Industry eyes February, still waiting for the go-ahead
With apologies to the late, great Charles Dickens, these are the busiest of times for Paul Burns.
The president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association is in Malta this week for the return of SiGMA Europe’s World Gaming Festival after a year’s hiatus. Last month, Burns was at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Last week, he was a panelist at a virtual technology and gaming conference. And in two weeks, the SBC Summit North America in New York.
Regardless of the forum or platform on which Burns appears right now, there’s one question that’s a sure bet: When will Ontario be open for online sportsbook operators and casinos to offer legal, single-event sports betting?
“I have no real timelines into when in (the first quarter of 2022) it will be,” Burns said Wednesday after a day of wall-to-wall meetings at the festival in Malta — a global sports betting and gaming mecca hub thanks to the government’s rigorous efforts to license the industry and attract businesses to put down roots in a country with a little more than 500,000 residents.
“Everyone is motivated at (iGaming Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the two regulatory bodies for sports betting and gaming) to get it done as soon as they can.”
Single-event sports wagering is now open across Canada through the provincial lottery corporations, including the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation-operated ProLine+. Heavy hitters such as betMGM, Penn National, PointsBet Canada, FanDuel and DraftKings are among the long list of sportsbooks wanting to operate in what is expected to be North America’s most open market.
Ontario’s casinos are hoping to bring retail sportsbooks into their venues. They’re waiting, however, for direction from OLG, which manages land-based gaming in the province. Spokesperson Tony Bitonti said OLG continues to work on creating a strategy for casinos to host on-site sportsbooks.
“We are pleased that our casino service providers can now consider adding single-event sports wagering to enhance the customer experience at casinos,” Bitonti wrote in an email. “We are having those conversations with our valued service providers, while also working with (AGCO) on necessary regulatory requirements to integrate sports books into land-based environments.”
Burns said casinos, which were fully opened again last month after being shut down for most of the past 18 months because of the pandemic, are frustrated with the delay. “I’m extremely disappointed we don’t have any retail sportsbooks at casinos open yet,” said Burns. “The casinos want to get moving.”
For very good reason. Industry insiders point to February with the Super Bowl — the 2021 game saw almost $500 million (U.S.) wagered in 16 U.S. states with legal betting — and the Beijing Winter Olympics as an attractive launching pad.
“There are going to be challenges for being ready by the Super Bowl,” Burns cautioned. “Operators will have to shift some things. For example, all futures bets have to be moved to a compliant platform.
“Everyone wants to get it right rather than meet an arbitrary deadline. Operators don’t want to create a customer experience that’s not the best one.”
The awareness around the potential economic impact of the new sports wagering and gaming business hit new heights Wednesday when sportsbooks in New Jersey reported a state-record $1.3 billion in handle for October. Gambling commissions in Oregon and Philadelphia also announced unprecedented handles for the month.
“Sports betting has swelled with the start of the NFL season,” Jane Bokunewica, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, told The Associated Press. “October 2021’s record sports wagering handle (in New Jersey), proves that September was not a flash in the pan, but rather the first sign of a new level of sports betting participation, at least during the NFL season.”
In contrast, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, which provides the province’s lone singleevent betting product through its PlayNow platform, took in a combined $25 million (Cdn) handle for September and October. That’s why provincial governments, which for now only receive sports betting revenue from the lottery corporations, will be keeping a close eye on Ontario when it opens.
“The other provinces are already watching and learning,” Burns said.
I’m extremely disappointed we don’t have any retail sportsbooks at casinos open yet.
PAUL BURNS CEO, CANADIAN GAMING ASSOCIATION