NorthStar Gaming Holdings Inc. will expand into other Canadian provinces, jurisdictions that don’t have the open, regulated, competitive market that Ontario has.
The company announced that they’re rolling out a NorthStarBets.com sports-betting and casino platform across Canada via Slapshot Media Inc., a Canadian igaming marketing and managed-services company that manages Spreads.ca, owned and operated by the Abenaki Council of Wolinak.
NorthStar Gaming Holdings Inc. announced last May they had acquired Slapshot Media. NorthStar is a vendor to Spreads.ca.
As a NorthStar spokesperson explained to CDC Gaming, the NorthStar Bets platform will be made available outside of Ontario under the umbrella of the First Nations license.
“They own and operate the site,” the spokesperson said. “They’re protected under their constitutional right and we’re helping them manage their gambling platform.”
Spreads.ca is not available in Ontario; bettors in Ontario use the NorthStarBets.ca sports-betting and casino site.
The deal also means the company can grow its brand for the inevitable expansion of Ontario-style regulatory regimes into markets like Alberta, which many in the industry think will be the next province to follow Ontario’s lead.
A PwC study in June 2022 estimated that the Canadian online-sports-betting and igaming market will reach $8.5 billion by 2026 and more than 60 percent of the market is outside Ontario. A growing customer base outside Ontario will boost Northstar’s investments in infrastructure, human resources, proprietary content, and marketing.
“This groundbreaking step [will make us] a truly national brand. As a Canadian company, we’re confident we understand local consumers better than the large international competitors and that we offer a premium experience that best meets their needs,” said Michael Moskowitz, Chair and CEO of NorthStar Gaming, in a statement. “We expect the Canada-wide launch to be an important catalyst that drives growth in our customer base and revenues for years to come.”
The NorthStarBets.com site will have the same look and feel as the Ontario site.
“Ultimately, we have plans to be a fully regulated operator in other provinces,” the NorthStar spokesperson said. “Once we have the framework, like in Ontario, we will swap from the unregulated to the regulated market segment that you saw in Ontario.”
It will be a different business approach outside of Ontario, compared to other operators based offshore.
“We’re a public company, we all live in Canada, so this was the only way we were comfortable [expanding],” he added.
