Dan Nedelko

So yesterday was an interesting day for me as a resident of Ontario and having been involved in the internet marketing side of online gambling for the past 10 years via clients who operate in the offshore space.

The Province of Ontario and specifically “Premier Dad” or Dalton McGuinty announced that online wagering on Casino, Poker and Sports (via ProLine) will be offered in 2012. Now beyond the fact that I’m 100% sure that the OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming – the overseer of all things gambling in Ontario) will royally screw up the implementation of any online gaming site there is the higher level issues I have with Dalton McGuinty.

Specifically in Ontario:

1. We’re not allowed to host Mixed Martial Arts events – meaning they can’t be held in the province. Ed. Note: Yeah I know. *sigh*.
2. If you’re under 22 you can’t have a drop of alcohol in your system if you’re driving a vehicle. Ed Note: I’m all for this actually let’s just make this simple and make it zero tolerance for everyone.
3. Cigarettes cannot be on display in any convenience store. They have to be covered in these massive grey cabinets, see teenagers are dumb, they even even cover their eyes and when they do they think they disappear.

In Ontario under the McGuinty government we’re coddled and treated like morons. I say this as a pretty consistent supporter of the Liberal party – although I would say I’m a fiscal conservative (ie don’t waste massive amounts of money) and social liberal (ie universal education for all, public support for the most vulnerable in the community).

Also keep in mind this Ontario Liberal government is scandal plagued. Here are few notable examples:

eHealth Scandal – the Ontario government hired a completely under-qualified Sara Kraemer to digitize all public health records in the province. It’s a daunting task and as I predicated when the project was started they screwed it up royally. Not only has nothing been accomplished but there was also a nice contractor scandal to go alongside with it.
OLG Expense Scandal – In Late August 2009 the entire OLG board resigned over inappropriate expenses. Now we’re not talking about a cup of coffee, these were ongoing an high ticket price expenses from corporate douche bags that made 6 and 7 figure incomes. Some examples include:

• gym memberships worth $250
• Weight Watchers memberships
• club link golf fees
• a $1,500 bar tab at a $3,700 dinner for 38 people
• a $500 nanny fee so that a vice-president member could attend meetings, an amount since repaid

OLG Insider Lottery Wins – yeah you heard me right. If you’re from Ontario you know about this scandal but if not then you might need a bit of background. It comes down to people who were selling tickets were claiming their own winning tickets to the tune of $198 Million over a 13 year period. Scandals will hapen, I can imagine that retailers get greedy as they only get a small percentage of sales. But 13 years!?

This basically tells me the OLG is either incompetent and filled with highly paid, bureaucratic, do nothing greedy corporate douche bags or their just as greedy and corrupt as the insiders performing the fraud. Maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.

Learn more about the OLG Insider Lottery Scandal (via CBC News).

Ok, so you might be wondering what my point is here. I’m not simply ranting about the incompetence of my Provincial government or the scandal plagued OLG (or my personal opinion of the agency which as you can tell isn’t very high).

I’m saying that:

1. Legalized and regulated online gaming makes sense – simply put prohibition doesn’t work. It’s been proven over and over again.
2. Government run gaming agencies should not be the sole provider of gaming services. It should be a regulated and licensing process to let actual competent organizations run profitable and fair e-gaming websites.
3. A government monopoly on the egaming space is going to be rife with:
   • Really really bad sports betting lines. This is in the house’s favor (obviously) but the lines on ProLine are simply so far out of whack with any other competing lines it’s ridiculous. Wanna lose parlays and be offered bad lines? Play ProLine.
   • Poor customer service and not a clue from an operational side what makes an online casino thrive. Frankly they can contract it to a private sector company here in Ontario and they will not know what they’re doing either. They simply haven’t operated in the space.
   • Online Poker will suffer from a lack of volume (always a problem in the poker space for upstart sites) unless they plug into another network like Cake but they won’t and they can’t since these operators are currently violating UIEGA and I don’t think that is politically correct.
   • Poor security – yeah yeah you’re gonna secure it. So was the BCLC with their PlayNow online gaming site.
4. Create a licensing system and let third parties operate legally in Ontario. Let’s not make this yet another LCBO scenario, but who am I kidding I’ve lived here all my life and I’m predicting it’ll never change. This will ensure a legitimate group of operators who will then provide tax revenue to each of the provinces offering their services in that locale.

So for these reasons I wouldn’t say that this is a huge revelation or earth shattering event plus any additional revenue garnered by the Ontario government will blown in absolutely ridiculous and ludicrous scandals and programs (all day Kindergarten anyone?)

Stay tuned. I’ll definitely be updating this post with any new (and stupid) revelations in the Whacky Wild Dalton McGuinty Gambling Extravaganza!

Update August 12,2010: Looks like the Alberta Government is also seriously considering online gambling offerings. (via The Edmonton Journal)

On occasion I get asked to review a website for various other webmasters in both the online gaming space and in mainstream. Online Casino Suite is my latest review.

On first visiting online casino suite there is definitely a ton of information being presented to the user. The main page of the site has a nice layout of very in depth reviews listing their “Top” casinos, the software platform, the number of games, the Bonus (which I assume is the welcome bonus), if they accept US players, a direct link to the software and then finally a link to the full review.

It’s a decent layout since I generally am interested in getting to the casino reviews to find out the quality of the room. Especially how good they are with payouts and customer service (definitely two of the most important aspects of any online casino).

Some of the things I like about this site:

1.    The game types are listed down the left hand column. Getting me fast access to the casino rooms who specialize in specific types of games (for example: Slots, Blackjack, Keno, etc).
2.    The reviews are in depth and give some good solid detail.
3.    Navigation is quick, easy and to the point with information being front and center.

Here are a few things I’d like to see added to this site:

1.    Some news items on the front page. They have a blog here but getting some snippets of news would be useful (to me anyhow).
2.    User Reviews. I think in this day and age we all want to know what real people have experienced with these casinos.
3.    Exclusive bonuses and promos. I would definitely visit a site like Online Casino Suite more often if they had giveaways and offers I couldn’t find anywhere else.

All in all this is a very nice site, it’s fast, has tons of good information and is well laid out. Definitely worth a visit if you’re looking for some solid reviews of online gambling providers.

I’ve been in the eGaming industry on a number of levels and in a number of capacities for 7.5 years now, a lifetime in that sector. Over the past couple of years specifically it has become increasingly clear that the industry is completely stagnant from a product perspective. I were to specifically look at the following major channels: Sports, Casino, and Poker you can see some innovation there.

Sports: the introduction of live betting and interacting with customers through social media (not spamming them) has grown the industry somewhat. Personally I enjoy “In Game” Betting.

Poker: arguably this is the most social and progressive of the channels. Since poker is community based there a a number of interesting innovations that have taken place but as for pur “innovation” it’s still Texas Holdem without a ton of innovative build outs to that strategy and product development.

Casino: this is the stagnant sector. The traditional “money sucking machine” of the industry the competitive landscape is filled with less than reputable (trust me) offshore operators who hold their concepts of slow payouts, shady tactics and questionable marketing very near and dear to their hearts.

There are a number of reasons that this sector has not innovated from lack of regulations (promoting owners with criminal histories to maintain a fairly decent operation) to software providers who do not innovate their products or services which will always impact the marketing (if you haven’t got anything but another Casino Bonus to promote then what are you *really* selling?)

Well I ran into Absolute Casino today and was very impressed. The actual site on registration is clearly in a testing phase but the concept is fantastic (it’s actually exciting – which is new for me especially in the past couple of years). A social network aware multiplayer casino with Facebook integration.

This is brilliance and something I personally have pitched to previous consulting clients. The problem they have is paralysis, everything is so comfortable for them at the moment that innovation has gone out the window. There is also a level of arrogance, simply put – many operators are completely unwilling to invest the money and the resources into innovative products.

But if you look at Facebook, have a peek at the Poker, Casino and Gaming apps. There are hundreds of thousands of people playing on a regular basis. Mainly because Facebook makes it social, I’m not downloading some software client and clicking on a video slot machine. The interaction is the thing that makes this extremely unique.

I look forward to checking out the final product in a month or two. It should be very cool and could potential be a disruptive force in the world of eGaming. I hope so. The industry simply is no longer interesting and it is clearly being left behind, with it’s head stuck in the sand.

But it’s nice to know I am not alone in this point of view. Hussein Chahine who is the founder of Advanced Gaming Labs (and Absolute Casino) has it dead to rights:

“I have been a technology provider to the gaming and betting industry for the past five years and it became clear to me that the industry has stopped innovating. The technology suppliers are too removed from the consumer, while the operators are falling short of understanding and building a business that embraces today’s social-networked internet world. This has presented a unique opportunity for us to enter the market as a new gaming company, where millions of concurrent players are empowered to connect [and] compete.”

This should be of particular interest to any affiliates out there who are making money from the traditional model. The days for these sites are numbered unless there is innovation, have a look at the next generation of gaming providers and set yourself up for shifts in the industry. Being left behind is the worst danger.

So here’s some good news in the world of eGaming, specifically online poker. I read this article on EGR this morning and through I had to write a post on it. From the article:

BOSS MEDIA HAS introduced fines for poker network licencees that rely too heavily on rakeback and don’t bring in enough casual losing poker players, or ‘fish’.

The rule will focus on the monthly payout ratio of individual Boss Media licencees, analysing the percentage of winning players against losing ones. The payout ratio is calculated by dividing the total cash game winnings by the total cash game stakes recorded for each site.

Now there a few things here that I wanted to chirp about. I’ve been involved with eGaming Marketing now for 7 years, over those 7 years I have worked with alot of providers all over the world. Since it’s a fairly unregulated market in certain areas (read: full of shoddy operations) there are some pretty interesting marketing practices.

For instance I have seen “retention” marketers that rely on heavy gamblers “move” these players from one “brand” to another and call it an increase in business (that is specifically for a single company that has multiple brands or websites). Frankly I’ve seen that so many times over the years that it makes me want to vomit.

That’s not marketing, that’s saving your own skin because the out dated marketing practices you are using are not driving in the recreational players (or in the world of Poker the “fish”). Boss Media has it right, absolutely and completely right. The fine structure they are putting in place will force it’s licencees to invest in marketing and become mainstream – appealing to normal people out there.

Far too many eGaming companies out there rely on a stock of heavy gamblers to sustain their business. When they do this they can continue to provide crappy customer service, slow payouts and treat new customers like garbage. It’s a stigma that this industry needs to get through in order for it to be come mainstream.

Think about it, if I’m a normal person and become interested in Online Poker do you really think I’m going to deposit $100 or $200 into an operation that has outdated philosophies of customer service and marketing? Those days are gone.

It’s time for eGaming and Online Poker rooms to put the customer first, market to recreational players and get with it in all areas of their operation.

Good Job Boss Media. I wish that more providers would implement similar policies and weed out the dinosaurs of the eGaming industry.