Apollo, Betsafe and Pala approved for nine new Ontario igaming brands

This will allow the brands to offer games of chance within Ontario’s market for a one-year term. Seven licences were issued to Apollo Entertainment Ltd – known for offering casinos of Games Global slots – along with the other two websites controlled by Betsson-owned GWN Limited and Boyd-owned Pala Interactive.

The Apollo sites are Zodiac.casino, Yukongold.casino, Luxury.casino, Grandmondialcasino.com, Casinoclassic.com, Captain-Cooks.casino, Goldentiger.casino. On.canplaycasino.com and Ot.betsafe.com are Palo Interactive and GWN’s licensed brands respectively.

The Ontario regulated igaming market launched on 4 April 2022 three years after the provincial government announced plans to end the lottery’s online gambling monopoly in April 2019. This was followed in 2020 by legislation introduced by the provincial government intended to establish a licensing regime – a key regulatory hurdle that needed to be overcome in the period before the launch.

At the end of August, iGaming Ontario, an AGCO subsidiary, released its financial report detailing the result of the province’s first quarter of legal igaming, outlining a gross gambling revenue (GGR) of CA$162m (£106.4m/$118.1m/€121.1m). This is compared to a total amount stake, excluding bonus stakes, of CA$4.07bn.

Dave Forestell, board chair of iGaming Ontario said: “Our aim is to be the best gaming jurisdiction in the world and these positive results are an early sign that we’re on our way. With a competitive revenue share rate and low barriers to entry, Ontario is an attractive igaming market with a strong player base.”