April looks to be an exciting month for avid gamers and gambling aficionados in Ontario, as the province opens its legal iGaming market. Earlier this month, the Canadian province of Ontario announced that the iGaming Onatori (iGO), a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), would oversee the market.
This development of opening up the iGaming market to private operators and thereby ending the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s monopoly on iGaming has been a long time coming, with proceedings dating all the way back to April 2019.
For consumers themselves, this is an incredibly long-awaited and welcome change. It will help create a level playing field for Ontario casinos and allow them to compete more effectively with facilities in the USA. It also means that gamers will be presented with evermore exciting opportunities from the private second.
And the private sector is just excited about this development, as is demonstrated by the speed at which they have been launching initiatives to engage with Ontarian bettors. One such example is the recent announcement of a service offered by Score Media.
Welcoming theScore Home
Based in Toronto, Score Media and Gaming is a digital media firm also goes by the name of theScore. It is expected to launch an exciting news sportsbook and casino app in Ontario. Registrations for this app have been open just before the debut of the province’s regulated gambling market.
Founded originally back in 2012, theScore went on to be acquired by Penn National Gaming in August 2021 in a deal that amounted to USD 2 billion. After its acquisition, the gambling company went to formulate an agreement with Gold Canada and became the league’s official gaming partner. With such lucrative deals under its belt, the company’s presence in Ontario demonstrates promise for the local market.
The main idea behind the app is to offer players superior betting experiences, with varied promotional offers, such as popular no deposit bonuses - which are very much sought-after by millions of players across Canada and the world. While theScore is already available for download, it’s worth noting that only those who are physically located in Ontario can actually benefit from using this app.
Despite this restriction, however, registrations for theScore’s app are coming in thick and fast, with the only other major requirement for registration is that players need to be 19 years or older to participate.
Even though theScore’s parent company does hail from the Ontarian capital of Toronto, theScore Bet hasn’t been able to hit the local market till now. However, the success of the app is clear as it has already been launched in several US jurisdictions such as Colorado, Indiana, Iowa and New Jersey.
However, having the opportunity to launch theScore into its own home market has been a truly exciting prospect for the company. To demonstrate their excitement at coming home, the company has organized a launch party which they’ll host from the 2nd to the 4th of April. Ontario betting is subsequently scheduled to go live on the 4th of April.
Looking Forward To The Future
Having a connection to the province, theScore Bet has developed a good relationship with the local regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. This relationship has been entrenched over time thanks to their dedication to safe gambling in Canada.
The agreement that the parties have in place means that theScore has now been licensed as an iGaming operator and will work as an agent of iGaming Ontario, which is the organization charged with managing online gambling throughout the country.
The process for attaining this accreditation began in January when theScore Bet became the first prospective private operator to fulfil all the requirements set out by the Canadian Responsible Gambling Council.
In response to the launch of theScore Bet in Ontario, John Levy, chief executive officer of theScore, expressed his excitement. He also pointed out how the brand already has support from local gamblers who are familiar with their work. He also went on to say that he is excited to see how Ontarian betters receive the sportsbook and casino app offerings.
Levy also stated that his team are also looking forward to the launch of Ontario’s regulated better market and the opportunities it will allow for those in the private sector. This will provide a perfect opportunity for theScore to showcase its fully integrated media and betting experiences, which have been developed over the course of many years.
This article was written in collaboration with Nodeposit365.com