as OLG’s Digital Marketing Manager. After receiving a B.A.
In Communications and Media (2008-12) and a Post Graduate Degree in
Advertising (2012-13), she began working for OLG as an Account
Coordinator in 2014, Account Manager in 2015, and transitioned to
Account and Project Manager in 2016, leading up to her current
position.
“Its been fantastic working at an organization where it’s not unusual for me to work on a project with an all-female team. The trust and support we get from our leaders have allowed us to innovate in ways that our customers are really responding to.”
Experts warn legal sports betting to feed match fixing crisis.
Competitive sports are a fascinating thing. Athletic contests, from feats of strength, to races, to team exhibitions, have existed as long as mankind has walked the earth. And for all that time, we’ve suffered the compulsion to pick a favorite – a likely winner – one we’re so confident in that some of us are willing to stakes something we hold dear upon it.
Thus is the nature of the timeless pastime we call sports betting.
Sure, some of us are pure fans of the game, watching and cheering on
our favorites for no other reason than our passion for the sport. But
there’s no denying, a little action certainly raises the bar of
exhilaration for viewers.
It’s not just the chance to win money that excites us, but the
unpredictability of it all. We may truly believe we’ve picked a
winner, but deep down, we know anything can happen, and it’s that
uncertainty that drives the adrenaline ever faster through our veins
as the game clock winds down.
Take away the unpredictability, and you take away everything that
gives a sport meaning. No one will watch anymore. None will wager.
The players will lose their drive. Teams will disband. Without
unpredictability, sports will cease to exist.
As irrational as this sounds, it is not so preposterous when you look
at the bigger picture; at what’s taking place behind the scenes all
over the world. And now that the legalization of sports betting is
spreading rapidly through the veins of North America, experts are
becoming more concerned than ever.
Legal Sports Betting to Feed Match Fixing in
Sports
For decades, the most persuasive argument against the legalization of sports betting has been the fear of rampant match fixing. It’s a foul enterprise that’s been present for ages. The prohibition on sports gambling wasn’t enough to prevent it, and now experts say the lifting of such bans could become the catalyst for the eventual demise of sports integrity.
Who are these so-called experts? They are Richard McLaren and
David Howman, both speakers at the Symposium on Match
Manipulation and Gambling in Sport, held in Toronto earlier this
week.
Richard McLaren, a Canadian law professor and CEO of McLaren
Global Sport Solutions, authored a state-sponsored report on the
Russian match fixing crisis in 2016. David Howman, a New Zealand
barrister, is the former director of the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA, 2003-16), and current chair of the Athletic Integrity Unit.
Together, the two men described a sobering environment in which match
manipulation is becoming more prominent than doping. These two
factors combined are now the most alarming issues threatening the
integrity of sports all over the world.
Multiple cases of match fixing have been identified in tennis for the
last few years – especially at the lower amateur levels, where
athletes hardly make enough money to cover their cost participation –
but never so many incidents as were unearthed in 2018. More recently,
a pair of snooker players were banned for match fixing and failing to
report corruption. Just two months ago, a soccer referee received a
lifetime ban for accepting bribes to manipulate matches.
Organized Crime Syndicates to Blame
Howman pins the problem on organized crime syndicates. “I have done
a lot of work in the general sport integrity area and I can quote you
what I am told by people who work in that more general business,
including enforcement agents,” he said. “They all say the biggest
threat to sport integrity is organised crime.”
Andy Cunningham, Director of Integrity for Sportradar, a
company that monitors and analyzes patterns in sports betting,
reporting its intelligence to more than one hundred governing sports
authorities, accentuated Howman’s message.
“We saw it coming at WADA and I raised it during my term there as a
significant issue that needed to be countered by world sport, because
the bad guys involved in pushing dope and steroids are the same bad
guys involved in match manipulation,” said Cunningham.
According to Interpol, an estimated $500 billion per year is wagered
on sports – a hard figure to come by when it includes both legal
and illegal wagering activity. Nonetheless, it presents a tasty
smorgasbord for match fixers, who making untold amounts of money
manipulating the outcomes of everything from the highest rungs of
World Cup matches to the lowly Canadian Soccer League (CSL).
Sports wagering lobbyist to give Canada’s politicians an earful.
The push to legalize sports betting in Canada rages on this week as the region’s premier sports news authority, theScore, is taking matters into their own hands. The Toronto-based company has hired a professional government relations expert to lobby on behalf of its company and countless sports fans across the nation.
Making the rounds at federal and provincial government hearings is
one way to get your message out. Hiring a professional lobbyist who’s
spent years navigating that complex environment is the better way.
Such experts know how to find a champion for the cause, capable of
finding ways to root the issues in their political priorities.
theScore Hires Professional Sports Wagering
Lobbyist
Executive members of sports media firm didn’t have to go far to find
the best man for the job. Also nestled in the heart of Toronto is
Pathway Group, headed by co-founder and President Peter
Curtis. He has decades of experience working with and within all
levels of government, and is beyond qualified for the role.
Mr. Curtis’s experience in politics speaks for itself, from his
teenage years when he walked into a campaign office in Dundas for the
first time, to his current position of Executive Vice President of
the Ontario Liberal Party.
Last week, Mr. Curtis made his latest mission quite clear. On behalf
of theScore, the government relations aficionado filed
a registration with the federal Office of the Commissioner
of Lobbying. The brief filing declares his intention of “lobbying
(to) legalize sports betting”, and pin-points his political targets
as Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister’s office.
Capitalizing on NA’s Love for Pro Sports Betting
theScore has spent the last year attempting to capitalize on North
America’s desire to bet on sports in a legal capacity. Months from
now, the company plans to become the first media brand to launch its
own online sportsbook, based out of New Jersey, USA. No doubt the
firm would like to be able to follow that same path in its home base
of Canada.
Originally founded in 1994 as Scorescope, the company started
out as an alphanumeric scrolling ticker that displayed sports scores
during regularly scheduled television shows, even during commercials.
It was an enormously successful brand that evolved into the national,
24-hour Headline Sports channel in 1997, and theScore
Television Network in 2000. Then in 2012, Rogers bought
out the parent company, rebranding it Sportsnet 360.
That same year, John S. Levy founded theScore Inc.,
essentially relaunching the brand under its own representation. It’s
since become a primary source of sports media in Canada, and a prime
candidate for capitalizing on what is sure to become an extremely
lucrative market, if and when Canada legalizes sports wagering.
Last month, Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli wrote a now-famous
letter to his federal counterpart, Bill Morneau. Within, he called
“single event sports wagering…one of the fastest growing
categories of gambling entertainment.” adding a glaring statistic
that “90 per cent of the sports dollars wagered in Nevada
sportsbooks are on single events.”
This gave Ontario yet another nudge, leading to its decision to
“establish a competitive market for online gambling” within the
2019 budget proposal; one that includes hopes for legal single-event
betting. The response from theScore came swift and adamant.
“theScore has always embraced the fact that sports betting is part
of the overall fan experience,” said founder and CEO John Levy. “It
is finally time for jurisdictions across Canada to adopt common sense
sports betting regulation.”
Canada’s favorite sports league partners with UK betting giant.
This
story is starting to get old. It seems like every time I turn around,
there’s another reason why Canada should legalize sportsbooks and
single-event betting. Well, here’s another one for you. The National
Hockey League (NHL) has signed a new sponsorship deal. As of last
week, UK-based bookmaking giant William Hill became the
official
sports betting partner of the NHL.
Don’t
misunderstand. This move has nothing to do with convincing the
Canadian federal government to legalize sportsbooks. That’s just a
sideline perk that’s bound to raise political eyebrows in the Great
White North. The real purpose is, of course, to make monumental
bundles of cash for William Hill, the NHL, and the tax coffers of US
states where betting on sports has been legalized.
Betting on Canada’s Favorite Sports League
There’s
no question that ice hockey is the number one sport in Canada. Like
soccer in Europe, or football in America, the NHL gets more attention
from Canucks than any other sport by far. We love the game so much,
many of our teams glorify their fans with names like the Montreal
Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the
Vancouver Canucks.
Just
because single-event betting isn’t expressly legal in the country
doesn’t mean that fans aren’t wagering on the games. We love to make
the games a little more interesting, just like people in the rest of
the world where single-event action is legal. We just have to go a
little further to place those bets – specifically, to international
online sportsbooks.
The
Canadian government is well aware of this. Provincial leaders, in
particular, are hoping for a change to sports betting laws. The
launch of legal sportsbooks in Canada would stop millions upon
millions of dollars from flowing offshore each and every year,
putting that money right back into the communities from which it was
wagered. That’s what parlay-style sports lotteries – the only legal
means of betting on sports we have now – do for each province. But
those bets have terrible odds, in turn generating terrible
participation levels.
How Might William Hill Partnership Help?
In
the past, professional sports leagues had no interest in sports
betting. In fact, they were dead set against the idea of people
betting on their games. It was believed that a legal sports betting
regime would promote duplicitous dealings like match-fixing. Now,
however, it’s been determined that regulation shines a much brighter
light on the activity, better serving to protect sports from
underhanded dealings. It also helps leagues to generate a larger
viewership base by increasing fan participation.
The
fact that the NHL – Canada’s number one sports league – is in
support of legalization, sends a clear message to all people of
Canada, from class-A citizens up to federal-grade politicians, that
sports betting is not the enemy.
This
isn’t the NHL’s first foray into betting partnerships, either. Last
November, the National Hockey League signed a contract with daily
fantasy sports giant FanDuel Group. DFS hasn’t been so
controversial in Canada; a moot issue that’s considered legal simply
because it’s not expressly illegal. That same cannot be said of
single-event sports betting, where punters put action on the outcome
of a single sporting event.
Let’s
not forget that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent years playing
hockey in college and has proven his fandom for the sport ever since.
He’s expressed his loyalty to the Montreal Canadiens on numerous
occasions, and certainly seems to enjoy discussing NHL trades more
than hard-line politics with the media. But is he acquiesce to
legalizing sportsbooks in Canada? Only time will tell that tale, and
whether the NHL’s willingness to play along will have any impact on
the ending.
Canada Online Sportsbooks & Casinos: One thing leads to another…
The largest, most populated provinces in Canada have recognized the need for a competitive, internet-based gambling market. British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec each offer their residents a safe and secure, home-grown online casino venue, complete with a wide range of gaming options. For Canadian casino fans, it’s more than enough. But what about those who also enjoy sports betting?
The argument has been circulating for years, but never so vigorously as it has since May of this year. That’s the month the US Supreme Court overturned a 26-year old law banning sports betting across most of the country.
Canadians are no longer content to play their Pro Line parlay tickets. They want good odds, on single event bets, and they know exactly where to get them. And while they’re at it, they’re taking advantage of other online gambling needs that they could have gotten right here in Canada. But why should they?
Best Canada Online Sportsbooks Aren’t in Canada
The law may not permit Canadians to bet on single sporting events here at home, but there’s no legal recourse for betting over the internet with internationally regulated sportsbooks. Logging onto these websites gives punters access to all the games they could ever desire to bet on, in all ways imaginable, and then some.
For years, a small margin of Canadian sports fans used offshore sportsbooks to place their bets. Now that it’s legal to do so for our neighbors to the south, the attraction is so much stronger. And with mobile gambling set to surpass traditional desktop betting, it’s more convenient than ever before, as well.
The end result is simple. With no good online sports betting in Canada, more and more people are accessing international betting sites than ever. But that’s only part of the problem. International sportsbooks aren’t just taking a toll on our Pro Line ticket sales. They’re detracting from the clientele at those provincially run online casinos our government officials spent so much time and money establishing.
One Thing Leads to Another…
So many of today’s premier online gambling websites are a multi-channel affair. Take Unibet for example. It’s a one-stop-shop for all your iGaming needs. There’s Unibet Sports, Unibet Casino, Unibet Poker, Unibet Bingo, etc., etc., etc. A lot of today’s major brands offer the same multi-channel set-up. When a Canadian joins one of these websites to gain access to good online sports betting odds, what’s to stop them from using the other verticals?
Think about it. Bob from Ontario could use Unibet Sports to bet on the Toronto Blue Jays, and then log into PlayOLG.com for his blackjack gaming, but why should he? Bob is a busy man. With Unibet, he could make a single deposit into a single account, then bet on both with just a few taps of his finger. Bob would also have access to larger deposit bonuses, bigger tournaments and a throng of additional promotions that home-grown operators simply can’t stack up to.
The only argument Canadian provinces can pose is that Bob should game with them, because his losses will end up in the provincial tax coffers. Bob doesn’t want to hear that. Bob wants to hear that. He doesn’t want to hear how his losing will benefit others. He wants to focus on winning. And with offshore online sportsbooks and casinos, his odds of winning are so much better.
We Need Good Online Sportsbooks in Canada
As you can see, the need for more liberal sports betting laws goes so much deeper than most of our government officials, and even regulatory bodies, realize. It’s not just sportsbook revenue we’re losing out on. It’s not just a mere fraction of Canadians taking advantage of offshore internet gambling websites.
One thing leads to another, and the problem will only get bigger. Instead of missing out on higher revenue, provinces are going to start losing revenue all across Canada. Online sportsbooks are what the people want, and until the government gives it to them, they’re going go out and get it—along with everything else they want to wager on—elsewhere.
IGT brings its electronic bingo games to Ontario, Canada.
International Game Technology (IGT) is one of the oldest manufacturers of gambling amusements in the world. The company has pioneered a number of gaming innovations over the decades. They develop every form of gaming known to man—both for land-based and digital; online and mobile casinos. With a fantastic reputation for quality and excellence, it’s no wonder Canadian regulators have time and again chosen IGT when looking to expand their gaming services.
Ontario, like British Columbia before them, chose IGT’s impressive portfolio of interactive slots and table games to power the launch of their provincially-run online casino in 2015. Now, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp (OLG) is looking to IGT once again to propagate their latest installment of electronic bingo.
According to a press release on Wednesday, IGT will be working with lotteries all over Canada. E-Bingo games are first being debuted in Ontario, with installments at a dozen gaming facilities.
IGT Electronic Bingo Games in Ontario, Canada
IGT announced yesterday that they’ve “recently launched first-of-its-kind electronic bingo content for the Canadian market.” The initial, localized release is taking place in Ontario under the supervision of the OLG.
The pilot program features the introduction of numerous IGT E-Bingo titles, available exclusively at 12 OLG-authorized charitable gaming centers. They include games like Bengal Eyes, Golden Rooster, Pharaoh’s Legacy, and others.
“Launching electronic bingo content in Canada represents a meaningful growth opportunity for IGT and its customers,” explains IGT’s Regional VP for Canada, David Flinn.
“IGT’s Canadian bingo portfolio complements the company’s existing solutions portfolio for the region, and is anchored in titles that have been localized to meet the needs of our customers and their players.”
Canada E-Bingo Not What You Might Think…
When you hear the word “bingo”, you probably think of a traditional bingo game. We picture cards with numbers, daubers, bingo callers, etc. An electronic version of that would bring to mind an automated game, probably something similar to Keno, except that we don’t pick our numbers first. That’s not at all what Ontario players are now privy to.
Electronic bingo is incredibly similar to a slot machine. In fact, it’s so keenly mirrored, many players fail to notice the difference. These games look like slot machines, they play like slot machines, they even pay out like slot machines. The only difference is what decides whether the reels turn up a winning combination or not.
Over to the side of the machine, on the far right, there’s a slim line graphic that depicts a small bingo card, with a range of bingo numbers below. As the reels spin, bingo balls are quickly called, and the card is marked. The amount of numbers that match determine if the play is a win, and if so, how much it’s worth. But the players rarely pay attention to this. Instead, they see the mimicking of slot machine action as symbols appear on a set of reels on the main screen. If the bingo card was a win, the symbols will depict a win of equal value on the reels. If not, the symbols will not line up a win, resulting in a loss.
Electronic bingo games give gaming centers that are only authorized to provide Class II gambling games (i.e. bingo) the ability to provide their customers with what looks and feels like a slot machine experience. If the pilot program goes well, you can expect to see a whole lot more IGT E-Bingo games in Canada.
USA and Canada slot machines market a gold mine in 2018.
The global gambling industry has had its fair share of ups and downs. Whether by natural disaster or tumbling economic design, the pitfalls can be devastating for casinos and their game suppliers. Conversely, when the waves are cresting, the celebrations abound, worthy of uncorking the finest Boërl & Kroff Brut.
That’s where the slot machine manufactures that supply the North American market are right about now. According to the latest research report by the experts at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, American and Canadian slots sales are up. They attribute the launch of several new and renovated casinos across the region has a lot to do with it.
USA & Canada Slot Machines a Gold Mine in Q2-2018
According to the report, the second quarter of 2018 has been the most lucrative for slots manufacturers servicing in the North American casino sector. Sales are up 15.7% across the USA and Canada combined.
Eilers & Krejcik point to the expansion of new casinos across the continent as the most pertinent source of increasing distribution. Just a few short years ago, an economic recession forced several casinos to close their doors, especially in New Jersey. In 2014 alone, the number of Atlantic City casinos dropped from 12 to 7, and continued to decline over the next two years.
Now, as the economy climbs out of recession, there’s been a resurgence in land-based casinos. Two new resorts opened in Atlantic City in June 2018; Ocean Resort Casino and Hard Rock Atlantic City. MGM Resorts opened the doors to it latest integrated resort property, MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, in August 2018.
North of the 49th parallel, more new casinos are opening their doors and widening their floors. The two largest private gaming companies in Canada, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment and Great Canadian Gaming, have procured one contract after another to build new casinos, or expand the size of existing ones, from Vancouver, British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario.
Gateway’s renovated and rebranded Starlight Casino at the West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, Alberta) opened in September, followed by GCG’s launch of Shorelines Casino in Peterborough, Ontario in October. Those properties alone added about 1,000 new slots games to the gaming equipment invoices.
More Room for USA & Canadian Slots
Last month, everyone who is anyone in the gambling industry was in Las Vegas for the annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E). Todd Eilers and Adam Krejcik were, of course, among them. The two made some bold predictions at G2E 2018, including the prediction that there’s vast room for continued growth in the USA and Canada slot machines market.
“There are 106,000 slots currently installed in 10 legal route markets in North America,” Eilers told the crowd of attendees. “We believe there is untapped potential for an additional 200,000 to 300,000 incremental games.”
He also notes that of the total $6.9 billion in global gaming equipment sales last year, an estimated 81% ($5.59bn) was linked directly to slot machine installments. Eilers estimates the overall figure is on pace to reach $7.1 billion by the end of 2018.
The largest, most populated provinces in Canada have recognized the need for a competitive, internet-based gambling market. British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec each offer their residents a safe and secure, home-grown online casino venue, complete with a wide range of gaming options. For Canadian casino fans, it’s more than enough. But what about those who also enjoy sports betting?
International Game Technology (IGT) is one of the oldest manufacturers of gambling amusements in the world. The company has pioneered a number of gaming innovations over the decades. They develop every form of gaming known to man—both for land-based and digital; online and mobile casinos. With a fantastic reputation for quality and excellence, it’s no wonder Canadian regulators have time and again chosen IGT when looking to expand their gaming services.
When you hear the word “bingo”, you probably think of a traditional bingo game. We picture cards with numbers, daubers, bingo callers, etc. An electronic version of that would bring to mind an automated game, probably something similar to Keno, except that we don’t pick our numbers first. That’s not at all what Ontario players are now privy to.
The global gambling industry has had its fair share of ups and downs. Whether by natural disaster or tumbling economic design, the pitfalls can be devastating for casinos and their game suppliers. Conversely, when the waves are cresting, the celebrations abound, worthy of uncorking the finest Boërl & Kroff Brut.
Eilers & Krejcik point to the expansion of new casinos across the continent as the most pertinent source of increasing distribution. Just a few short years ago, an economic recession forced several casinos to close their doors, especially in New Jersey. In 2014 alone, the number of Atlantic City casinos dropped from 12 to 7, and continued to decline over the next two years.