Gaming News Canada

The dog days of summer they aren’t for the North American gaming industry, especially south of the border. Hence, our motivation to get Saam Hafezi and Shawn Fluharty back on the Gaming News Canada Show this week. Fluharty, the head of government affairs for Play’n Go, has been busy in recent weeks with his appearance at the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit’s forum on responsible gaming and gambling policy, and at an at-times contentious National Council of Legislators from Gaming States conference. That gathering prompted some fireworks with a legal beagle from Kalshi, as its presence in the betting gaming is setting off alarm bells and court battles in the U.S. So, we asked Fluharty for his takeaways from the G7 forum in Calgary, and the NCLGS event. He was joined by Hafezi, the North American regional director for Play’n Go, to discuss the online games supplier’s ongoing business in Ontario, its partnership with Loto-Quebec, and their thoughts on the to-come open market in Alberta. Given the focus on responsible gambling measures in both Canada and the U.S. these days, we also asked Hafezi and Fluharty how their company is contributing to the RG conversation.

Harry Levant walked out of a casino after making what would be his final wager on April 27, 2014, returned to his hotel room and attempted to write a suicide note to leave for his family. He decided against taking his own life and has spent the past four years dedicated to working with people struggling with gambling addiction, as he did. Now a Doctor of Law and Policy, and the Director of Gambling Policy at Northeastern University. Levant has been a loud voice on what he believes the regulated gaming industry is getting wrong when it comes to prevention of harm from sports wagering and online casino games. The good doctor, who was recently quoted in a Washington Post article on abuse of athletes on social media, and on CBS 60 Minutes about the impact of technology on problem gambling, was our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show.  He shared his story from that April night 11 years ago, the judge who gave him a second chance and his path to becoming a counselor, therapist and now leading the charge in developing a public health response to what he calls “the crisis created by the unprecedented expansion of the gambling industry”. We asked Levant for his thoughts on the impact of in-play betting, easy access to online gaming, what he’d like to see happen with advertising around sports events, and his response to the bill introduced by Sen. Marty Deacon in the Canadian Senate to create a national framework on sports betting advertising. Levant also spoke about the efforts by operators, regulators and other companies/organizations in the regulated gaming industry to reduce gambling harm.

The Responsible Gambling Council over the past week announced the release of a Gambling, Marketing and Advertising report that was funded by Flutter Entertainment. RGC CEO Sarah McCarthy was in Ottawa with Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming Stan Cho, OLG head honcho Duncan Hannay and other executive types for the opening of the PlaySmart Centre inside the spanking new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the nation’s capital. Speaking of McCarthy, who at the beginning of the year succeeded Shelley White as the new boss of the Toronto-based RGC, she joined colleague Elaine MacDougall for a conversation with your humble host during the Canadian Gaming Summit in June. We asked the new CEO about her decision to leave the Rick Hansen Foundation to lead the Council, and her transition into the new role. McCarthy and MacDougall, who has a new title (Senior VP, Strategy and Programs) for their takeaways from the annual Discovery conference in May, the RGC’s involvement in the recent G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit sessions on responsible gaming and gambling policy, and the council’s ongoing RG efforts – especially in its education programs targeted at youth.Please excuse any background noise or audio imperfections. This episode was recorded live on the show floor of the 2025 Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto. We appreciate your understanding and hope you enjoy the conversation.

The Canadian Gaming Summit ended last Thursday but not before delivering some news, a new name (to be henceforth known as SBC Summit Canada), some new partnerships and some new friends before some 3,000-plus weary members of the gambling industry boarding planes, trains, buses, Ubers and other automobiles to head home. Before he could take his leave from the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Canadian Gaming Association boss Paul Burns kindly lent your humble host a seat inside the CGA Members Lounge and agreed to give us his thoughts and layers for a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show at the end of three days of meetings, panels, speeches from political types representing the provincial governments of both Alberta and Ontario, and other happenings during the summit. Included were, as Dave Briggs wrote in last Friday’s newsletter, comments from the Attorney General of Ontario, Doug Downey, that the province will be “aggressively” going after operators who have given the one-finger salute to getting their licence, and news from the province’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, Stan Cho, that his office will be reviewing the legal gambling industry – now three-plus years old. Burns also weighed in on the comments from Alberta minister Dale Nally during the summit on the road to regulation in the western Canada province.

The latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show is one of the two-part type as we pack our suitcase and fill up the GNC vehicle before heading to the city below Uxbridge for this week’s Canadian Gaming Summit. Canadian Gaming Association senior executive Amanda Brewer returned to the show for a rapid round on what’s happening across the national gaming industry these days. That includes the slow road to an open market in Alberta, the wait at iGaming Ontario for a new boss and the launch of a centralized self-exclusion program, and lobbying efforts for open gambling regimes in British Columbia. We also had a chat about this week’s summit, where Brewer will moderate “The urgent need to modernize Canada’s AML framework” panel Wednesday a.m. with Derek Ramm (Kinectify), Brian Terranova (FanDuel) and Heinen Hutchison Robitaille LLP partner Scott Hutchison. Craig Cornforth of EPIC Global Solutions took time out from the SBC Summit Malta last week to make his maiden GNCS appearance. The former auto dealer told his poignant story around gambling addiction and the road to recovery that led him to join EPIC and its work in the prevention of gambling harm. Cornforth will be on stage with Alistair Facciol (Rhino Entertainment), Ryan McCarthy (BCLC), Covers journalist Geoff Zochodne and yours truly for a Thursday morning chin wag on “Regulation and responsibility: how the new politics affect player protection”.  

The Canadian Gaming Association has been active for quite some time now in advocating for updates to anti-money laundering laws in our home and native land with the expansion of legal gambling. Dave Briggs addressed the topic at the beginning of the year with CGA boss Paul Burns, who said the uncertain political climate at that time most likely meant no movement until this fall.  The CGA established a committee to continue moving ahead with its efforts to update the AML rules and regulations. The chair of that committee, Derek Ramm, was our guest on a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Ramm, the Global Head of Advisory Services for Kinectify, knows AML like Corey Perry knows how to torment opponents, with a resume that includes stops with Canada’s financial intelligence unit (FINTRAC), the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation (OLG), and the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission. He will appear on “The urgent need to modernize Ontario’s AML framework” panel with moderator Amanda Brewer, FanDuel’s Brian Terranova and Scott Hutchison of Heinen Hutchison Robitaille LLC at next week’s Canadian Gaming Summit in the city below Aurora. Along with discussing Kinectify’s role in identifying suspicious activity and working with stakeholders in Canada and the U.S., Ramm also answered our questions about the problems for operators in Ontario’s open market when it comes to AML. That included a hacking escapade in 2024 that made it impossible for operators to file suspicious transaction reports to FINTRAC, and hiccups by iGaming Ontario on data collection and technology since the opening of the market in April 2022.

It’s been a while since an episode of the Gaming News Canada Show went into overtime. However, it’s also been a while since Jonah Sigel was our guest, and the timing couldn’t be better.  Sigel, the guy behind the @yyzsportsmedia account on X, the YYZ Sports Media website and the Bleave In The Pressrow Podcast, has been on top of the coverage around another disappointing playoff exit by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the end-of-season media sessions with MLSE head honcho Keith Pelley and Leafs GM Brad Treliving. He’s also watched closely the ongoing debate around Sportsnet’s hockey broadcasts and the subpar national televison ratings in the U.S. of A. during these Stanley Cup playoffs. So, Sigel, who had longtime hockey broadcast executive and personality John Shannon on his podcast recently, was Steve McAllister’s guest for a conversation along with some back and forth on what’s ahead in this Summer of 2025, Maple Leafs Edition, the good, bad and ugly of Hockey Night in Canada and hockey broadcasts south of the border, and a debate about the media’s access to athletes in today’s professional sports world. Also, because this program is one that’s focused on the business of sports wagering and igaming, there was a chin wag around the continued consternation in some corners when it comes to betting talk intersecting with sports talk. 

As we prepare to close the book on May and begin ironing our shirts and socks in preparation for next month’s Canadian Gaming Summit (registration information with a family discount – well, sort of – can be found below) in the city below Georgina, Troy Ross of TRM Public Affairs made his return to the Gaming News Canada Show. Among the topics on the agenda for our chin wag with the business/regulation of gaming veteran: Recent reporting by Geoff Zochodne for Covers and Global Gaming News on sports betting and igaming operators making their pitch to the policymakers in British Columbia to bring an open gambling market to Canada’s most western province;The case for an open market in B.C. a la Ontario (and, over the next 12 months, Alberta), including the ongoing success by OLG in Ontario’s bigly competitive industry. (We recommend checking out Dave Briggs’s reporting in yesterday’s newsletter);The case for an open marketplace in La Belle Province (despite the ongoing efforts by the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition, the chances appear to be slim to none and slim has disappeared to an unknown locale. . .);The official separation of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario by the Douglas Ford government. And, the creation of a new Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming with Stan Cho in the minister’s parking space.

With apologies to Benjamin Franklin, there are three sure things in the game of life these days: death, taxes and a mention of responsible gambling on the Gaming News Canada Show.In the latest episode, RG is front and centre thanks to last week’s introduction of Real-Time Check-In by FanDuel – the latest tool/program launched by the Flutter Entertainment brand to lend a hand to its customers.FanDuel, which at the end of last year introduced its My Spend tool and also agreed to a partnership with Kindbridge Behavioral Health, is leaning in further on the RG front with Real-Time Check-In. Senior commercial director Jill Watkins and Cory Fox, FD’s VP of public policy and sustainability, were our guests on the GNCS to walk us through Real-Time Check-In. We also asked Fox and Watkins about the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of the latest tool, the motivation for the operator’s increased investment in responsible gambling, and if there have been any lessons learned from operating in Ontario.We also took a moment at the end of the podcast to congratulate Shelley White on her induction into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame during last week’s SBC Summit Americas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.