Gaming News Canada

For the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, host Steve McAllister is joined by the Senior Vice President of Group Operations at Sportradar, Sophie Thomas. Thomas, who joined Sportradar as Head of Snooker Operations in late 2012 and has served in her current role for a year now, made her maiden appearance on the GNCS at the end of a robust first quarter of 2026. Sportradar tapped into its November 2025 acquisition of IMG Arena to last week announce it is expanding its agreement with Hard Rock Bet to add PGA Tour and UFC data, odds and enhanced in-play wagering capabilities to its existing set of services in the U.S. of A. Earlier in the week, the company announced the launch of igaming brand Playradar which will combine sports data “expertise” with casino content for operators around the world, including Canada. That bit of news came on the heels of the hiring of former Playtech Live CEO Edo Haitin to oversee Sportradar’s igaming business. We asked Thomas for her thoughts on last week’s announcements and Sportradar’s increasing investment in igaming along with: The company’s involvement in this summer’s FIFA World Cup men’s tournament in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico;Other opportunities available through the IMG Arena acquisition;Working with operators to offer more in-play betting products at a time that some regulators and others are asking for a reduction in said products;Sportradar’s ongoing role supporting the efforts of leagues, organizations and other bodies in monitoring suspicious betting activity;If/how does the company fit with prediction markets, specifically given Sportradar’s deal with Major League Baseball, which just introduced Polymarket as a partner in a multi-year agreement.How Sportradar is exploiting the growth of women’s sports in North America and Europe.

On a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, Steve McAllister is joined by the co-founder and Managing Director of Partnerships for Oddin GG, Marek Suchar. Suchar, who launched the Prague-based company in 2018, continues to be bullish on the esports and esports betting industry despite recent layoffs at Riot Games and ClickOut Media. Suchar said it’s business as usual at Oddin, which supplies B2B products and services around esports odds, trading and risk management. The company’s co-founder also got into the state of esports in Canada, Oddin’s interest here and the need for the industry to continue its focus on integrity monitoring around the world.

The co-founder and Managing Director of iGaming B2B supplier mkdodo, Stuart Godfree, is Steve McAllister’s guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming. Godfree, whose company creates mobile apps and websites for sportsbook, casino and lottery operators, is among the legions of industry stakeholders on the road to regulation in Alberta. He provided his thoughts on the opportunities with an open market in the western Canadian province and the rules that have been in put in place for the application process. Godfree believes Mkodo’s current partnership with the Western Canada Lottery Corporation and AGLC has the company well-prepared to expand their presence there.  McAllister also asked his guest about the ongoing evolution of geolocation technology – including mkodo’s GeoLocs product and the evolution of how artificial intelligence is being used across the gambling industry.

Some 30 days before the inaugural event of the Rock League begins at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, The Curling Group co-founder/CEO Nic Sulsky made his long-awaited return to the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming. Since creating The Curling Group with partner Mike Cotton in April 2024, Sulsky and his TCG colleagues have acquired the Grand Slam of Curling from Sportsnet, given that series a major makeover and created Rock League – a series with six mixed-gender teams featuring the best players from around the world. Next month’s series debut in the city below Barrie will come on the heels of an Olympic Winter Games that parlayed competition and controversies into a highly engaged event for curling fans, sports fans and sports bettors.  Sulsky spoke with us about the impact of the Milan/Cortina Games curling event on the sport and its athletes, the feedback he has received from the athletes on The Curling Group’s promotional efforts (including the ultra-popular Grand Slam of Karaoke), the continued efforts to grow the game around the world, and sports betting’s place within TCG’s marketing strategy. Also, we asked Sulsky, one of the first senior executives to be hired in Ontario’s open and regulated sports betting and igaming market when he joined PointsBet Canada as Chief Commercial Officer in June 2021, for his thoughts on the recent action taken against his former employer by The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. And, of course, Sulsky and Steve McAllister had a chin wag about the incoming open market in Alberta.

On the 200th episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, it felt like your humble host was playing a game of 200 Questions with the President and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, Paul Burns. Burns has been a familiar voice and face on Gaming News Canada’s weekly audio show, going back to the early days when we gathered on Clubhouse every Thursday afternoon to talk about the soon-to-change Canadian gaming industry with the passing of Bill C-218 to legalize single-event sports betting in our home and native land. On this milestone episode, the CGA head honcho offered his thoughts on several recent happenings including: The recent actions taken by The Alcohol and Gaming Association of Ontario against both FanDuel and PointsBet Canada.The latest tete a tete between Loto-Québec and the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition.The iGaming Ontario hiring of former AGCO chief strategy officer Ben Valido as its first Chief Responsible Gaming Officer.The CGA’s involvement and the feedback it has received from its membership on the rules placed by operators and suppliers to do business in Alberta’s incoming open and competitive sports betting and gaming marketplace.Burns’s recent op-ed on efforts within the Senate and federal government to create its own rules around sports betting advertising. And much more.

The 2026 SBC Summit Canada has a new moniker, a new date and some new topics to be discussed. So, the folks in charge of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming figured the timing was appropriate to bring back SBC senior marketing guy Dennis Algreen. Algreen joined host Steve McAllister from London to set the table for this year’s gathering of the Canadian gaming industry in the city below Malton, set for May 19-21 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. We spoke with Algreen about another busy year for SBC, which also operates conferences in Rio de Janeiro, Malta, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Lisbon, about the topics to be discussed in Toronto. The summit’s dedicated conference agenda will feature three stages, each designed to reflect the key forces shaping Canada’s gaming landscape in 2026. Across two days, the program will cover leadership strategy in sports betting and casino, affiliate and advertising models, cybersecurity, land-based and lottery operations, player protection, and payments and compliance. Algreen also addressed the impact of the incoming open and competitive gaming market in Alberta on the Canadian summit, and the opportunity for the Toronto event to bring together legal operators and suppliers, provincial lottery and gaming corporations and First Nations gaming businesses and regulators.  Gaming News Canada is a partner of SBC for the Canadian conference, and we’re offering below a special discount to register for the May rendezvous.

Just before the torch was lit to officially open the Winter Olympic Games of Milan and Cortina, Italy, Jeremy Luke joined us on the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming. Luke, the president and CEO of Sport Integrity Canada, spoke with your humble host about a busy time for the rebranded organization, including its tri-focused mandate on safe sport, anti-doping and competition manipulation in our home and native land. SIC collaborated with the Canadian Olympic team pre-Winter Games to educate athletes about integrity monitoring and match fixing, and Luke also addressed the role of the International Olympic Committee in trying to keep the Games free of competition manipulation. Our conversation also included SIC’s partnerships with companies such as IC360 and Luke’s continuing advocacy for the federal government to sign onto the Macolin Convention. Luke and his organization is also keeping close tabs on this summer’s FIFA World Cup, which will include games here in Canada

Gaming industry veteran Adam Chernoff was our guest for a wide-ranging conversation during a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming. Chernoff, who returned to Covers at the beginning of 2026, this time as Senior Manager – Growth Initiatives, first cut his teeth in the sports betting industry as a sportsbook manager with Bahamas-based A Sure Win in 2011 in the days when lines were set by human beings, not algorithms. The Saskatchewan native also spoke at length about the evolution of regulated gambling in Canada, including a competitive Ontario market that will recognize its four-year anniversary in April and has produced more than $2 billion in tax revenue for the province.  We also asked Chernoff for his thoughts on the incoming open market in Alberta and on the ongoing business of affiliates in the sports wagering and gaming space.