Canada
Twain Sport from inception to launch: what it’s delivering to the Canadian market
Truly unique products are thin on the ground these days but BetGames’ CEO Andreas Koeberl is confident he has a winner on his hands ahead of its launch not the Canadian market. Here, he explains more about the trailblazing product and how it aims to bring the worlds of sports betting and casino closer together.
Twain Sport has caught the attention of many in the industry having gone live with leading brands globally – tell us more about its universal appeal.
It’s a product like no other, essentially. There’s always talk of ‘innovation’ in the industry but I’m not sure the description is always warranted with a lot of similar products. Twain Sport bucks that trend and delivers a brand-new concept that might create its own vertical.
We’ve been able to offer a simple yet engaging proposition globally since evolving Twain Sport to a 24/7 offering, we’re thrilled at how it has performed since launch. But it isn’t the same product we saw on day one either. Beyond the round-the-clock scheduling we now have, we’ve engaged with operators and bettors to build their feedback into subtle tweaks to gameplay and presentation that have given us the more intuitive, mobile-first optimised product we see today.
We haven’t finished with the evolution either. Such an approach proves valuable in consistently strengthening and improving Twain Sport. Coming soon we’re looking at introducing AI-generated commentary in localised languages, allowing us to cater to audiences wherever we operate and scale more effectively. It’s a delight to see it gradually grow and refine.
What was the inspiration behind its development? Did you identify a gap in the market that led to Twain Sport’s creation?
Standard sports betting is so well-established and popular that trying to compete with it wouldn’t have worked. We looked at what was currently popular in the world of social media, gaming and general entertainment, and the trend is toward fast-paced and on-demand.
We wanted to create a product that complimented live sports betting and was easily accessible, presenting the opportunity to enjoy it whenever the mood takes a bettor. Twain Sport’s action-packed nature with immediate rewards and a fantastically high production quality allows us to deliver on that initial goal.
Now we have a fast, fun betting experience that replicates much of what live sport betting offers but is more accessible so that if bettors have 15 minutes to spare between the second and third quarter of a basketball game or can’t wait for the kick-off on the next big soccer match.
So, naturally, they can play a couple of rounds of T-Kick or T-Basket with us. Sixty-second matches every two minutes, 24 hours a day every day allows us to fulfil that promise, keeping bettors engaged, before and after big events – Twain Sport fills the gap and then some.
Speaking of gaps – can Twain Sport achieve the holy grail of cross-selling between major sports and casino-style betting?
Undoubtedly. It offers everything that most casino games do – instant thrills and payouts. BetGames’ roots are in converting sports bettors into casino players. The advantage we have is that Twain Sport bridges that divide without any of the barriers to entry you’ll see with most casino games.
We did our due diligence during early development, looking at the target demographics we’d be putting Twain Sport in front of in each region. The key, is to keep bettors engaged, promoting a reason to cross-sell, and with our stream of on-demand basketball and soccer, we have a unique product that definitely fits the bill. We got it right, and to see that groundwork come to fruition is hugely satisfying.
One of the many reasons that Twain Sport ticks the number of boxes that it does is that it’s a versatile product – bringing sports into the casino world, and attracting sports fans too, moving them away from the lower margins associated with sports betting. It offers operators a lifetime value on par with casino margins, while greatly boosting their customer base.
When will Canadian players see the launch of Twain Sport and how will the market there react?
Now that T-Basket is available 24/7, we’ll be launching very soon indeed and with several operators.
What we’ll be launching with is unlike anything else on the market – Twain Sport offers up 60 seconds of action-packed basketball and football games played by real athletes competing in bespoke one-on-one challenges, every two minutes, throughout the day – so we’re confident it is going to receive the same overwhelmingly positive response it has enjoyed in other regions.
We’re launching into a unique market too – one with incredible potential. We’ve researched our audience and designed Twain Sport to specifically target that 25 – 35-year-old bracket that the average Canadian bettor falls into.
By delivering that demographic the fast-action entertainment it demands, along with our branding options, we can ensure we’re supplying a fantastic tool which helps promote trust and showcases the value and integrity of our brand and product.
SBC’s Canadian Gaming Summit is going to provide the perfect launchpad and the timing couldn’t be better – what do you expect to gain from the event?
Putting Twain Sport and T-Basket in particular front and centre to the very people we need to show it off to is ideal just before we launch in Canada. The market there is buoyant and growing rapidly and with its love of sports and fast-paced entertainment, we couldn’t hope to have an offering more attuned to hit the ground running.
We see Twain Sport as the future, catering to the new generation of players that are looking for instant thrills and payouts. We’re very excited by the prospect of introducing it to another new audience and I’m sure it will be a great show.
Canada
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Plans to Open a Gaming Facility in Benzonia
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians plans to open a gaming facility in Benzonia.
“The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians wishes to share with the public the exciting news that the tribe will open a new gaming facility on its trust land in Benzie County. The facility will create much-needed new employment opportunities and stimulate economic growth for the tribe and for the local community,” reads an undated press release on the tribe’s website.
The gaming facility will be located at the tribe’s community center at 7282 Hoadley Road, in Benzonia, according to the release.
At the Nov. 26 Benzie County Board of Commissioners, John Petoskey spoke to commissioners about the gaming facility on behalf of the tribe.
Petoskey said he had been in contact with county officials about the gaming facility.
“What the tribe would like to do is to open a gaming facility on Hoadly Road just down the street from the Wesco gas station,” Petoskey said.
He said the tribe submitted a notice of notification to the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Office of Indian Gaming in the summer of 2023.
“In the view of the tribe, this site is eligible for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act under what’s know as restored land exception to the categorical prohibition of gaming after 1988. That was basically the same argument the tribe used for Turtle Creek and was successful in that case,” Petoskey said.
He said state officials also have been notified of the tribe’s intent.
Petoskey said federal officials had 120 days to review the notice and object.
“At this point, they have not raised objections, so our internal gaming commission at the Grand Traverse Band issued a gaming license on Nov. 21,” he said.
He said after the license was issued, the tribe reached out to Benzie County officials so that they would know what was going on at tribal land and could answer questions from the public.
The tribal center will be renovated to accommodate gaming The tribe also has a housing development on the property.
Petoskey said the facility will feature slot machines and table games.
Work on the renovation has already started, including electrical and architectural work.
Expanded parking may be constructed if “demand is sufficient” Petoskey said.
He also said the gaming facility would create between 20 and 50 jobs.
Bojoko.ca, a leading online casino comparison site in Canada, has announced its best-ever performance since launching in 2021. October 2024 marked a new milestone for the platform, recording the highest number of First Time Depositors (FTDs) and the most significant commission earnings in its history.
The number of FTDs surged with 35% growth from what was already the all-time best result in September. This achievement cements Bojoko.ca’s position as a trusted leader in the Canadian iGaming industry, providing users with transparent and user-centric resources for finding the best online casino experiences.
In addition to the record-breaking FTDs, Bojoko.ca saw its highest-ever monthly commissions, underscoring the platform’s exceptional performance and the trust it has built with users and partners.
Joonas Karhu, CEO of Bojoko, said: “This is a proud moment for Bojoko.ca and the entire team. Since launching in 2021, our mission has been to empower our users to discover safe casinos that match their criteria, and this record-breaking month demonstrates that we have earned the trust of Canadian players. We could not be more excited and are more committed than ever to raising the bar in the iGaming industry.”
awager’s live-stream solution brings physical slot machine games online, delivering an authentic casino experience remotely. Today, awager proudly announces the launch of its latest product version with Loto-Québec. Building on two successful years with awager’s second product version, this latest release introduces an advanced solution that brings the realism of the casino floor to players’ devices, offering an even more immersive experience through awager’s enhanced technology.
This product launch features awager’s unique “Casino-in-Casino” solution, part of a suite of offerings designed to deliver real-time, physical casino experience. A dedicated studio has been built on the Casino de Montréal floor.
This product version aims to bring the most authentic online casino experience yet. With a multitude of camera angles, real-time player engagement, full machine interaction, 4K video streaming with minimal lag, and full sound capture, players can enjoy an immersive session that captures the spirit of the casino. Additionally, a 3D video simulation was created, allowing players to “walk through” the Casino de Montréal when they enter the awager lobby, providing a true-to-life ambience for a realistic experience.
This launch strengthens a partnership with Loto-Québec that began in 2022, when awager’s second product version first captivated players. With its third version now live, awager and Loto-Québec are set to continue their successful collaboration, elevating digital casino gaming for players across Québec.
Warren Steven, GM of North America for awager: We are proud to work alongside Loto-Québec and to provide the province’s players with the most advanced and exciting casino technology on the market.
We truly believe that the third version of our product is the most innovative yet and that there is nothing else quite like it on the market. It immerses players in the online casino environment and provides a unique experience, blurring the line between land-based and online casino action.
The Canadian market is a key strategic market for awager in North America, and it is a privilege to work alongside Loto-Québec and provide its customers with this exciting new experience.
François Hardy, Senior Director of Products and Innovation at Loto-Québec: At Loto-Québec, we are always looking for new and exciting ways to entertain our players. We want to be able to provide them with the latest technology and gaming on the market. Awager’s product perfectly aligns with this vision, enabling us to provide a refreshing and dynamic experience to our players.
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