In The Spotlight: Ontario Sports Betting Launch
Rick Wolf, SVP of B2B Partnerships, provides insight as to what the launch of single-game betting in Ontario means for the sports betting industry in Canada.
Rick, firstly, as single-game betting goes live in Ontario today what are your initial thoughts on what it means for sports bettors in all of Canada?
Canadian sports fans are some of the best fans in the world, they’re passionate about their teams and now they’ll be able to get in on the action with legalized single-game sports betting. The market itself will grow over the coming years – Deloitte Canada estimates it will grow to close to $28 billion within five years.
Going live and moving away from grey markets means they will have better platforms, services from private licensed operators with consumer protections, and responsible gaming rules and regulations to give confidence and comfort to those who choose to place wagers.
Unfortunately for consumers outside of Ontario they will continue to only have access to parlay-style betting mostly via Province-managed lotteries but will certainly have the opportunity to take advantage of the new regulations in Ontario should they enter the Province.
With this legislation, Canada-based publishers will have the opportunity to obtain sports betting revenue in this new market. What can they learn from publishers based in the US that have been able to do this in various markets over the past few years?
Sports betting affiliation is at the core of what Spotlight Sports Group does in the UK and has emerged as a leader in the US as well. Media companies and publishers have taken advantage of affiliate programs with major operators to generate revenues and refer their audience to safe locations for sports betting.
The difference in Canada is that affiliates will not have to be licensed like they have to be in certain US states. This makes the barrier to entry easier for publishers. However, publishers will not be able to promote any operator that is not licensed in Ontario, meaning publishers will have to make Canada-only deals for their affiliation and only to licensed partners of the Province.
We’ve seen from the US just how big the opportunity is for not just sports publishers but traditional media like Advance Local. Sports betting offers the media industry a once-in-a-generation chance to change their revenue streams and partnering with the correct third party is the optimal way of doing this.
A big difference between the launch of Ontario sports betting and the launches we have seen in the US is that parlay bets have been legal in Canada for a long time. Do you see this change leading to a big change in the type of betting content consumers will look for?
Parlay-style betting has been thriving in Canada for years. Canadians are used to betting and the gambling market is mature. But single-game sports betting is going to make a huge difference. We can see how popular it is going to be with the number of operators that are applying for licenses.
However, as we have learned in recent years in the US market and have seen in the mature UK and Irish markets, content is essential to the success of sports bettors. Parlay-style betting certainly has a different strategy than single-game betting so the more insightful content bettors can read on specific events, the better.
As other Provinces within Canada look to legalize single-game betting in the following months, how can Canada-based media publishers get a foothold in sports betting within those Provinces prior to new regulations being introduced?
Canadian provinces are likely to roll out new sports betting legislation in a slower timeline than months. It is far more likely for Alberta, the Province most likely to follow Ontario, to be six months or more behind Ontario and they will not be in a private operator multi-license model. It could be years before many more Provinces legalize single-game sports betting.
At Spotlight Sports Group, we will be monitoring so that we can provide solutions for all global media and publishing companies to serve the Canadian market.
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