Canada

Seminole-Backed Group Claims Fraud in Fla. Casino Initiative

Published

4 years ago

January 13, 2022

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has gone on the offensive in litigation over a Las Vegas Sands Corp.-backed ballot initiative aimed at opening the Sunshine State to additional casinos, accusing the sponsor of “brazenly violating” Florida election law in its efforts to gather needed voter signatures.

The battle in a Leon County circuit court started with Florida Voters in Charge, the political committee behind the proposal, claiming that parties acting on behalf of the Seminoles, who have held exclusive rights to offer certain casino gaming in the state, improperly interfered with its petitioning. But on Monday, the tribe-backed political committee Standing Up for Florida Inc. and its president, political consultant Pradeep “Rick” Asnani, filed a counter-claim accusing the plaintiffs of illegally paying petition gatherers on a per-signature basis, shredding certain petitions or forging information on incomplete petitions.

“The Constitution of Florida is under attack,” Standing Up for Florida cautioned, adding, “The counter-defendants’ illicit conduct is an attack on Florida’s election integrity.”

State law requires sponsors of citizen initiatives to gather valid signatures from at least 8% of the state electorate, or 891,000 registered voters, by Feb. 1 to qualify for the November 2022 general election ballot, but the Seminole-backed parties argue that the alleged violations render any signatures gathered by Florida Voters in Charge under such contracts to be null and void.

Standing Up for Florida, which said it has spent “exorbitant resources” to voice its opposition to the initiative and fight the allegedly fraudulent petition gathering, asserted that the per-signature payments are “flatly illegal” under a 2019 law that banned such payments.

It also cited affidavits from an employee and a former subcontractor of Grassfire LLC, a firm that coordinated some of the petition gathering, who testified that in addition to the allegedly illegal contracts, the company also illegally shredded and discarded some petitions that it thought would be rejected by state officials in order to reduce its submission fees, filled in omitted information, such as dates and addresses, and even forged state officials’ signatures.

The counter-claim names Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee and Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark S. Earley as third-party defendants in connection with its request for a declaratory judgment voiding the submitted signatures. Standing Up for Florida also named the officials in an accompanying emergency motion for a temporary injunction to stop them from counting the disputed petitions.

The ballot initiative, titled “Limited Authorization of Casino Gaming,” would authorize state officials to permit casino-style games, including blackjack, roulette and slot machines, at up to three new casinos, with the restriction that they be located at least 130 miles from existing tribal casinos.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. has poured nearly $50 million into Florida Voters in Charge, according to election finance records, and news reports have suggested that, based on the proposal’s geographic limitations, the global gaming giant is aiming to open a casino in Jacksonville, in the northeast corner of the state.

Florida Voters in Charge sued Standing Up for Florida, another Seminole-backed entity known as Let the Voters Decide LLC and several other parties on Dec. 1. In an amended complaint, it alleged that the defendants have engaged in increasingly aggressive efforts to harass and intimidate its signature collectors. The suit also accuses them of “paying off” these workers by either hiring them away to gather signatures for an unnecessary “sham” petition purportedly related to a new Seminoles gaming compact or simply paying them to stop working on the new casino initiative and, in some cases, leave the state during the process.

A Leon County circuit judge denied Standing Up for Florida’s motion to dismiss, in which it argued that it acted within the state’s open labor market to compete for these workers’ services. But she ordered the plaintiffs to submit contracts that the defendants pointed out were missing to support the interference claims.

In its filings Monday, Standing Up for Florida pointed out that Grassfire produced a redacted copy of its petition gatherer contract form, but publicly available copies of the form showed Grassfire had blocked out portions detailing “bonus” payments based on the number of signatures collected.

Standing Up for Florida acknowledged that elements of the arguments in its counter-claim were rejected when it previously raised them in a separate action it filed in Palm Beach County, where it is based. But the group said that it believes that court erred by finding that the 2019 law’s authorization for the state attorney general to seek injunctions for election fraud preempted private litigants, such as itself, from bringing election integrity actions. The law, it pointed out, said nothing about ending more than 100 years of private litigants bringing such cases in Florida.

With state elections officials allowed 60 days to verify submitted signatures, Dec. 30 marked an effective deadline to guarantee that signatures will be counted by the Feb. 1 deadline, so a ruling in favor of the Seminole parties’ claims would end the initiative’s chances for appearing on the November 2022 general election ballot.

According to the latest Department of Elections records, Florida Voters in Charge had obtained verification of about 426,000 signatures. On Tuesday, the Florida Supreme Court — as part of the usual elections process — tentatively scheduled oral arguments for March 8 on whether the proposed ballot question and title is clear and not misleading and satisfies a single-subject requirement.

Counsel for Standing Up for Florida and the other defendants declined on Tuesday to comment beyond their latest filings. Counsel for the Florida Voters in Charge and other plaintiffs did not respond to a request for comment.

Standing Up for Florida and the other defendants are represented by William N. Shepherd, Jeffrey M. Schacknow and Henry A. Moreno of Holland & Knight LLP.

Florida Voters in Charge and signature gathering companies The Human Connection and I & R Campaign Management Services are represented by James McKee, Benjamin J. Grossman and W. Bradley Russell of Foley & Lardner LLP.

Grassfire LLC is represented by Eduardo S. Lombard and Angela D. Miles of Radey Law Firm.

BGaming

CasinoCanada launches free social slot tournament

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

casinocanada-launches-free-social-slot-tournament

CasinoCanada.com launches a new social tournament system built around free-to-enter slot competitions, combining daily, weekly, and monthly events with leaderboards, bonus prizes, and exclusive merchandise.

The tournaments are powered entirely by BGaming slots, marking the first industry collaboration between an affiliate brand and BGaming focused specifically on social tournament engagement.

Participation in all tournaments is free for registered users of legal gambling age.

Players compete across rotating tournaments featuring a changing lineup of BGaming titles, including hit titles Aztec Magic Bonanza, Bonanza Billion, and Elvis Frog, among others.

Prizes include various bonuses and free spins from CasinoCanada partner casinos.

Selected special tournaments also feature exclusive BGaming merchandise prizes.

Tournament performance is reflected in public leaderboards, adding a competitive and community-driven layer to the CasinoCanada experience.

While social slot tournaments have become increasingly common in iGaming, many existing formats are built around the same providers and similar tournament structures.

CasinoCanada’s approach focuses on free participation, rotating BGaming content, partner casino bonus rewards, merchandise prizes, and recurring competition.

Eugene Ravdin, Head of PR at CasinoCanada, said: “The affiliate industry is moving beyond static review pages and traditional bonus listings. Community features, recurring engagement formats, and social competition are becoming increasingly important for long-term audience retention.

“Our goal is to create something more interactive and community-driven while also giving more visibility to BGaming’s slot portfolio through a format that players can engage with on a daily basis.”

Kate Puteiko, CMO at BGaming, said: “Players and the community have always been the beating heart of everything we do here at BGaming.

Online play no longer has to be a solitary activity, and tournaments like this are an excellent way to connect players and enhance everyone’s experience.

CasinoCanada shares this vision, and this collaboration is a natural extension of that.

We are excited to see our games front and centre of these tournaments and for players to begin creating memorable moments competing with them.”

CasinoCanada plans to introduce additional community features in the future, including gamification systems and forum functionality designed to expand user interaction around the tournament ecosystem.

The tournaments are now live at: https://casinocanada.com/tournaments/

The post CasinoCanada launches free social slot tournament appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

Betnova

Delasport Accelerates Canadian Growth

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

Delasport continues to strengthen its position in the Canadian regulated market, now powering three live brands in Ontario while preparing for further expansion into Alberta as the province moves toward opening its regulated online gaming market.

Delasport’s technology is currently live in Ontario with TitanPlay.ca, Maverick Games, and Betnova.ca. The company provides a combination of full turnkey platform solutions of Casino, Sport, Player Account Management and Managed Services as well as its high-performance Sportsbook iFrame technology. This enables operators to launch quickly while delivering a premium user experience tailored to the Canadian audience.

With Ontario continuing to establish itself as one of North America’s most competitive regulated markets, Delasport’s growing local presence reflects the company’s long-term commitment to Canada and its confidence in the market’s continued evolution.

“Ontario is a strategically important market for us, and it has already proven to be a strong success story. Seeing multiple brands successfully operating on our technology and services demonstrates the strength of our platform in acquiring and retaining players in Ontario. We’re excited to continue this momentum as we prepare for Alberta,” said Oren Cohen Shwartz, CEO of Delasport.

As part of its next phase of Canadian growth, Delasport has officially applied for Alberta’s upcoming B2B licensing framework and is already preparing to go live with a partner operator once the market opens.

The company’s Canadian momentum is further supported by its mobile-first approach. TitanPlay’s iOS application is already available on the Apple App Store for users in Ontario, delivering a seamless casino and sportsbook experience powered by Delasport technology.

Delasport’s platform in Canada includes a wide range of personalization and engagement tools designed to enhance user retention and entertainment value.

The company has continued to position itself as one of the industry’s leading providers in regulated markets worldwide, with a strong focus on scalable technology, localization, compliance, and player-centric innovation.

The post Delasport Accelerates Canadian Growth appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

Canada

Responsible Gambling Council Urges Financial Institutions to Strengthen Protections Against Gambling Harm

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

responsible-gambling-council-urges-financial-institutions-to-strengthen-protections-against-gambling-harm

The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) has urged Canada’s financial sector to take a proactive role in mitigating gambling-related financial harm. A new whitepaper released highlights how banks and credit unions are uniquely positioned to protect the financial well-being of their customers.

The whitepaper, Opportunities for Impact: The Role of Financial Institutions in Mitigating Gambling-Related Harm, argues that financial institutions have a unique duty of care. Financial institutions have direct access to gambling transaction data that reveals early warning signs of financial vulnerability. These indicators include rapidly shrinking savings and an increased reliance on overdrafts or credit.

“The rapid expansion of regulated gambling in Canada requires an evolved response from our financial systems. By adopting tools already proven in other jurisdictions, Canadian banks can become leaders in protecting customer financial health,” said Tracy Parker, SVP, Accreditation, Advisory & Insights at RGC.

Jurisdictions like the UK and Australia have already recognized the powerful role financial institutions play. Banks such as Monzo and Starling in the UK were the first to offer voluntary gambling blocks to their customers. Similarly, the National Australia Bank provides dedicated support pages and links to financial counseling.

RGC recommends that Canadian financial institutions implement several key strategies:

• Improving the accuracy of Merchant Category Codes to better track gambling spend.

• Offering voluntary transaction blocks and self-defined monthly spend limits.

• Providing targeted messaging and support resources within digital banking platforms.

Beyond retail banking, RGC highlights the importance of commercial relationships. Financial institutions can influence industry practices by setting high harm prevention expectations for gambling operators. Integrating these considerations into due diligence processes helps mitigate reputational and regulatory risks.

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