- Toronto based NorthStar Gaming has gone live in Ontario with their NorthStar Bets sports betting and iGaming platform.
- NorthStar Gaming’s sportsbook is powered with Kambi technology, while Playtech provides the online casino technology.
- Ontario’s highly competitive mobile sports betting market launched on April 4, 2022.
Toronto based NorthStar Gaming has announced the launch of their online casino and sportsbook, NorthStar Bets in their home province of Ontario. Ontarians age 19 and over can now register and play at www.northstarbets.ca. NorthStar Bets was registered as an online gaming operator by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) in late April.
NorthStar Bets shares ‘corporate DNA’ with the Toronto Star newspaper and provides sports betting related content. Here’s what we said about the arrangement at the time the ‘NorthStar Bets’ name was announced:
The ranks of Ontario facing sportsbooks and other online gaming properties will grow dramatically in the weeks and months to come. MaximBet will be heading to Ontario and BetRegal has already partnered with the Canadian Football League (CFL) so you can be sure they’ll be there. One of the most interesting ‘newcomers’ could easily become one of the dominant brands ‘north of the border’–Toronto based NorthStar Gaming which shares corporate DNA with the parent company of the Toronto Star newspaper. They’ve already joined up with some impressive technology partners–Kambi will power their sports betting platform with Playtech handling the casino side. They’ll also feature integration with the Toronto Star’s website (https://www.thestar.com/) and that is huge. It is Canada’s largest daily print newspaper and has the largest readership in the country. Now NorthStar Gaming has a name for their betting platform.
The integration with the Toronto Star website has been up for awhile now. It’s promoted front and center on the main sports index page:
Here’s the main sports betting page:
Right now, there’s way too much of the ‘how to bet’ type content. I know that sportsbooks in newly regulated jurisdictions have to play that game even if there’s a highly experienced betting market. Here’s what we said about it a month ago:
As we’ve discussed in the past, sportsbooks in newly regulated jurisdictions have to play this game–like no one in the history of the state (or province) even thought of betting on sports before it went legit. The reality is that since the early 1990’s (if not earlier), no matter where you lived in the US or Canada you had no trouble placing a bet. Some cities had a flourishing ‘local bookmaker’ ecosystem, everyone had access to the fast growing offshore bookmaking communities and the really lucky ones–Toronto, for example–had both. The Canadian Gaming Association has put the amount of annual sports betting in the country at $14 billion (I’m assuming that’s CAD and not USD). Even so, that would be just over $11 billion USD or roughly double the amount that Nevada’s regulated sportsbooks do annually. Based on these numbers, it appears that Canadians know quite a bit about how to bet on sports.
Both the NBA playoff picks and the golf betting analysis was very good. Hopefully, they’re done with the ‘sports betting for beginners’ content and will continue serving up picks and analysis.
Here’s the NorthStar bets website:
Michael Moskowitz, Chief Executive Officer and a founding partner, NorthStar Gaming is obviously happy that NorthStar Bets is now live:
“NorthStar Bets was designed and built for Ontarians and as an Ontario-based company, we’re excited to launch in our home province. We hope to inspire a sense of home team pride amongst our customers as they discover and engage with our platform and NorthStar Bets content. We’re confident Ontarians will enjoy the unmatched user experience that NorthStar Bets’ immersive betting and gaming platform provides.”
“NorthStar Gaming is uniquely positioned to become a convergence leader in the intersection of sports media and sports wagering thanks to our partnerships and agreements with leading media companies. This is a unique position for our brand and something we expect will resonate with consumers.”
The mere existence of a sportsbook ‘designed and built’ for the local market is a validation of Ontario’s regulatory framework. A hyper-focused local market sportsbook would not be possible in most US markets where ‘competition’ and ‘access’ are dirty words. Congrats to NorthStar Gaming on the launch and hoping they find plenty of success.
