Rush Street CEO: Alberta A 'Significant' ICasino, Sports Betting Opportunity
Rush Street Inc. is keen to bring its "casino-first" technique to Alberta, and BetRivers' moms and dad company believes it might get that opportunity even previously than it previously anticipated.
- Rush Street Interactive believes Alberta could launch a regulated online sports betting and iCasino market by the end of June, producing a significant brand-new chance for its BetRivers brand.
- Alberta regulators are developing a competitive structure that will broaden beyond Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission's Play Alberta to include personal operators such as BetRivers, PointsBet, and DraftKings.
- RSI is especially positive about the iCasino sector, mentioning its lucrative track record in other North American markets and strong performance in Ontario as reasons for confidence.
Richard Schwartz, CEO of the online gambling business, said Tuesday that Alberta's work on a competitive iGaming market "is progressing toward a launch timeline that could happen in the coming quarters, faster than we were anticipating during our last earnings call."
"This represents a substantial chance for us to utilize our success in other North American online casino markets, especially given our strong efficiency in Ontario and our established and growing brand acknowledgment across Canada," Schwartz said.
The RSI CEO included more specifics throughout the question-and-answer period of the company's most current earnings call, saying that the Alberta sports wagering and iCasino launch might happen around completion of June.
"We're hopeful, and it looks like the regulators there are moving at a really identified rate," Schwartz said on Tuesday. "It looks like a Q2 chance is within the possibility towards the end of that quarter."
Slots of fun
The C-suite's comments underscore the really genuine possibility that Alberta will permit private-sector iGaming operators to introduce in its regulated market well before the next NFL season rolls around.
Alberta regulators are hard at work on the new regulative structure, which will bring the number of licensed iGaming operators in the Western Canadian province from one, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission's Play Alberta, to ideally lots of.
BetRivers will be one of those operators, and it has actually already begun signing up customers ahead of launch day. Other notable brand names plan to go deal with online sports betting and iCasino in the province as well, such as DraftKings.
DraftKings feels pretty particular that the launch of its online sportsbook/casino in Alberta is "around the corner," and is anticipating its financials accordingly: https://t.co/1R5ZCywuHk @Covers
Chicago-based RSI is especially enthused about a somewhat underdiscussed aspect of Alberta's brand-new iGaming market, which is that it will enable operators to use both online sports wagering and online gambling establishment betting.
The iCasino side of the iGaming market is a big selling point for Alberta, and specifically so for a "casino-first" brand like BetRivers. Alberta is also following the example of Ontario for its iGaming market. There, most of betting and revenue comes from online casino gambling, including the items offered by RSI's BetRivers, which is a licensed operator in the province.
For example, Ontario reported almost $8.3 billion in cash wagers through its regulated online gambling establishments this past December, compared to about $1.1 billion for its mobile sportsbooks.
Kyle Sauers, president and chief monetary officer for RSI, said the business's share of the online casino market in Ontario "is sort of mid- to low-single digits," while its online sports wagering share is a "little bit lower."
"The other thing I would just point out, and we have actually discussed this in the past, but every North American online casino market that we've launched in, we've paid by the 4th quarter of operations," Sauers included. "And we do not see a factor that that should be different with Alberta.