Ontario became the first province in Canada to launch its online regulated gaming market this past year. Since its opening, several affiliates have made the decision to target this market and work with licensed operators, leading to massive growth in the area. To further breakdown this market for affiliates, we sat down with Tero Päivärinta (TP), Head of Accounts at Cashmagnet Ltd, to share some insight on his experience of working in the Ontario market thus far.
Income Access (IA): Thanks Tero for taking the time to speak with us! Can you tell us what led you and your team to enter the Ontario market with your newly launched website Ontario-Casino.com?
TP: Of course! We first realized how much potential there is in the Canadian market through Mr. Gamble, as we are rank in the top spots for some of the most competitive keywords in Canada. With our second flagship brand, TopCasinos, we put emphasis on building a localized environment exclusively for Canadians.
Part of this localization effort is verifying all sites in Canada and checking if they have a valid license, and what province they operate in. We quickly understood that jumpstarting a smaller brand like Ontario-Casino.com would be an excellent business opportunity given that we had already done the legwork of verifying licenses
IA: Seeing that Ontario is a relatively new market, what do you believe are the biggest opportunities and challenges in this market
TP: Ontario as a market is not new, but the license requirements and our own initiative to verify each one is a refreshing but necessary change. The Canadian market is a bit hectic as always, and thankfully, we have learned a few lessons from building Mr. Gamble. We have, and are actively, gathering data from visits to hundreds of casino pages to understand what drives Canadian players, and using this to educate our brand partners to uplift conversions and player value
IA: How did your experience with Ontario-Casino.com compare to that of Mr. Gamble, who targets other markets such as Finland, India, and New Zealand
TP: The main difference is that Mr. Gamble operates in large global markets like the UK, New Zealand, and Finland, whereas Ontario-Casino.com is one of the first fully dedicated sites for licensed casinos operating in the Ontario province. We have a lot of experience and tons of insight — operating as a regulations-complying business is the key to success in any market
IA: What would you recommend to other affiliates looking to join the Ontario market, based on your experience so far?
TP: There are no shortcuts to work in regulated markets, you must do the due diligence and brands can see if you are skipping any steps. The Ontario market is growing constantly, and it will only get bigger from here.
There are many opportunities, but you do have to grow and trust your traffic, learn from the data, and build from that.
With all that in mind, it’s clear that Ontario will continue to be a valuable market in the iGaming world, making it an attractive market for affiliates to look to grow in.
Special thanks to Tero for providing us information! To discuss a partnership opportunity, feel free to contact Tero and his team today.
