Despegue: Ontario despliega el iGaming de Norteam��rica - SiGMA Americas se re��ne con los protagonistas de la industria canadiense

Ontario launched the legal iGaming market on April 4. Considering that SiGMA heads to Toronto next month for the inauguration of SiGMA Americas, SiGMA News has just released a series of mini-interviews with major operators and partners who have decided to increase their reach in this market by obtaining their gaming licenses.

For the first interview, we caught up with Matthew Kelemen. Kelemen is the Director of Business Development for North America at Pariplay. The company is one of the first to obtain a license in Ontario. Thanks to this license, Pariplay’s aggregation offer will be available throughout the Canadian province, which, it claims, will be done together with several important operators and partners.

With online gambling taking off in Ontario, how do you plan to make your mark in the area?

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

In addition to having a vast and diverse content library with the most popular themes, mechanics, and features, we also have our own conversion and retention tools that enhance the player’s lifetime value. We know that competition will be tough, as when any new market opens up, but we are also confident that operators will quickly realise the strength of our product and the advantages we can offer, especially in a nascent market space.

Why Canada?

Canada, along with the U.S., have long been on the radar of both operators and suppliers as the next big market to open up. With the slow progress of online gambling regulation, North America has become a reality for the industry and offers great potential. The population is huge and mostly untapped, so for us, getting into the U.S. and Canada was a no-brainer.

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

The combined sports betting and online gambling market in Canada is estimated to exceed $2 billion in 2022, according to H2 Gambling Capital, despite the market only going live in April. This includes Ontario, which is expected to become one of the largest iGaming markets in North America, so we have high expectations for Canada to become one of our key points.

What expectations do you have about the new market?

We believe that first-mover advantage is key and we are already live with several operators in Ontario, including BetMGM and 888바카라. In the coming months we’ll be live with Rush Street Interactive, Caesars, and other big names in the industry.

We believe Ontario will be an amazing market and will be a great complement to our operation in Alberta. Ontario has a similar setup to the UK in terms of ease of entry and regulation, and is an inbound and outbound currency, making transactions much easier. It could be said that it is a North American market, but with a European air.

As we get more established, we’ll be looking at player data and reaching out to local operators to make sure our offering is as personalised as possible and to see if we can do anything else to support our partners. I am the first director of dedicated to North America and having someone on the ground will help us grow our presence in Canada. It’s still early days, but we’re excited about the opportunities Ontario offers and can’t wait to see how it evolves and be a part of it.

Why does your company stand out from the rest?

Our Fusion platform is home to the largest portfolio of games from the industry’s most sought-after providers and the content has already been tested in the many regulated markets in which we operate. Our experience in Europe, and recently also in the US and Alberta, has shown that our games fit well with a broad player demographic and preferences and offer great experiences and entertainment. Our quick integration makes it seamless for operators to partner with us, but what really makes us stand out is the option to take some of our content instead of all of it, allowing for a more targeted approach depending on the size of the business and the regions you want to operate in. This way, operators can enter new markets much more quickly and adapt when needed to deliver a localized and optimized experience.

Have you considered exhibiting at SiGMA Americas in Canada this June? If so, why?

Unfortunately, we will not be able to exhibit this year, but we plan to do so in the future. Still, I and a few others from Pariplay will be at the conference in June to support the event.

Do you have any plans for the future?

We are constantly in talks with local operators and in the second quarter of the year we will have interesting news about our plans for Canada. We also continue to expand into other key regulated markets and have significantly boosted our Fusion offering over the past three months with content from some new and unique studios. We never rest on our laurels and this is an especially exciting time for Pariplay, so check out this space!

Sign up for SiGMA Americas in Toronto:

Toronto is the perfect hub for SiGMA’s growth in North America, becoming a nexus for networking and developing businesses in the region related to land-based gaming, iGaming, sports betting, and more. Toronto, which is home to a huge e-gaming industry, will host the SiGMA Group’s initiative to bring together the continent’s industry pioneers for 3 days of networking, workshops and prizes. For more information on sponsorship and speaking opportunities or to request information about attending the event, please contact Sophie at [email protected].