CGAprofiles
BETREGAL
The online sportsbook and casino is excited for what’s to come in 2021 after joining the Canadian Gaming Association. When it comes to the potential growth of sports betting in Canada this year and beyond, Canadian operators are looking to position themselves at the front of the queue.
BETREGAL, THE LATEST member of the CGA, is no different. “We’re salivating at the idea of taking on our home market,” BetRegal’s Head of Marketing Aly Lalani tells Canadian Gaming Business. “We want to be a major Canadian sportsbook.” The rapidly g row ing company, run by Canadian industry veterans including CEO Mike Mirtl, has already blossomed outside of Canada. It has built a successful footprint in several European markets including the UK, Germany, and Scandinavia. Now, it is focused on becoming an industry leader in Canada as the country’s sports betting offerings look poised for a boom. TARGETED AMBITION
Lalani has a wealth of experience in the sports and iGaming field, having previously served as the marketing director for industry giant Pinnacle Sports, primarily in the European and Asian markets. With the knowledge he and Mirtl bring, BetRegal has enjoyed European success, establishing sub-operator Maltese and British gaming licenses and focusing, as Lalani puts it, on
“accelerated growth” particularly in the UK market. “Our strategy when we started was getting to market as quickly as possible using a two-pronged approach,” Lalani explains. That consisted of first establishing the brand and entering the marketplace quickly using software providers, and subsequently building out a platform of its own. Currently, the company offers various sports betting derivative products, from “BR Bot,” which applies machine learning to your betting history to recommend potential betting options, to a fully integrated live-betting match tracker. “We’re slowly moving away from the software provider approach and into a proprietary platform.” But, while the initial focus was on Europe, ever since its founding in the middle of last decade, BetRegal has harboured lofty but considered ambitions when it comes to North America. Lalani and Mirtl are both Canadian, and the excitement at the potential opportunities ahead is palpable. “A couple of years ago, when Canada started moving more towards regulation, we knew that Canada was going to be our focus,” says Lalani. Right now, he estimates the company’s base is still probably 70 to 75 per cent UK-focused. That, though, is decreasing. Whereas BetRegal’s historic top three markets of focus have been the UK, Germany, and Norway, Canada is now the main object of their attentions. “With Canada, we think we can take everything we've learned over the last 15 to 20 years in the industry and apply it to home. We’re really pushing forward aggressively.” A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY
Up to this point, Lalani divulges that BetRegal has seen some organic acquisition
in Canada. But the excitement in his voice is audible when he discusses what’s in the pipeline already, and what developments in Canadian sports betting could bring for the company. “ We're in the contract stages of announcing a very big Canadian league sponsorship, so we're going to start that brand development process right now,” he says, describing that as “the centerpiece” of their initial marketing strategy in Canada. “There’s a halo effect that comes along with partnering with a really storied and tried-and-true Canadian brand,” he notes. Indeed, strategic partnerships will be key for BetRegal’s progress. Initial conversations are already underway with notable Canadian former pro athletes, including ex-hockey players and members of the Blue Jays’ MLB championshipwinning team of the early 1990s. The focus, Lalani explains, is developing brand credibility. “We’re trying to differentiate from others through focusing on product, customer, and localization.” Right now, there are a multitude of Canadian operators poised to strike into the market as the industry moves further down the line with sports betting. As Lalani succinctly describes it, BetRegal is only on the first leg of its marathon when it comes to operating in Canada. One differentiator will likely be local market knowledge, and that’s something of which the company is already acutely aware. If you live in a major Canadian city, you’re most likely a fan of that city’s professional sports team, such is their saturation into the city’s culture. “We’re looking to tap into that with a targeted focus on the city localization aspect, the hometown feel,” Lalani continues. “We have the benefit of having Canadian Gaming Business | 25
