SBC Summit Barcelona, a major annual conference for leaders in the gambling industry, began Tuesday. Among the highlights is a panel discussion, moderated by Canadian Gaming Association president and CEO Paul Burns, on the topic of Ontario’s launch. Ontario sports betting, as well as iGaming in the province, launched on April 4.
Among the others participating: Melanie Hainzer, CMO of Rootz; Martin Lycka, SVP for American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling for Entain; William Woodhams, CEO, Fitzdares; and Matej Nemec, Commercial Director, Oryx Gaming.
The focus for the panel: How licensing and regulation has evolved in the North America’s fifth largest iGaming and sports betting market since the April 4 launch.
OLG Launches My PlayBreak
Focusing on the safe play and gambling addiction storyline – with Amazon live streaming platform Twitch announcing they are cracking down on unlicensed gambling content – Ontario Lottery and Gaming is expanding its responsible gaming program (PlaySmart) with the launch of My PlayBreak.
My PlayBreak It’s a self-exclusion program aimed at helping players who need pauses from gambling from online casinos in Ontario, Charitable Gaming Centres or online at OLG.ca.
Self-inclusion options for players include term lengths of three months, six months, one year, and two, three, four and five years.
“OLG prioritizes player health and is focused on continuous improvement of its RG programming,” Alexamdra Aguzzi, OLG’s senior vice president for brand, communications and sustainability said in a statement. “My PlayBreak is just one of the RG tools in OLG’s sophisticated and unmatched PlaySmart portfolio that is integrated across multiple product lines to help customers create and maintain healthy habits that enable a lifetime of sustainable play.”
BetRegal Ontario Update
BetRegal doesn’t have its Ontario license yet, with that AGCO November deadline for grey market operators coming up fast. But the operator is up and running now in Mexico, with the launch of BetRegal.mx.
But BetRegal seems to be closing in on Ontario.
Thursday Night NFL Remains Most Popular
Before tonight’s NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, OLG once again reports that the most popular PROLINE event over the past week was the Thursday night game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs to cover -3.5 was one of the most popular plays of the week. The Chiefs won 27-24.
The second-most popular game was not a surprise – Monday night’s Buffalo Bills-Tennessee Titans matchup, with the Bills -8.5 being the most bet side of the entire week. The Bills hammered the Titans 41-7.
OLG says one person bet $1 to win $3,474.20 on Ontario sports betting apps with an expert soccer parlay and one NFL game. The bettor took Real Madrid, Atalanta, Napoli and Inter Miami to win, plus draws in the Hoffenheim/Freiburg, Bochum/FC Koln and Columbus/Portland soccer matches, then topped it off with the Pittsburgh Steelers at +3.5. The Steelers lost to the New England Patriots on Sunday, 17-14, but covered the spread.
And one PROLINE patron went all NFL, turning 10 cents into $278.11, on a 12-team parlay – picks included New York Giants -1.5, Houston +9.5, Green Bay -10.5, Buffalo -8.5, Philadelphia -1.5, Tampa Bay -1.5, Miami +2.5, Detroit -1.5, Atlanta +8.5, Dallas +7.5, Jacksonville +1.5 and Pittsburgh +3.5.
