On the eve of the opening of Alberta’s regulated sports betting and igaming market, the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming was joined by a couple of gaming industry veterans who are plugged into the opening of Canada’s second regulated, competitive gambling jurisdiction.

GNCS regular and Canadian Gaming Association Senior VP of Policy & Communication Amanda Brewer spoke about the feedback she has received from CGA members and others in the gambling business during the countdown to opening day in Alberta. Brewer also referred to the lessons learned from four-plus years of regulated online gaming in Ontario and had an interesting response to a question from host Steve McAllister about the potential differences between the presence of the provincial gaming and lottery corporations in the two provinces.

We also asked Brewer about the ongoing presence of fake online casino ads on Meta platforms.

McAllister then welcomed Rich Taylor, the Director of Responsible Gaming at BetMGM. Taylor, a retired Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, told his story of serving his country and then finding his way into the gambling industry.

Taylor spoke about the reaction from BetMGM customers to the most recent responsible gambling ad campaign featuring NHL superstar Connor McDavid and Newfoundland hockey legend Terry Ryan and if the Edmonton Oilers captain will appear in future RG-focused commercials – which are allowed by both the AGCO and AGLC in its rules and regulations around advertising and marketing.

That led to a conversation on BetMGM’s responsible gaming efforts which include its partnership with BCLC’s GameSense platform. Taylor, the author of an op-ed last week that appeared on various Canadian media websites, also talked about the multi-dimensional approach taken by BetMGM to support safe play.

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Aaron GlynWilliams, the Vice President of Safer Gambling for OLG – and the Chair of the Canadian Responsible Gambling Association – joins host Steve McAllister on a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming.

GlynWilliams, who’s played a leadership role in OLG’s responsible gambling initiatives for more than a decade, talked about the need for all stakeholders in the gaming industry to be on the same page when it comes to safer gambling during a panel discussion at last month’s SBC Summit Canada. McAllister revisited his guest’s comments and asked GlynWilliams for his reaction to the lottery corporation’s June 1 announcement about new measures targeting online gaming customers under the age of 25.

The OLG veep also spoke about his tenure as chair of the CRGA coinciding with the legalization of single-event betting across Canada, the impact on Ontario’s competitive sports betting and igaming market on OLG’s RG programs, the conversations happening between lottery and gaming corporations across the country these days, and the Corp’s existing partnerships around safer gambling.

GlynWilliams also provided his thoughts on iGaming Ontario’s launch of BetGuard, and about the incoming regulated gambling market in Alberta.

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On a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, host Steve McAllister welcomed Dwain Powell, the Online Director, Sports Betting for Goldrush Gaming – the owners of the BetNova brand.

BetNova entered the highly-competitive Ontario sports betting and igaming market this spring, so McAllister asked Powell about both the challenges and opportunities that have come from being latecomers to the province’s regulated industry. Powell also addressed Goldrush’s relationship with both the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario when setting up shop in Canada’s largest province.

Goldrush is one of the 45-plus operators which have registered to do business in Alberta when the proverbial puck drops on its regulated gambling marketplace next month. Powell answered our questions on Goldrush’s road to Alberta so far and addressed the advertising and marketing strategy for BetNova, what makes the brand unique competing against established operators in Canada, and about responsible gaming.

Powell told the story of his early days in the gambling business as a casino tables supervisor, moving into the online space, the legal gaming landscape in South Africa, and, of course, the World Cup of Soccer.

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On a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, host Steve McAllister was joined by Responsible Gambling Council VP of Strategy and Programs Elaine McDougall and Lisa Couperus, the council’s Director of Education and Programs.

Couperus and McDougall spoke with your usually humble host about the early takeaways from the RGC’s Beyond the Game campaign, launched late last year to educate Grade 11 and 12 student-athletes and coaches in Ontario secondary schools about the risks of gambling. There was an additional discussion on the ongoing need for education for everyone involved in children’s lives around online gaming and also the federal government’s introduction last week of the Safe Social Media Act to limit kids’ exposure to social media.

We also spent time talking about panel discussions and other conversations that took place around responsible gaming initiatives during last month’s SBC Summit Canada, and the increasing access to data and research focused on gambling harm.

McDougall also teased an RGC announcement that’s expected to come this week that’s aligned with the attention around the men’s World Cup of Soccer.

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The latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming is a special soccer edition.

On the eve of the start of the men’s World Cup, Steve McAllister is joined by Simon Clare the Group Director of Consumer PR and Sponsorship, UK Brands for BetMGM’s parent company, Entain. And later, the dean of Canadian soccer media, James Sharman, returns to the podcast.

Among the topics du jour in our conversation with Clare, who’s been around the betting industry for more than three decades:

• The impact of the internet along with the legalization of sports betting in North America on betting.
• The global growth of soccer in North America, which includes Canada hosting men’s World Cup matches for the first time.
• Some advice on approaching prop/parlay/live bets during the 39-day tournament.
• The expectation that this World Cup will be the most highly engaged sporting event ever with sports bettors around the world.

Among the issues we tackled with Sharman:

• The expectations for a Canadian team that’s dealing with injuries to significant players and Sharman’s take on what’s needed for Jesse Marsch and Co. to declare success.
• What will the legacy be for Canadian soccer from this tournament, especially given the problems mostly created by FIFA in the lead-up to this tournament?
• A big-picture look at the contenders, the superstar players, and some potential Cinderella stories.

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On a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, Canadian Gaming Association president/CEO Paul Burns returned to the podcast.

Burns joined host Steve McAllister from Las Vegas, where he attended last week’s International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking and joined Dr. Mary Donohue to talk about The Power of Protective Pause: Emotional Regulation in Gambling Environments. The CGA’s head honcho provided his takeaways from the 19th annual conference.

Burns and McAllister also shared their thoughts and layers from the recent SBC Summit Canada, including:

• The road to regulation in Alberta some nine weeks before the western Canada province joins Ontario to offer a competitive gambling industry;
• The remarks by Stan Cho, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, at the conference;
• The results of the AGCO-commissioned study into channelization;
• A reckoning from panelists and people with whom we spoke at the summit that the time has come to take further action when it comes to player protection, responsible gaming communication and advertising;
• A need for elected officials and others to be better when it comes to understanding the separation between regulated and unregulated gaming.
• Burns’s response to iGaming Ontario’s launch of its centralized self-exclusion program.

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There was a “well, that makes sense” feeling on last week’s announcement by Kambi that it would be collaborating with Canadian printing security company Canadian Bank Note Company to support CBN’s online sports betting operations in South and Central America, and the Caribbean.

It’s (almost) all Canadian all the time these days for Kambi, which earlier this year helped OLG launch a new and improved version of Proline in both digital and retail form, and then last month was selected by Atlantic Lottery and BCLC to provide the power behind their multi-province sportsbook.

So, what better timing to welcome back to the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming, Kambi’s chief commercial officer – and, of course, a Canadian – Sarah Robertson. Among the topics du jour:

• Kambi’s work in seven Canadian provinces;
• Robertson’s thoughts on the incoming regulated market in Alberta;
• The expected avalanche of activity by bettors around this summer’s men’s World Cup of Footy;
• The ongoing controversy around in-play/prop betting;
• The ongoing story in the U.S. these days around prediction markets.
• The opportunities around the growth of women’s sports.

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Before ironing his dress shirts and (crying while) filling up the vehicle with petrol for the road trip to Toronto and the SBC Summit Canada, Steve McAllister virtually visited one of the panels for this week’s gathering of the Canadian gaming industry for a new episode of the Gaming News Canada Show presented by Bede Gaming.

Joining McAllister to provide a sneak peek at their Brick by Brick: The construction of a new affiliate landscapediscussion Wednesday afternoon were Bet99 head of affiliate marketing Andrew Garven, Linemate co-founder Calvin Konya, Hot Takes Sports CEO Tyler Amirault and former Game Lounge director of casino Keith Geary. Among the topics du jour was examining the changing landscape around affiliates over the four-plus years of legal, regulated sports betting and online gaming in Ontario and the lessons that could/should be applied to the incoming open market in Alberta this summer.

The panel also looked at the evolving relationship between operators and affiliates, and also discussed what’s on their To Do list over the next two days at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

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