Canada
Gateway Casinos Signs on as a National Partner with Children’s Wish Foundation to Grant the Wishes of Sick Kids
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited is proud and excited to support Children’s Wish Foundation as a new, national partner and Heroes Challenge sponsor in three provinces.
Gateway and its over 9,000 employees will lend their philanthropic support to the Foundation in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario this summer through the organization’s annual Heroes Challenge fundraiser event. Through GatewayGIVES, the company’s charitable and community engagement program, Gateway employees and management will form multiple teams to participate in the event, taking place in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto on September 28, 2018.
This marks the beginning of a promising relationship with the organizations. Children’s Wish Foundation is the largest and only all-Canadian wish granting charity, granting wishes to children aged 3 to 17 diagnosed with a life-threatening condition. Children’s Wish has been operating in Canada for over 30 years and has granted over 25,000 wishes across the country.
“A national partnership with Children’s Wish speaks directly to what we strive to do in our communities through our GatewayGIVES program. We want to make a positive difference not just with this event but every day in the communities where we operate. I am extremely proud of all our team members who are working to grant wishes for sick children across Canada. In the spirit of granting as many wishes as possible for children diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, I have issued a friendly challenge – the Gateway team that raises the most funds will win a CEO-hosted team dinner,” says Tony Santo, CEO of Gateway Casinos.
“The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada is excited to be partnering with Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited. Children’s Wish recently granted its 25,000th wish – a significant milestone for a 100% Canadian charity. Forging a new and meaningful national partnership with Gateway Casinos at this time is crucial. Their strong support and engagement at a national level helps position us to grant the next 25,000 heartfelt wishes to children across Canada who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness,” says Chris Kotsopoulos, CEO of Children’s Wish.
By participating in Heroes Challenge, teams of Gateway employees will raise funds to directly support a Wish Child paired with their team. One of these children is James, a six-year-old Kamloops boy who was born paralyzed from the waist down due to neuroblastoma on his spine. James began chemotherapy treatments at only four days old and is now living with severe physical impairments. Gateway is looking forward to granting James’ wish.
Gateway is one of Canada’s leading gaming and entertainment companies, operating 27 properties across the country. The GatewayGIVES program aims to build stronger, healthier and more vibrant communities by offering not just their resources, but also their know-how, and properties to support local charities and initiatives in the communities where they operate. In 2017, Gateway donated over $1 Million to more than 1,500 local organizations and charities in Canada.
About Gateway Casinos & Entertainment:
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited (“Gateway”) is one of the largest and most diversified gaming companies in Canada. Operating in British Columbia, Edmonton and Ontario, Gateway has 9,000 employees and operates 27 gaming properties with more than 380 tables, over 13,200 slots, 77 restaurants and bars and 561 hotel rooms. As the new service provider for the Central Gaming Bundle in Ontario, Gateway has brought two more properties and one new planned build in Wasaga Beach or Collingwood to the Gateway portfolio when fully implemented. A multi-pronged growth strategy has seen Gateway diversify and expand its product offering, including developing proprietary casino and restaurant brands, which has dramatically improved the gaming customer experience while attracting new customers. This includes brands like Match Eatery & Public House, Atlas Steak + Fish and the new Halley’s Club. In 2017, Gateway celebrated 25 years in the business of gaming and entertainment in Canada. Further information is available at www.gatewaycasinos.com.
About Children’s Wish Foundation:
Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada is the largest and only all-Canadian wish granting charity dedicated to granting wishes to Canadian children between the ages of 3 and 17 who are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. For more than 30 years, Children’s Wish has worked tirelessly to grant heartfelt wishes to more than 25,000 children and their families – that’s three wishes each and every day, all year long!
Children’s Wish has chapter offices and professional staff in every province, and each wish family is assigned a dedicated Wish Coordinator who is able to personally and carefully structure each heartfelt wish experience to meet the particular needs of the child and their family. Travel wishes include all siblings 21 years and under living in the same household, and families travel worry-free thanks to exclusive Blue Cross insurance.
Our newly expanded reach, which includes children diagnosed with a serious neurological or genetic illness, means continued strong wish referral support through our medical community. Wish referrals continue to increase year over year, and we are proud to maintain our ‘no waiting list’ policy, thanks to our generous donors. More information: www.childrenswish.ca
Source: Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited
Canada
Glitnor Group expands IBIA’s betting integrity presence in Ontario
Glitnor Group, operating under the LCKY Group in Ontario, has joined the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA). Glitnor Group’s luckycasino.ca brand sportsbook will feed into IBIA’s world leading betting integrity monitoring platform. The operator joins over 50 companies and 125 leading sports betting brands in IBIA and further cements the association’s position as the leading sports betting integrity monitoring body in Ontario and globally.
David Schwieler LCKY Group CEO, said: “At Glitnor Group, we’re dead serious about keeping our betting games fair and square. That’s why teaming up with IBIA is a big deal for us. We know how crucial it is to protect the spirit of sports, and we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and work closely with the IBIA to make sure sports betting stays exciting, speedy, and above all, fair.”
Khalid Ali, CEO of IBIA, said: “I am delighted to welcome Glitnor Group as IBIA’s latest member in Ontario. Glitnor and IBIA share a common goal to maintain the integrity of the sports betting marketplace and to protecting consumers and sports from match-fixing. Ensuring product integrity is paramount to our approach and we look forward to integrating Glitnor within our leading global sports betting integrity monitoring system.”
IBIA is a not-for-profit body that has no competing conflicts with the delivery of commercial services to other sectors and is run by operators for operators to protect regulated sports betting markets from match-fixing. IBIA’s global monitoring network is a highly effective anti-corruption tool, detecting and reporting suspicious activity in regulated betting markets.
Through the IBIA global monitoring network it is possible to track transactional activities linked to individual customer accounts. IBIA members have over $300bn per annum in betting turnover (handle), accounting for approximately 50% of the global commercial regulated land-based and online sports betting sector, and in excess of 50% for online alone.
IBIA recently released a report on the Availability of Sports Betting Products which highlighted Ontario as a leading regulated gambling jurisdiction, with an expected onshore channelisation for sports betting of 92% in 2024 forecast to rise to 97% in 2028. IBIA currently represents over 60% of the private sports betting operators licensed in the province. All online sports betting operators licensed in Ontario are required to be part of a betting integrity monitoring body.
IBIA’s 2023 annual integrity report detailed 184 alerts reported in the year, which represents a decrease of 101 (or 35%) on the revised 2022 figure of 285 alerts. IBIA alerts contributed to the investigations and subsequent successful sanctioning of 21 clubs, players and officials in 2023, an increase on the 15 sanctioned in 2022.
Canada
SOFTSWISS Obtains Firstly Issued B2B Tobique Gaming Licence
SOFTSWISS, an iGaming software provider celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2024, has obtained the B2B Tobique Gaming Licence, the first ever issued in the jurisdiction. The Tobique Gaming Commission (TGC) and Differentia Licensing Advisory Group Limited (DLAG), a provider and facilitator to gaming companies for international gaming licences, authorised SOFTSWISS to engage in business activities for one year.
Located in western New Brunswick, Canada, the Tobique First Nation is a sovereign indigenous community issuing online gambling licences through the TGC under the Tobique Gaming Act of 2023. The licence, recognised as the B2B Tobique Gaming Licence, offers businesses the prospect of international operations, facilitating the establishment of a global footprint. The licence covers various categories of real money betting, including sports, casino games and lottery. Its significant advantages include the streamlined application process, reasonable price and quick acquisition.
Yuri Sharapa, Head of Country Projects at SOFTSWISS, comments: “Acquiring a new licence is a remarkable achievement for us, signifying our dedication to offering our clients a diverse range of options. We extend our gratitude to the Tobique Gaming Commission for their trust and stringent standards. We are proud to announce that one of the companies under the SOFTSWISS brand has become the first company to secure the B2B Tobique iGaming Licence.”
“The DLAG team is pleased to announce that the first Tobique Licence has been granted. The Licensee is under the tier-1 international brand, SOFTSWISS, in our industry, recognised for its leading products and services. These are exciting times for both the gaming world and Tobique!” adds Graham Martin, Chairman of DLAG.
SOFTSWISS supplies multiple operators under three international licences: MGA, CGA, and Kahnawake. Additionally, SOFTSWISS has several national licences and certifications, among which the recently obtained South African Licence through the acquisition of Turfsport, a leading South African provider of wagering software with 35 years of experience. Additionally, last year, as part of its strategy to enter regulated markets, the SOFTSWISS Casino Platform and the SOFTSWISS Sportsbook obtained GLI-19 and GLI-33 certifications, respectively.
About SOFTSWISS
SOFTSWISS is an international tech company supplying software solutions for managing iGaming projects. The expert team, which counts over 2,000 employees, is based in Malta, Poland and Georgia. SOFTSWISS holds a number of gaming licences and provides one-stop-shop iGaming software solutions. The company has a vast product portfolio, including the Casino Platform, Game Aggregator, the Affilka affiliate tracking platform, Sportsbook Platform, and Jackpot Aggregator. In 2013, SOFTSWISS was the first in the world to introduce a Bitcoin-optimised online casino solution.
Canada
Hacksaw Gaming and Caesars Digital Partner to Launch Online Casino Games in Ontario
Launch brings Hacksaw Gaming titles to Caesars Palace Online Casino and Caesars Sportsbook & Casino in Ontario
Hacksaw Gaming today announced its first market launch with Caesars Digital in North America, in the regulated iGaming province of Ontario, Canada. The new partnership marks the exciting launch of new games on Caesars Palace Online Casino and Caesars Sportsbook & Casino in the province.
This new partnership, a first between the two companies, will bring familiar titles to online casino players and will be followed by a dedicated roadmap for additional launches in more jurisdictions in 2024, showcasing the entire Hacksaw Gaming catalog. The first release of games includes Hacksaw Gaming classics Wanted Dead or a Wild, RIP City, Hand of Anubis and Mines.
“Forging partnerships with new faces is always an exciting time but the influence of Caesars Digital is one we pride,” the Chief Executive Officer for Hacksaw Gaming, Marcus Cordes, said. “Launching this partnership in Ontario is the perfect place to begin our journey.”
“Hacksaw Gaming brings an exciting catalog of games to our platforms that should provide a thrilling experience for our players,” the Senior Vice-President and Chief iGaming Officer for Caesars Digital, Matthew Sunderland, said. “We’re excited to see how our players engage with this content in Ontario and in jurisdictions in the future through our new partnership.”
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