The SBC Summit North America was held at the tail end of 2021 between November 30th to December 2nd at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey. The summit saw some of the most experienced executives and casino brands in the casino gaming space gather together to discuss and exchange ideas, as well as analyze the state of the casino gambling industry in North America.
The SBC Summit replaced the ‘Betting on Sports America’ digital conference that was disrupted by the pandemic. The highlight of the conference last year was a high-level conference that saw senior executives, regulators, sports entities, as well as major operators congregate to share ideas that will help to shape the future of the sports betting market in the country.
Along with the sharing, there were also numerous opportunities to connect and talk about ongoing business, as well as an interactive expo that showcased all the latest technology innovations from top suppliers, workshops, and software developers. The high-level conference consisted of 8 tracks that covered a broad range of topics including payments and compliance, the future of sports wagering, technology, iGaming, investment, as well as marketing strategies.
To ensure that as much value as possible was disseminated, the conference gathered a comprehensive rosta of 200 specialists including well-known keynote speakers like the chairman of the Bally’s board of directors, Soo Kim, as well as president and CEO of AGA, Bill Miller. A major topic of discussion during the conference was the changes occurring in both the American and Canadian sports betting markets.
Some of the sports betting operators that were represented in the lineup of speakers during the conference include PlayUp, 888, DraftKings, MaximBet, Resorts Digital Gaming, Caesars, and Penn Interactive. Also in the lineup were tribal and commercial casinos such as Circa Sports, Mohegan Gaming, Las Vegas Sands Corp, Foxwoods, and Fifth Street Gaming.
To add a social component to the proceedings, the organizers also included an evening networking program in the schedule. The attendees got a chance to meet and enjoy each other’s company at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club situated in Manhattan, as well as during the Sports Betting Hall of Fame ceremony, which was held at MetLife Stadium.
The festivities were concluded with a networking party at the SBC Awards North America ceremony. This last event was held at The Edison Ballroom, located in New York City. This was the second time that the event was held in New Jersey.
The Canadian sports wagering market is set to explode
Last year, single-event sports betting was legalized in Canada. As a result, single-event sports betting is now available in the country via provincial lottery corporations. Since the market was legalized on August 27th, 2021, single-event sports betting has grown from strength to strength- and growth has only just begun.
To cater to the demand, the government’s operated provincial lotteries reorganized their entire systems, both retail and online. The corporations in charge of distributing sports betting in the country now include the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, which currently operates ProLine+, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation’s Proline, and British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s PlayNow.
Canada is also set to be one of the most open markets in North America and is expected to make way for international heavyweights such as BetMGM, DraftKings, Penn National, FanDuel, as well as PointsBet, which already enjoys immense support from punters in the country. Casinos in Ontario are also looking forward to introducing retail sportsbooks into their venues pending approval from OLG, which is the entity that managed brick and mortar gaming in the province.
The excitement around the opportunities available in a regulated Canadian industry was reignited late last year after the Garden State’s sportsbooks reported generating a record $1 billion in bets in September. Other states across the pond have also been recording massive revenue increases which have gone a long way in reinforcing the belief that the Canadian gambling market will be just as successful if not more.
Canada is doing its best to prepare for this competitive environment. For instance, last year an ethics body in conjunction with the Olympic Committee alongside 8 sports organizations such as Curling Canada worked together to come up with a match-fixing policy. With online gambling and organized crimes expanding rapidly these days thanks to the power of the internet, the creation of these policies has become pertinent.
The goal here is to come up with a nationally accepted approach to deterring and dealing with match-fixing issues in the country. The sporting sector has also worked together to implement its own procedures that make sure that the uprightness of sports is not compromised in the newly legalized market. The minimum requirements and the match manipulation policies that have been set by the stakeholders and operators will ensure that the environment created for gambling is a conducive one.
As of 2022, Canada will boast 3 provinces that offer 3 different sports wagering models, which is a massive accomplishment for the country that only once offered Parlay wagers. The 3 provinces with these impressive models include Ontario, Saskatchewan, as well as Alberta. Of all the provinces, Ontario is expected to be the most successful as it is one of the most heavily populated.
Ontario also has the most professional sports teams that include the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Blue Jays, CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Toronto Argonauts, as well as the Ottawa Senators just to mention a few sports entities. As the largest of all provinces, Ontario’s market is thriving and is set to rival the success of some of the most successful American states.
It is also expected that Ontario will open its commercial sports wagering market to private operators as of 2022. When this takes place, punters in Canada will have access to more variety than they have ever had before. When the market has been fully set up, experts predict that Ontario, which has a population of about 15 million individuals, is capable of earning more than a billion dollars in betting revenue yearly.
