Gaming News Canada

The Labour Day weekend was still in our rearview mirror (although we had to squint to see it. . . ) when Absolutebet Corp announced it had been given the green light by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to get its licence to thrill for iGaming Ontario and join the province’s highly competitive sports betting and online gaming market. So, we invited the co-founder and director of Absolutebet, Chen Truman, to be our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada. Truman is no newcomer to the business of gaming, having spent almost 15 years at Playtech including four years as a product manager. The other co-founder of Absolutebet, Benjamin Truman, founded Media Troopers and Red Apple Tech Group. Chen Truman covered an array of topics with us, including the lengthy registration process with the AGCO, the motivation to bring its mobile-first product to Ontario, the decision for Absolutebet to focus on igaming when it launches, and what it believes will differentiate its brand from the competition in perhaps the world’s most robust legal online gambling marketplace.

On the heels of announcing the launch of a new data destination for sports fans, fantasy players and folks who live to lay a wager, StatRankings founder and CEO Kevin Adams was our guest on the Gaming News Canada Show. The founder of FTN Network and a former financial advisor and owner of a California hair salon franchise, Adams had a chin wag with Steve McAllister about converting his passion for fantasy sports into creating FTN and StatRankings, and also joining Underdog Fantasy as a seed investor. Adams also discussed the ever-expanding roster of data startups in the sports industry, and the appetite for fans, bettors and fantasy players to have access to as many numbers as possible. We also asked Adams about StatRankings’ partnership with DFS subscription service One Week Season, preparing to raise the curtain on his business for the start of the NFL regular season, and what’s to come.

As the Northern Super League enters Week 21 of its inaugural season, we caught up with the President of the new Canadian professional women’s soccer fold, Christina Litz. Litz, who’s spent time at the Canadian Football League head office, Woodbine Entertainment and True North Sports and Entertainment during his career in the sports industry, talked about her journey from law school at the University of Manitoba and legal work at Bell Media and Telus before moving into the intersecting worlds of digital business and sports. She answered the questions from host Steve McAllister about joining NSL founder and former Canadian national soccer team standout Diana Matheson, and the challenges and opportunities in getting the new league off the ground and the NSL’s place in the long-awaited growth of professional women’s sports in North America. That included a reference to the impact Caitlin Clark has had on the landscape just before Nike announced its new logo partnership with the WNBA superstar. The NSL and Litz, as has been the case with major professional sports leagues since the overturning of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in the U.S., and the passing of Bill C-218 in Canada, are trying to seize the opportunities around the new world of legal sports betting – especially of the online variety. Litz talked about the NSL’s efforts to partner with data companies and sportsbooks with an eye on expanding engagement around the league, its six teams, and its players.

Some 3 ½ years into Ontario’s regulated online gambling industry, 51 operators (including the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation/OLG) are doing business with less than a half-dozen departures since the market launched in April 2022. We’ve been told by several sources that more operators are a coming to perhaps the most competitive regulated marketplace on the planet. And we know, because its intrepid leaders have said so publicly, that High Roller Technologies is poised to join the party. Hence, our motivation to have gaming industry veterans Ben Clemes and Seth Young be our guests on a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Clemes, who joined High Roller as chief executive officer in January 2024, is a former executive with the Gaming Innovation Group and is an investment and portfolio partner with HappyHour.io. Young, High Roller’s chief strategy officer, is the former chief innovation officer at PointsBet and currently sits on the board of directors at EQL Games, Kinectify and Kindbridge Behavioral Health.  The pair, speaking with host Steve McAllister from Las Vegas, answered the host’s questions about High Roller’s road to regulation and its hopes of launching in Ontario before year’s end. Carlo Scappaticci, another experienced hand in the business of gaming, has been named managing director for High Roller’s Canadian operations. Clemes told McAllister the company will be putting additional staff in place here, and the company has already announced partnerships with Playtech and Kinectify for its Ontario business. Both Clemes and Young spoke about the opportunity for success in a crowded market, and shared their thoughts on the Ontario model. That, of course, led to a conversation on the incoming Alberta market, which Young and Clemes are following. The popularity of igaming with Ontarians, carving out a niche in a busy market, and exploiting artificial intelligence also came up during our conversation.

On a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show, we took a dive into the world of sports data and analytics (and sports betting) with the co-founder and chief executive officer of Odditt, Matt Bresler. Our interview came on the heels of last month’s announcement the Las Vegas-based company had completed a successful fundraising round, with a helping hand from Vancouver entrepreneur Chris Kape and B.C. legal beagles Alon and Ron Segev. Bresler, who co-founded the company in January 2021with former DraftKings executive Elaine Milardo, talked about his decision to jump ship from the international fossils industry, and Oddit’s transformation from offering sports statistics and betting odds data to sportsbooks to its recent work on producing a direct-to-consumer app.  Bresler also gave us some insight on the company’s plans for Canada, and also weighed in on the increasing popularity of women’s sports. 

When SportsGrid made the decisionlast month to let go several of its sports wagering personalities, Jo Madden was among the departures. Being a free agent hasn’t stopped the hosts of a Cup of Jo from continuing to churn out the content on her on her Instagram and X accounts, especially during the countdown to the start of the NFL regular season in four weeks. The Australian-born, long-time Albertan (and former member of the province’s netball team) is our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Madden talked about her departure from SportsGrid and what’s next for her. As is the case for all of our GNCS guests, Madden’s path to the gaming industry is of the more-than-interesting sort as she discussed her transition from the worlds of accounting and liquor imports to provide sports betting advice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Madden told us about her daily routine, being a woman in the sports betting space, and how she’s dealt with the online abuse that’s sadly all-too common with personalities and athletes, as we noted in last week’s edition of the GNC newsletter involving tennis star Elina Svitolina at the recent National Bank Open tournament in Montreal.  Finally, Madden offered some advice for anyone wanting to take the plunge into the sports media/betting business, and we wanted her thoughts on the 2025-26 Calgary Flames, too.

Phill Gray, the former Head of Trading for Sports Interaction and gaming industry veteran, returned to a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show and covered a smorgasbord of topics, including: The latest report from iGaming Ontario, which reflects the ongoing popularity of online casino games with Ontarians playing on regulated websites/apps;Some thoughts and layers on the road to regulation in Alberta;The debate around in-play/prop bets, including proposals by legislators in New Jersey and Ohio to ban them;The latest on the U.S. gambling industry, including conversations and legislation around responsible gaming, the presence of prediction markets by Kalshi and others, taking action against illegal operators, hiking taxes on wagers, etc., etc. etc.The concern about the VIP programs offered by operators in the legal gambling environment.

Did you hear the one about the professional poker player who co-founded and became the chief operating officer of a lottery, bingo and gaming company? Well, we hadn’t until seeing an announcement in early June of a new partnership between Random State and Oakville-based Delta Bingo & Gaming. That happened mere weeks after the Swedish-based businessreceived its supplier’s licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. So, we invited Adam Fonsica to be our guest on the latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show. Fonsica, whom we first met in June 2024 at the Canadian Gaming Summit, talked us through his journey from playing poker to running an online lottery and bingo business. The one-time Miljonlotteriet executive also discussed Random State’s interest in Ontario and the rest of Canada, the Delta partnership, the impact of the digital world on lottery and bingo, and also provided his insight on regulated gambling in his homeland. 

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.