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The Future of Play: New Horizons Conference 2021

Published

4 years ago

March 2, 2021

The Future of Play: New Horizons Conference 2021

The last twelve months has seen the way we work, live and play change dramatically in light of the global pandemic. At BCLC, we’ve pivoted our approach to business and accelerated our player health response to meet our players’ needs in a quickly changing societal context and entertainment landscape.

For some individuals, the rapid pace of change, combined with increased isolation, has been difficult. To make it easier for our players to access resources and to keep gambling fun and safe during these challenging times, BCLC has made GameSense Advisors available to players by phone and by online chat through PlayNow.com. GameSense Advisors have experience in areas such as mental health, cultural sensitivity and appropriate-response training to support players in a variety of situations. They also assist players by providing information that is essential to making informed decisions and connecting players to appropriate support resources where needed.

Now is the time to look at ways to move from the “new normal” to a “new future”. At this year’s Ninth Annual New Horizons in Responsible Gambling Conference, our theme, Player Health Reboot: Resetting the Future, embodies both reflection and imagination – with the clear purpose of inspiring success now and in the future.

Joining us as our keynote speaker is Futurist Sanjay Khanna, an expert in strategic foresight, who will kick-off two days of exciting dialogue by sharing his insights into global change and its implications for cultures of play and innovation in a post-pandemic era.

I had the opportunity to chat with Sanjay recently and ask him some tough questions about the future of the gambling industry and how the concept of play will evolve along with technological innovations and a drive towards greater sustainability. Here’s a preview into my discussion with him, and what he will he talk about at New Horizons.

Q: New Horizons connects industry-leading experts, specialists, and researchers from around the world to find solutions to keep gambling safer and reduce harms. If you could give one piece of advice to the gambling industry, what would it be?

A: Focus on keeping gambling safer and reducing harms by taking an innovation-led approach to developing new gambling experiences. These should involve a wider array of considerations about experience design, social engagement and evidence-based risk mitigation. There’s massive space for really exciting kinds of innovation that are considerate of people, are thoughtful, and use evidence and research effectively.

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Q: You write that climate change defines us more than we realize by leading to lower earnings, uncertain employment prospects and mental-health burdens. What does the gambling industry need to do today to build resilience?

A: There are five important climate crisis stakeholders: Customers, employees, communities, allied businesses, and governments. For customers and employees, the industry could strive, for example, to attract socially responsible gamblers, who desire digitally and architecturally compelling gambling environments with a mix of exciting engagement and serenity. For communities, allied businesses, and governments, the industry could use social innovation to foster cooperation to address climate risks and build resilience. The industry will also need to take steps to mitigate physical risks of extreme weather and climate change to digital and physical infrastructure assets. From this perspective, two keys to resilience building include developing new physical infrastructures to higher engineering standards, as well as powering operations with renewable and redundant energy systems.

Q: Do you think our concept of play will change?

A: The concept of play won’t change, but where and how the instinct of play is harnessed will expand with further gamification of apps, services, and work, too. I’m concerned, for example, that play will continue to be monetized at scale with competitive rather than cooperative play impulses utterly dominant. Competitive elements of play can be more problematic if chronic economic stressors after the pandemic make people feel more desperate and therefore contribute to increasing individuals’ stress levels. That’s why one pertinent question for gambling innovators is: How might digital and physical gambling experiences be fortified with more creative and cooperative play instincts?

Q: With your future perspective, when it comes to the gambling industry ten years from now, what would be the three trends you would predict based on current conditions?

A: Deeper digitization, more innovative use of virtual reality, augmented reality and Internet of Things technologies to support the development of really interesting and compelling experiences that are part of the gambling experience. Underlining that is what I hope will be a focus on ways the gambling industry might enrich society by emphasizing player health, sustainability and resilience within purpose.

To learn more, join us at New Horizons where Sanjay will further explore concepts of play and innovation as well as the risks associated with data and technological advancements. He will also highlight the need to explore plausible scenarios within which play may occur, while inspiring conference participants to reboot player health by harnessing values of responsible gambling and breakthrough innovation.

New Horizons in Responsible Gambling takes place March 9 and 10, 2021 virtually. Sanjay Khanna’s keynote address kicks things off on March 9.

Related Topics:BCLC GameSense Advisors New Horizons in Responsible Gambling

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NetGaming Goes Live in Ontario with Rush Street Interactive via BetRivers Platform

Published

1 week ago

June 20, 2025

George Miller

NetGaming, a fast-growing online casino content supplier, is proud to announce its launch in Ontario with Rush Street Interactive, Inc., a leading online casino and sports betting company in the United States, Canada and Latin America. This strategic collaboration marks a significant milestone for NetGaming as it continues to expand its footprint across regulated North American markets.

As part of the launch, Ontario players on BetRivers can now enjoy a diverse portfolio of NetGaming titles, known for their high-quality graphics, immersive gameplay, and unique themes. Standout games such as Zeus’s Thunderbolt, Bison Gold, and Fireball Inferno are among the first to go live, with additional titles set to follow soon.

This partnership is just the beginning. NetGaming plans to extend its collaboration with Rush Street Interactive into Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mexico over the coming months.

Pallavi Deshmukh, CEO of NetGaming, commented: “We are thrilled to go live with Rush Street Interactive, a powerhouse operator with a strong presence and loyal player base. This launch marks a significant milestone in our
North American expansion strategy and underscores our commitment to delivering exceptional gaming experiences tailored to local player preferences across the region.”

Richard Schwartz, CEO of Rush Street Interactive, commented: “We are pleased to partner with NetGaming to bring innovative, premium games to our players in Ontario. This collaboration aligns with our strategy to offer world-class
entertainment through engaging, action-packed online casino games. We look forward to expanding this partnership into additional regulated markets in the months ahead.”

This strategic partnership highlights both companies’ dedication to providing high- quality, innovative, and responsible entertainment to players in regulated markets.

Canada

User-Centric Redesign for Casinosfiables.ca

Published

1 week ago

June 20, 2025

Niji Narayan

Casinosfiables announced that they have redesigned their existing site – https://casinosfiables.ca/ to better address current user demands.

Although the site’s functionality aligns with modern industry standards, the redesign is a step in the right direction and could very well give a competitive edge.

The changes addressed certain functionality concerns and aligned with ever-changing user preferences and behavior.

• Seamless page transition – The overall performance of the site improved, so pages loaded faster, despite the addition of new elements.

• Integrated social media buttons – Buttons that lead to social media pages became more visible, so it is easier for readers to complete engagement incentives that granted them affiliate-exclusive rewards or promo codes.

• More valuable insights – Previously, charts and ratings were only explained in separate reviews. The new roundup charts and ratings had a dropdown feature that provided more insights or clarity behind the rating.

• Relevant search filters – Some trends or categories that targeted user intent weren’t visible in the previous version. The updated version introduced new categories that better reflected player preferences, or included roundups based on casino features (e.g., cashback, no wager promos, game providers) that weren’t at the forefront previously.

• Author pages – Readers who had similar opinions and game preferences to the site’s authors gained the ability to find other texts from those authors. Each casino expert received a dedicated page listing all of their publications.

The changes were finalized over the past few months. The team pushed these updates in batches rather than a single big update.

Canada

Vancouver Resident Purchased Winning $40 Million Lotto Max Ticket While Quenching Sparkling Water Craving

Published

1 week ago

June 20, 2025

Adrienn Sarkany

Phuc Duc (Daniel) Chau loves the Bubly brand of sparkling water and stopped in a convenience store to purchase a can. Chau likes to buy lottery tickets based on a gut feeling, and due to the employee’s bubbly nature while he purchased his Bubly, Chau also purchased a Lotto Max ticket for the May 23, 2025 draw.

It was this ticket that ended up scoring Chau a whopping $40-million jackpot.

“I was at work when I found out,” recalled Chau of the moment he realized he won. “I was going through my bag to find a cough drop, but I saw that I had two lottery tickets in my bag and decided to scan the tickets, but I needed to update the [BCLC Lotto!] app first. The first ticket I didn’t win anything, but the second said $40 million. I have never seen that many zeroes in my life, ever. I dropped my phone and then called BCLC right away!”

At the time of the prize claim, the Vancouver resident hadn’t yet shared the news of his win.

“My partner doesn’t know yet! I want to share the news with them in a special way.”

Chau shared that his dream has always been to travel the world. “There are so many places I want to go to, so I haven’t fully decided!”

When asked if he will quit his job, he said, “I haven’t decided, but I want to continue to support my community in a different way.”

On how it feels to be a multimillionaire?

“It means a lot to me. It opens up an opportunity for me to give back to my family, community and the world all around me. It’s not meaningful unless you can share this with those who need it.”

Chau purchased the winning ticket at the 7-Eleven on Imperial Street and Boundary Road in Burnaby.

So far in 2025, B.C. lottery players have redeemed more than $146 million from Lotto Max. Lotto Max is a nationwide lottery game drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays after 7:30 p.m. (PST).

Players can purchase tickets at lottery retailers or at PlayNow.com. Winning numbers and group release forms can be found online at www.bclc.com. Players can check their lottery tickets anytime, anywhere on iOS and Android devices.

BCLC offers socially responsible gambling entertainment while generating income to benefit all British Columbians. Players can visit PlayNow.com to learn how to set time and money limits.