Поехали!: Онтарио зажигает iGaming в Северной Америке - SiGMA Америка встречается с игроками канадской индустрии

Ontario launched its legal iGaming marketplace on April 4. With SiGMA heading to Toronto next month for the opening of SiGMA Americas, SiGMA News has just launched a series of mini-interviews with major operators and partners who have decided to expand their presence in this market by securing their gambling licenses.

For the first interview, we met with Matthew Kelemen. Kelemen is the Director of Business Development for North America at Pariplay. The company is one of the first companies to receive an Ontario license. With this license, Pariplay’s aggregation offering is now available throughout the Canadian province, which the company says will be carried out together with a number of major operators and partners.

With the launch of the new iGaming market in Ontario, how do you plan to make your mark in this field?

As with any market, it’s important to offer what customers really need. We are already well established in the industry, trusted by operators around the world, and we know we have a great product. Since inception, we’ve worked tirelessly to improve our platform and create premium games from fantastic studios, including our own Wizard Games.

In addition to a vast and diverse content library with the most popular themes, mechanics, and features, we also have our own conversion and retention tools that increase the lifetime value of players. We know that competition will be fierce, as with any new market opening, but we are also confident that operators are quick to realise the strength of our product and the benefits we can offer, especially in an emerging market.

Why Canada?

Canada, along with the United States, has long been in the spotlight of both operators and suppliers as the next major market to conquer. With online gambling regulation currently slowly progressing, North America has become a reality for the industry and offers a lot of potential. The population is huge and mostly unused, so for us, entering the US and Canada was an easy task.

Earlier this year, we entered Alberta as the sole content distributor for PlayAlberta, the only regulated online gambling website in the province. The Government of Alberta has placed a lot of trust in us, and we are honored to deliver our premium product to local customers. Now, we are looking forward to seeing how the market in Ontario develops.

According to H2 Gambling Capital, the combined online sports betting and gaming market in Canada is estimated to be worth over USD 2 billion in 2022, despite the market only coming up in April. This includes Ontario, which is expected to be one of the largest iGaming markets in North America, so we have high hopes for Canada to become one of our key hubs.

What are your expectations for the newly opened market?

We believe that the first-mover advantage is key, and we are already working with a number of operators in Ontario, including BetMGM and 888casino. Rush Street Interactive, Caesars, and other major companies will be launched in the coming months.

We believe that Ontario will be a great market and a great addition to our operations in Alberta. Ontario has the same system as the UK in terms of ease of entry and regulation, and it is a single currency for entry and exit, making transactions much easier. We can say that it is a North American market, but with a European atmosphere.

As we strengthen ourselves, we will analyze player data and engage with local operators to ensure that our offer is as personalized as possible and see if there is anything else we can do to support our partners. I’m Pariplay’s first dedicated director in North America, and having someone on the ground will greatly help us expand our presence in Canada even further. It’s still early, but we’re excited about the opportunities that Ontario is opening up and look forward to seeing it evolve and being a part of it.

What makes your company stand out from the rest?

Our Fusion platform hosts the largest portfolio of games from the most sought-after providers in the industry, and the content has already established itself in many of the regulated markets in which we operate. Our experience in Europe, and more recently also in the US and Alberta, has shown that our games resonate well with a wide demographic of players and preferences and offer great experiences and entertainment. Our quick integrations make it easy for operators to partner with us, but what really makes us stand out is the ability to use some rather than all of our content, allowing for a more targeted approach depending on the size of the business and the region you want to operate in. In this way, operators can enter new markets much faster and adapt as needed to provide a localised and optimised experience.

Do you plan to attend the upcoming SiGMA Americas Summit in Canada this June, if so, why?

Unfortunately, this year we will miss the exhibition, but we plan to participate in the future. However, myself and a few others from our Pariplay team will be at the summit in June in support of this SiGMA event.

Do you have plans for the future?

We are constantly in talks with local operators and will share exciting news about our plans in Canada for the second quarter of the year. We also continue to expand in other key regulated markets and have significantly expanded our Fusion offering over the past three months with content from some new and unique studios. We never rest on our laurels, and it’s a particularly exciting time for Pariplay, so keep an eye on this space!

Join us at SiGMA Americas – Toronto:

Toronto is the perfect hub for SiGMA’s growth in North America, making it a bridge for network and business development in the region in regard to land-based gaming, iGaming, sports betting, and more. Hosting a huge iGaming industry, Toronto will be home to SiGMA Group to bring together industry pioneers on the continent through 3 days of networking, workshops and awards. To learn more about sponsorship and speaking opportunities, or to inquire about attending the event, please contact Sophie at [email protected].