Last June, the Canadian Gaming Summit was held in Toronto, the first time the gaming and betting event was held in an open, regulated, Ontario market. There was a sense of excitement as the industry, especially in Ontario, was heading down a new road.
It was announced yesterday that the Canadian Gaming Summit will be returning June 13-15, once again at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This time, though, the operational keys have been handed over by the Canadian Gaming Association to SBC, the events and media company that runs regional and global industry events, such as CasinoBeats Summit, SBC Summit North America, SBC Summit Barcelona, and SBC Summit Latinoamérica.
“The team at SBC has been busy,” said CGA president & CEO Paul Burns. “I think the difference will be noticeable in a few ways, from the large exhibit floor to larger networking events. SBC has been engaging the Canadian gaming industry to better understand what attendees and exhibitors are looking for from the Summit and they are applying what they’re learning. SBC is exclusively focused on the gaming industry and they’re bringing their expertise and experience to the Canadian Gaming Summit.”
Last June, panel topics included sportsbook advertising in Ontario and the rest of Canada, the global sports betting integrity ecosystem, corruption in sports, betting with Bitcoin, women in gaming, integrating the user experience between land-based and digital casinos, affiliate marketing, and understanding the sports bettor.
As SBC CEO and founder Rasmus Sojmark said, they’re all about “enhancing and elevating” the event and turning it into a premier networking hub for an expanding Canadian industry.
The Summit will feature a two-day conference with more than 150 speakers, covering a variety of topics like last year: the future of other Canadian provinces beyond Ontario, the integration of emerging technology into land-based gaming, First Nations partnerships, payment regulations, crypto and NFTs, and how affiliates can help ensure a successful launch in the Canadian market.
As well as Burns, speakers include Jai Maw, CEO, Betting Hero; JD McNamara, country director, Canada, Better Collective; Nav Sandhawalia, chief compliance and risk officer, Niagara Casinos; Scott Vanderwel, CEO, PointsBet Canada; Shelley White, CEO, Responsible Gambling Council; Tom Mungham, CEO & registrar, Alcohol & Gaming Commission of Ontario; Martha Otton, executive director, iGaming Ontario; Tyjondah Kerr, director of equity, diversity & inclusion, OLG; and Paul Pellizzari, vice president, global social responsibility, Hard Rock International.
The exhibition floor will feature more than 75 companies operating in Canada, including Altenar, Aurum Solutions, Fast Track, Finnplay, Kinectify, Mkodo, Paramount Commerce, Platipus Gaming, Smartsoft Gaming, SuzoHapp, and Xtremepush.
Cristian Robalino, vice president of marketing for SBC, says the event will be 100 percent focused on the Canadian market.
“There is a lot of interest from international companies to enter this market and learn, connect and develop the industry forward,” he said. “This event will be the perfect setting for this interest. The event will be different in a lot of ways. We will have a larger exhibition floor (nearly 50% bigger), more mindfully curated conference sessions, new branding, we’ll have a start-up competition (SBC First Pitch), and all-inclusive networking on two of the evenings. On top of that, we’ll be reinvesting in the event to make the production level much better and on par with our other SBC events, which attendees will notice immediately walking into the event.”
