Entain’s SVP of American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling Martin Lycka, underlined the potential and importance of the opening of the Ontario market. 

Speaking at the SBC North America Summit, Lycka emphasised the sporting history within the city and how that can lend itself to becoming a thriving sports betting market.

He stated: “Ontario’s a Canadian province that’s led the charge on online gambling. It’s a province of 15 million people with some of the greatest Canadian sports franchises such as the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Blue Jays. That’s why it was so important for Ontario but also the industry to open the market.

“Similar to the US and other global regulators the AGCO and iGO, the Ontario regulator buddies, do have an open-door policy so we can always go and have a conversation with them both in the run-up to the market launch in April earlier this year and ever since.”

He continued by speaking about responsible gambling and framing the conversation on it not as a burden, but as something that is both the right thing to do and something that also adds to the bottom line.

He concluded: “It’s not only about doing the right thing it’s also a smart business decision because, believe you me, as an industry, we want happy, so, by implication, healthy customers to cater to and, in my view, strong view, happy and healthy customers are those who know how to gamble within reason. We don’t want to be servicing customers that are prone to burning out.”