Gaming Realms CFO Mark Segal believes the Ontarian iGaming market still has plenty of potential for growth, despite a slower-than-expected start.
Ontario’s regulated iGaming and sports betting markets launched in April of this year, with revenue figures showing steady performance but leaving some analysts disappointed.
Segal was speaking exclusively to Gambling Insider following the supplier’s interim H1 report, in which it reported total revenue growth of 10% to £8.5m ($9.3m); group EBITDA, meanwhile, was up 12% to £3.5m – with a 41% margin.
When asked by Gambling Insider how the company has found the Ontario market so far, Segal’s verdict was in line with overall analyst consensus right now.
Segal said: “Ontario’s been an interesting one. It’s smaller than I would have thought so far, albeit it’s only just launched. They’ve had a staggered amount of operators who went live immediately – and they’ve been competing with the grey market.
“The regulator always said it would take 3-6 months before getting on top of this. And, after three months, there was the odd phone call to suppliers telling them to stop supplying grey-market suppliers – which we at Gaming Realms don’t.
“It means they’ve started phoning some of the operators and saying, if you apply for the licence, you’d better stop in the grey market.
“So the regulated market has now started to grow, not where we’d like it to be, but I still believe we can see the same potential as in a state like Michigan.”
For the full interview with Segal, check out this week’s issue of GI Friday, the weekly round-up gaming executives can’t afford to miss.
