BetRivers is Now Cleared for Ontario Sports Betting Launch

The list of sportsbooks that are looking to launch in the Ontario sports betting market keeps being added to by regulators in the province. BetRivers has been approved for iGaming Operator Registration by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. This is according to a release from Rush Street Interactive from a few days ago.

Ontario sports betting will be open to commercial operators starting on April 4th of this year. And, it looks like BetRivers will now be on the list of operators ready for that launch. The CEO of Rush Street Interactive, Richard Schwartz, indicated that this approval is a big milestone for the company. He also indicated the company’s gratitude for the AGCO.

A few months ago, back in October 2021, Rush Street Interactive launched on BetRivers.net a free-to-play Canada sports betting game. This was a smart move by the company to try to build a member database. Schwartz also discussed the strong traction that platform received in Ontario and how the company is looking forward to rewarding those customers with a similar experience with their real money platform.

The free-to-play platform is the same as the real-money offerings from Rush Street Interactive. Rush Street Interactive is live in three countries now with Canada, after the United States and Colombia. With its BetRivers and PlaySugarHouse platforms, Rush Street Interactive is live in thirteen United States states.

Ontario set itself apart when it became the first province to announce its plan to launch a commercial online gaming market in Canada. Earlier this year, regulators laid the groundwork and announced the April launch for the commercial operator sports betting expansion.

In late January, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario began approving operators for the market. The registered operators that are ready for the April launch include 888, PointsBet, theScore, Rivalry Corp, and now BetRivers. 

Back in August of 2021, Canadian regulators legalized single-event sports betting across the country, but left it up to the provinces themselves to regulate it. Before this change, provincial lotteries were only able to offer parlays. The provincial lotteries began launching single-event betting products that same month.

Among the first lottery products to go live was ProLine+ from Ontario Lottery and Gaming. In February, ProLine+ partnered with the NFL, becoming the league’s first sportsbook partner in Canada. Last week, a similar partnership between ProLine+ and the NHL was announced as well.

Written by Allie Nelson, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert.