Canadian Gaming Association’s president and CEO, Paul Burns, is a Hall of Famer.
After years of working to advance Canada’s gaming industry, SBC honoured Burns with an induction to the SBC Sports Betting Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place at SBC’s North American Summit at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment in East Rutherford, NJ.
Burns lauded for work advancing Canada’s sports betting and casino industry
Burns’ ongoing role in the reform of Canada’s sports betting and casino industry helped lay the groundwork for Canada’s first regulated and competitive online gaming and betting market in Ontario.
Currently, 31 Ontario online casino and sports betting websites operate legally in the province. And according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the number of regulated sites could still double.
“It’s nice to be recognized,” Burns told PlayCanada in May when SBC first announced the induction.
“It was great that they reached across the border and included a Canadian. I mean, I’ve been working on this for well over a decade so it’s nice to be recognised. I appreciate the honour… it’s great to be included. I mean, I’m thrilled and surprised.”
During his induction speech, Burns said British Columbia and Alberta could potentially be the next to adopt commercial sports betting and online casino markets. But, he said there’s significant work to get to an Ontario-style system. And, so far, it’s uncertain they will.
Burns is in good company among honourees
Four other HoF inductees joined Burns:
- Chris Andrews – sports book director, South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa
- Sandy Drozd – vice president, USBookmaking
- Vinny Magliulo – vice president, Las Vegas Dissemination Company & Sports Book Director, Gaughan Gaming
- Sue Schneider – SBC’s Vice President of Growth and Strategy, Americas
The new inductees add to the North American representation in the Sports Betting Hall of Fame as they join the class of 2019, 2020 and 2021. Burns is the first Canadian to receive the honour.
Canadian company BetSwap wins SBC First Pitch contest
In more good news for Canadians, BetSwap won SBC’s coveted First Pitch award, which provides the winner US$60k in prizes. BetSwap bills itself as the ‘world’s most efficient fully integrated online secondary marketplace for sportsbooks.’
“I’m super excited,” Brent Winston, BetSwap’s co-founder, told PlayCanada immediately after the win.
“I think that there’s a lot of great companies here. I was amazed with CapWize personally, that’s a service that I would want to use. I was sitting here thinking that they obviously can easily win. So, the fact that I was able to… I’m humbled.”
BetSwap went up against four other companies selected from 50 applicants at the contest. The competition was tough and included Kero Sports, STX, Sparket: The Social Betwork, and CapWize (as noted by Winston).
Judges for the contest included Kathleen Coviello of the NJ Economic Development Association, Edward King of Acies Investments, Anika Howard of Wondr Nation, David Williams of Las Vegas Sands and Matt Davey of Tekkorp Capital LLC.
The next SBC First Pitch will go down at the SBC Summit North America in May 2023.
