With the online betting and gaming industry gathering in New Jersey Monday for the SBC Summit North America, soon many of the same folks will be in Toronto for Canadian Gaming Summit 2023.
The Canadian event, to be held June 13-15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, also produced by SBC in collaboration with the Canadian Gaming Association, will be 100 percent focused on the Canadian market, says Cristian Robalino, VP Marketing Americas for SBC.
“There is a lot of interest from international companies to enter this market and learn, connect, and develop the industry,” he said. “This event will be the perfect setting for that interest.”
Leading the charge in Canada has been Ontario, which last month celebrated the one-year anniversary of launching an open, regulated, igaming market. In Q4 in Ontario, there were 44 operators and 75 gaming websites live, 1.01 million active player accounts, and average monthly spend per active player account of $174.
In Year 1, iGaming Ontario reported that the province handled $35.5 billion in total wagers and earned $1.4 billion in total gaming revenue. That makes Ontario one of the largest igaming jurisdictions in North America.
Last year, the CGA ran the Canadian Gaming Summit, the first industry event after the regulated market launched in April 2022, also held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
This year, Robalino says the event will be different in a lot of ways. There will be a larger exhibition floor (nearly 50 percent bigger), more mindfully created conference sessions, new branding, a start-up competition (SBC First Pitch), and all-inclusive networking on two of the evenings.
“It will be on par with our other SBC events,” he added.
Also of note, the conference agenda will not be Ontario-focused and will take a province-by-province approach.
“This focus allows us to delve into each region’s unique set of rules and opportunities across various sectors, including sports betting, igaming, land-based operations, payments, player protection, affiliation, marketing, growth, and leadership,” Robalino said.
A diverse range of companies has expressed interest in participating in the conference – big and small operators, regulators, crown corporations, land-based establishments, affiliates, lotteries, and sports teams.
Robalino said there will be a minimum of 2,000 attendees, over 75 exhibitors, and 160 speakers at the event in June.
SBC has separate teams to handle onboarding for operators and affiliates, as well as a dedicated sales and customer-success team, to support sponsors and exhibitors.
Another highlight is the Player Protection Symposium, a pre-day conference that has become a staple of SBC events. It’s an opportunity to discuss best practices for player safety and ensure that innovation doesn’t come at the expense of player welfare.
The First Nations Canadian Gaming Awards will recognize the contributions of First Nations-led gaming entities to the growth and development of First Nation communities across Canada.
