One memorable comment that came out of the Canadian Gaming Summit was from a PointsBet Canada marketer about igaming advertising taking a hit in terms of quality.
“There’s a lot of crap out there,” the executive said. “There’s got to be a better way on the creative side of the business to elevate your brand, to find ways to be connected to your audience.”
As the Ontario regulated industry, just a little over two years in, segues from customer acquisition to retention and with advertising restrictions in the province now well entrenched, igaming ads were a popular topic at the summit.
A panel that included Ugis Zvilna, CEO, Clear Media Group, Aly Lalani, an igaming marketing consultant and industry vet, and Jack Tadman, Principal, GME Law, attempted to shed some light on the issue in a discussion that wrapped up the three-day Summit.
Here are some highlights.
“Recently, we’ve seen a shift on the agency side. They’re starting to put pressure on us for .net advertising, not only from the provincial regulators, but also from the broadcaster side, where one major broadcaster won’t even accept .net advertising placements anymore. Another major broadcaster will accept .net advertising for the rest of Canada, but they have to be Ontario-registered operators,” said Zvilna.
Lalani talked about the advertising strategy by licensed operators in Ontario also operating in the gray market in other provinces.
“Just by the nature of the operator, the licensed operators are also present in the gray market in the .net area. We use the word ‘spillover’ into the rest of Canada in terms of the visibility. I would say that’s almost a strategy employed to a degree by some of the operators that are licensed in Ontario, but still penetrate the gray market. I’ve seen data that shows once launching a campaign specifically catering to Ontario, but through a national broadcast, the impact on the metrics in other markets is significant, tangible, and relatively immediate.”
Operators in Ontario are faced with a challenging market, he added, considering the number of sites in the province and factoring in restrictions on the type of inducement language they can use.
With a Senate bill to restrict advertising and restrictions on athletes participating in igaming advertising, what strategies can operators deploy to build trust and credibility in regions where igaming might be viewed negatively?
“I remember being amazed at how ingrained gambling was as part of the culture over in London,” Lalani said. “That’s not Canada. That’s not Ontario. That’s not Toronto. We are, in terms of the lifecycle of the industry, in its absolute infancy. We had a huge influx of gambling ads [after the Ontario market went live in 2022]. Part of the problem is all the gambling ads look relatively similar.
“It points out that operators are put in a bit of a tough position with their budgets coming into a market and deciding between the capital-intensive focus of building a brand and the low-hanging fruit. Let’s focus on product, let’s get the word VIP out there eight to 10 times, spinning wheels, neon lights — they’re all the same kind of advertising. And that contributes to the idea and the perception that there are way too many gambling ads. I’m of the opinion that with a lot of the casino ads, we could just swap out logos and that would have no impact whatsoever on the actual presence of the brand.
“There’s a whole other section of players who are a lot more valuable and profitable, but it’s going to require a bit more effort and more of an emotional connection to get to those players, versus just chucking a product out there and hoping they’ll come.”
Rivalry, for one, has done a great job of building a loyal following, the panel added.
What are some of the restrictions you’re seeing in Ontario and are these changes accomplishing their objectives? Do you think a brand would ever calculate a potential fine and do something that violates the standard because overall the value is there?
“Absolutely,” Lalani said. “Especially in a market as competitive as this, I think that that would be a calculated risk. I don’t know if any of the reputable brands necessarily, but 100% would just be an assumed cost that would go into the CPA calculation.”
Everyone has a cost-benefit analysis, Tadman said. “We’ve seen the fines in Europe and the fines in Ontario are significantly smaller. You don’t want to see an operator violate a standard on purpose because the consequences aren’t severe.
“[The AGCO] did release some pretty good guidance on the Advertising Standards and the changes, but this can still be challenging for brands that want to stay on the right side of things. They want to entice players, but not incentivize.”
Tadman touched on the lack of commonality in how each jurisdiction in Canada approaches advertising, an interesting angle as Alberta starts to ramp up an Ontario-style competitive model.
“That’s what’s most interesting to me,” he said. “Every jurisdiction has the protection of minors and vulnerable groups, but I’m really struggling to find these common threads. Total ban, restricting ads during certain times, or mediums or events, prohibiting sponsor relationships — these are all things that don’t exist in Ontario. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s tough, but it could always be worse.
“Reducing problem gambling, preventing minors from gambling, making the public less angry about the number of gambling ads, advertising is one piece of the larger picture, which is the transformation of gambling in a regulated market from something that takes place on the margins to something that’s normalized.”
When asked how smaller operators can make the most impact in a crowded market, Zvilna said to stick to TV.
“Use the right media platforms,” he said. “TV is still king in the sense that that despite its declining viewership, it offers instant credibility and prestige. So for a smaller operator that’s done a lot of below-the-line advertising, it’s possible that with just one exposure — and it doesn’t even have to be the full 30 seconds, it could be a 15-second TV ad — my perception is they’re spending a bundle and it adds to that credibility and trust. When the budgets don’t allow for TV and this happens with smaller operators, there are many other channels. We go out-of-home to taxis. We had coasters for a client and distributed them. So there are many other avenues and the bottom line is a smaller operator can steal or earn market share from competitors.”
Lalani said it’s about getting into the deep grass more: decide who you’re looking to speak or stand out to, find out where they’re consuming their content, and go at them there. TikTok? Other social channels? Podcasts? NHL team pages? And how do you get in front them there?
“The first question should be who you’re talking to, not what are you talking about,” he said.
Bottom line? The market in Ontario is settling now, the customer-acquisition phases has ended, and gambling ads are less aggressive. The customer-acquisition race now turns to Alberta.
