ONTARIO SPORTSBOOK ADVERTISING LEVELS ON THE RISE

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

The process to bring commercial sportsbooks to Ontario continues at a steady pace. While there are still some hurdles in the way, industry insiders are eying the first quarter of 2022 for the official launch.

Legal sports betting in Ontario currently exists through the provincial government’s lottery system. However, the plan on the table is to expand the commercial marketplace.

US-based online operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings would get a piece of the action. Retail sports betting would expand through existing Ontario land-based casinos.

Since the situation in Ontario is a matter of when, not if this happens, sportsbooks involved are gearing up their marketing plans.

One of the biggest aspects of the legal sports betting industry in the US has been a huge wave of advertising dollars flooding the marketplace. While these dollars have been spent in legal markets, they have impacted the entire country.

The primary goal of any advertising is new customer acquisition in a fierce battle for market share. FanDuel and DraftKings have led the way. Casino-oriented operators such as BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook and WynnBET have joined the fray.

Since the beginning of the new football season in September, the level of spending has risen dramatically. With the doors to the Ontario market close to opening, spending levels north of the border are expected to dramatically increase as well.

BetRegal is the “Official Sport Gaming Partner” of the Canadian Football League (CFL). This online gaming company has slightly increased its level of spending with the CFL back in action in 2021.

Toronto residents have probably seen a few billboards promoting BetRegal’s association with the league.The provincial lottery and gaming corporations do not allocate huge advertising budgets to promote the legal products they offer. There is a much more tame aspect to any advertising campaign by a gaming entity in Canada.

That is all about to change in Ontario in the coming months. Most of the other provinces in Canada continue to rely on their lottery and gaming corporations as the primary source. As the most populated province in the country, Ontario has gone in a different direction.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has recently released an “Internet Gaming Go-Live Compliance Guide” in advance of this expansion.

The guide outlines compliance issues. It also addresses risk management criteria for meeting various industry guidelines. One of those guidelines covers advertising that does not target underage or high-risk players.

However, the AGCO has not established any set guidelines covering the amount of advertising allowed. It has not addressed the various media channels that can be used. This opens the door to a much higher level of sports betting ads that Ontario residents have been exposed to in the past.

The guide does suggest that the level of advertising in the province will be monitored in the coming months.

The primary reason why the Ontario government is promoting an open legal market is the current level of illegal activity. Regulating an expanded online sports betting and iGaming industry in the province has been deemed as the best way to address this issue.

Given the massive advertising budgets of the US operators planning to enter the Ontario market, this will be something to watch once they go live.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab