Spotlight Sports Group (SSG), a world-leading technology, content and media company specializing in sports betting and fantasy sports, announced that it has built a fully-managed bracket challenge for PointsBet Canada to support its second annual curling tournament.

This partnership follows a successful execution of The Sweep 16 bracket challenge last year, which was well received and saw thousands of participants. This year’s platform has been updated to include new features such as allowing users to create private groups for additional play and enjoyment. This year’s bracket challenge also debuts one-click buttons that promote community connectivity and allow users to share their bracket on any social media platform.

The bracket challenge is hosted on a stand-alone platform and was built with a direct connection to the PointsBet Canada sportsbook so bracket challenge participants can easily place bets on the PointsBet Invitational as well as other sports.

Like last year, participants are competing for a $1 million grand prize, should they create a perfect bracket. The bracket challenge provides a one-stop-shop connection to the men’s and women’s tournaments via an up-to-the-minute tournament tracker that showcases match results in real time.

Commenting on the continued partnership, the US B2B Partnerships Senior Vice-President for Spotlight Sports Group, Rick Wolf, said: “When you have great success in a collaboration like we did last year, it was obvious to expand with PointsBet Canada. The SSG SaaS Games Engine is unique in its ability to create this custom solution with the design and direction of PointsBet’s team. The user experience is paramount and that is why we ensure participants can follow the tournament entirely on the platform and place bets with ease.”

The Chief Commercial Officer for PointsBet Canada, Nic Sulsky, added: “Last year’s inaugural PointsBet Invitational was a resounding success on the ice and The Sweep 16 bracket challenge brought the audience engagement to a new level. The top-notch SSG team manages everything from beginning to end, which allows us to focus on delivering the audience. Our combined success last year meant we could create a platform that mirrored our branding and provided a superior user experience again this year.”

The PointsBet Invitational will run from September 27 through October 1 at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, Ontario. The Sweep 16 bracket challenge can be filled out at any point before the tournament begins.

TCSJOHNHUXLEY, the world renowned supplier of end-to-end live gaming solutions, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Bet Rite, as the exclusive distributor of its portfolio of products across all provinces in Canada.

Founded in 2009 and with a team that has over 40 years gaming experience, Bet Rite is a service-oriented gaming supply company dedicated to the Canadian gaming markets. They work with partners to bring world class gaming products and services through well-established distribution channels to the Canadian casino market.

Phil Lee, Managing Director for TCSJOHNHUXLEY Americas commented, “We are very pleased to be working with Bet Rite in Canada. This strategic relationship brings together our industry-leading products with a renowned name in the Canadian gaming market and we are confident this will be a major benefit to all our customers in the region.”

“We are very excited to be working with world class live gaming manufacturer TCSJOHNHUXLEY,” added Bet Rite President, Billy MacLellan. “Our well-established distribution network and knowledge of the Canadian gaming market will ensure casino properties right across the region will benefit from this exclusive distribution agreement, and we look forward to hitting the ground running.”

Bet Rite will be in attendance at the TCSJOHNHUXLEY booth #3259 at G2E Las Vegas from 10^th – 12^th October, where the full portfolio of products will be showcased.

The Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has served Ontario Gaming GTA Limited Partnership (“Casino Woodbine”) with notice of a Monetary Penalty totaling $80,000, following allegations of a cheat-at-play and dealer collusion scheme at Toronto’s Woodbine Casino.

In April 2023, the Ontario Provincial Police Investigation and Enforcement Bureau (IEB), embedded within the AGCO, laid charges against five individuals. The charges follow an investigation into allegations that an electronic craps dealer at Woodbine Casino was in collusion with these patrons.

The AGCO’s Regulatory Compliance Branch subsequently conducted an in-depth compliance review to assess Casino Woodbine’s adherence to the Gaming Control Act, 1992 (the Act) and Registrar’s Standards for Gaming. The Registrar found that Casino Woodbine failed to detect or take appropriate action on available information to prevent the cheat-at-play and dealer collusion scheme, including:

• internal financial reports and emails indicating substantial and atypical losses from the electronic craps game over a six-month period of time, which were not effectively acted upon;
• table games supervisors were often absent from the craps table when suspicious gambling activities occurred;
• video surveillance recordings showing that the electronic craps game failed to follow required rules and procedures and lacked effective supervision;
• although Casino Woodbine had issued the dealer with seven procedural violations for inappropriately pushing dice to patrons before closing bets, the dealer was allowed to continue dealing electronic craps during that time.

Casino Woodbine fully cooperated with the AGCO’s regulatory review and has committed to addressing deficiencies.

Ontario’s gaming laws require casino operators to implement effective controls to limit the risk of criminal activity, including cheating and collusion between patrons and casino staff. In addition to these penalties, the AGCO will continue monitoring to ensure Casino Woodbine appropriately addresses their controls to better detect and prevent casino cheats and dealer collusion.

A casino operator served with a Notice of an issued Monetary Penalty by the AGCO has the right to appeal the Registrar’s action to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), which is an adjudicative tribunal independent of the AGCO and part of Tribunals Ontario.

Additional Information

The Registrar issued a Monetary Penalty for multiple alleged violations of the Act, which arise from non-compliance with the Registrar’s Standards for Gaming:

• Standard 4.3, paragraph 2, requiring operators to have adequate supervision in place to ensure adherence to required procedures, including rules of play.
• Standard 4.14, requiring that operators have mechanisms in place to deter, prevent and detect collusion and cheating;
• Standard 6.1 paragraph 1, requiring that operators conduct risk assessments to determine the potential for unlawful activities, including money laundering, fraud, theft and cheat at plays.