The opening of the new GeoComply office in downtown Toronto further signifies the rapid growth of Ontario’s regulated igaming market. The office, located at 1 Richmond St. W., currently houses 50 staffers, with room to boost that number to more than 100.
GeoComply, based in Vancouver with an office in Montreal as well, provides fraud-prevention and cybersecurity services that help verify a user’s true digital identity. Bet99 was the latest licensed igaming operator in Ontario to announce a partnership with GeoComply. The company’s geolocation technology is installed on more than 400 million devices and analyze one billion-plus transactions every month.
Their first Toronto office was opened a year ago, at a WeWork location in Toronto’s Liberty Village, a quarter of the size of their new location.
“We didn’t really know what was going to happen, how fast we were going to grow,” said Lindsay Slader, SVP Compliance. “[Liberty Village] was almost like our starting transitional space. This signifies our first permanent home to solidify ourselves in Ontario, to attract the talent we’re looking for. When we were in Liberty Village, it was a bit of a challenge. So being in a central downtown location, we’re looking for talented individuals who come from the tech space and this is a great place to start.”
The Toronto office is focused on commercial operations, customer support, and IT services.
“This shows that we’re here to stay and grow the market,” said Chief Operating Officer Julien Crette. “We want to make this place exceptional, so we’re attracting the best tech talent.”
At the office opening event yesterday were Doug Downey, Ontario’s minister of the attorney general; Vic Fedelli, minister of economic development, job creation, and trade; Stephen Lund, CEO, Toronto Global; and various GeoComply executives, staff, and other industry types.
“This business is growing,” Downey said. “You can see the size of what’s happening here in Ontario.”
Downey quoted stat. As of the second quarter, the Ontario market had 45 licensed operators, more than 70 gaming sites, and over 943,000 active player accounts, with over $14 billion in total wagers that quarter.
“The revenue and wagering activity between Q1 and Q2 really illustrate how we’re one of the most competitive markets,” Downey said. “And if that wasn’t enough, the gaming market supports 12,000 full time jobs.”
Added Slader, “We believe in regulated gaming. [Across Canada,] plenty of people play on unlicensed sites and they may not have access to the proper support for problem gambling issues or they may not have the consumer protections that would otherwise be guaranteed to a regulated framework.
“Plenty of [unlicensed operators] are seeking out an opportunity to be licensed, if there was a new regulatory framework rolled out [in other provinces]. And if you had that, you would have companies lining up looking to be regulated and be able to offer services to consumers. I think that that’s definitely a direction that other provinces should be exploring.”
