The View - 198

1468 – Canadian Gaming Converence

This is a final reminder to all readers to register for the upcoming Canadian Gaming Conference, to be held from the 19th to 21st June 2018 in the city of Niagara Falls (Ontario).

This is an opportunity to hear and see the latest developments both with Canada and internationally within the sphere of gaming. Certainly, here in Ontario we have witnessed major changes both in terms of scope and application of the gaming landscape that has seen a tremendous reorganization in how gaming opportunities will be delivered.

The CGAO, in partnership with the OCGA & CGA, will be delivering the Charitable/Community Gaming Sector conference platform and we are pleased to have engaged a broader selection of presenters and speakers from across the country. This reflects the national scope of this conference.

We, at the CGAO, greatly encourage all our Charitable/Community Gaming Partners who are engaged in or support the sector to sign up and join us in Niagara Falls.

Please find the direct link below to register:

www.canadiangamingsummit.com

1469 – Golf Day 2018

On Thursday, the 7^th June 2018, we held our sixth (6) annual golf day in the city of Guelph at the Springfield Golf & Country Club. This was a tremendous event, well supported both in terms of golfers and sponsors and each year we see it get stronger and more positive.

It is one of the few ‘social occasions’ we host where industry colleagues can share a few hours networking and discussing the latest issues impacting our sector in a very relaxed atmosphere and environment. Each year the Chair (Mr. Tony Rosa) invites four guests to join us and we were delighted to receive acceptance from Ms. Lynn Cassidy, Ms. Joan Martin, Mr. David Pridmore and Mr. Rick Gray. I was pleased to hear that they really enjoyed the opportunity to be with us throughout the day.

As well as this being a network opportunity, it is also leverage as a fundraising opportunity for the CGAO. The initial reports show the event is looking likely to return a similar positive result as it did in 2017, which is tremendous.

None of this would be possible without the support of the golfers and sponsors. We want to publicly state quite clearly how much we appreciate everybody’s engagement and commitment. It is greatly welcomed.

1470 – iAGCO

At our last Members Association meeting, the AGCO came along and presented on the new iAGCO platform that will be introduced to the registration process of Charitable Gaming later this year. This is following the path of many other government agencies where you can apply for driving licences on-line rather than filling out paper documents and forwarding them to the office.

Naturally, not all the Commercial Operators or Suppliers who are required to hold a registration were present and as such the AGCO Team will be reaching out and hosting further information sessions in due course.

In the meantime, if you have any questions around this initiative you can contact Mr. Gary White – Senior Manager (AGCO) and he will provide you with an update.

1471 – Gala Leisure (UK)

Gala Leisure is the UK’s largest retail bingo operator by number of Bingo/Community Gaming Centres with 124 locations and has 1.1 million active members/customers. There have been two (2) major announcements from the Gala Leisure (UK), which are of interest and I wish to share with you.

1. Re-Branding - The whole group will be re-branded ‘Buzz Bingo’, which will provide a platform for the company to enter into a new Omni-Channel under the new brand. This will see a direct investment of £40m of their 140 Gaming Centres both through Centres and their technology platforms.
2. Non-Executive Chairman - On the 4th June 2018, the appointment of Mr. John Kelly (OBE) was announced. He has extensive experience, knowledge and success in the gaming and betting sector over the past 30yrs and is extremely well respected.

1472 – Canada Day 2018

Canada Day is fast approaching. This is always a good opportunity to offer a nice promotional event to the customer. With Canada Day falling on a Sunday the bank holiday will fall on the Monday (2nd July) giving a three day weekend, which will normally boost the Sunday evening and late night sessions of bingo. Simple promotions go a long way to show/convey customer appreciation, etc.

1473 – Charities - Making an Impact

It is encouraging that we continue to strengthen the contributions to our charity partners in all the cGaming Centres, which allows them the opportunity to continue the valuable and important work they undertake in the communities where they are located.

Since we began our [CGAO] partnership with OCGA, AGCO & OLG, we have a combined delivery just short of $C200m into the 26 municipalities that host a cGaming Centre. What has also been so encouraging is that we have now begun the process of re-introducing Charitable Groups back into the program. Our colleagues at the OCGA are working with numerous charitable groups to secure placements, etc. This is another example of a key strategy we set out in the beginning that is now starting to achieve.