Spotlight Sports Group (SSG), a world-leading technology, content and media company specializing in sports betting and fantasy sports, announced that it has built a fully-managed bracket challenge for PointsBet Canada to support its second annual curling tournament.

This partnership follows a successful execution of The Sweep 16 bracket challenge last year, which was well received and saw thousands of participants. This year’s platform has been updated to include new features such as allowing users to create private groups for additional play and enjoyment. This year’s bracket challenge also debuts one-click buttons that promote community connectivity and allow users to share their bracket on any social media platform.

The bracket challenge is hosted on a stand-alone platform and was built with a direct connection to the PointsBet Canada sportsbook so bracket challenge participants can easily place bets on the PointsBet Invitational as well as other sports.

Like last year, participants are competing for a $1 million grand prize, should they create a perfect bracket. The bracket challenge provides a one-stop-shop connection to the men’s and women’s tournaments via an up-to-the-minute tournament tracker that showcases match results in real time.

Commenting on the continued partnership, the US B2B Partnerships Senior Vice-President for Spotlight Sports Group, Rick Wolf, said: “When you have great success in a collaboration like we did last year, it was obvious to expand with PointsBet Canada. The SSG SaaS Games Engine is unique in its ability to create this custom solution with the design and direction of PointsBet’s team. The user experience is paramount and that is why we ensure participants can follow the tournament entirely on the platform and place bets with ease.”

The Chief Commercial Officer for PointsBet Canada, Nic Sulsky, added: “Last year’s inaugural PointsBet Invitational was a resounding success on the ice and The Sweep 16 bracket challenge brought the audience engagement to a new level. The top-notch SSG team manages everything from beginning to end, which allows us to focus on delivering the audience. Our combined success last year meant we could create a platform that mirrored our branding and provided a superior user experience again this year.”

The PointsBet Invitational will run from September 27 through October 1 at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville, Ontario. The Sweep 16 bracket challenge can be filled out at any point before the tournament begins.

GeoComply Solutions Inc. (“GeoComply”), the market-leading geolocation, fraud, and risk solutions provider, is pleased to announce its second Challenger Series Summit, in partnership with Citi’s investment bank, to be held in Las Vegas, on October 8th, 2023, before G2E.

Following the success of the inaugural New York Challenger Series event, held on May 8th, 2023, GeoComply and Citi are continuing the momentum, supporting early-stage companies and start-ups in the gaming industry by gathering industry founders and entrepreneurs to share their valuable knowledge and insights.

GeoComply’s Challenger Series is designed to provide companies targeting the US-regulated gaming market with expert advice from founders and entrepreneurs with decades of personal experience on topics that include hyper-growth, payments, product innovation, marketing, post-exit strategy, and more.

Feedback from New York Challenger Summit was exceedingly positive. Attendees remarked on the quality of panelists who spoke on relevant topics for their emerging businesses. The carefully curated thought leadership panels and additional time for networking allowed attendees to forge meaningful relationships within the gaming community.

GeoComply Co-Founder David Briggs commented, “We are so thankful for all the industry leaders who shared their time and expertise at our first event. The ability to bring together top gaming founders and entrepreneurs in one room to speak on tackling the North American market and its challenges is an invaluable experience for all emerging business owners. Our goal is to continue to support this community and build this space for connection and relationship-building.”

What: The Challenger Series – Vegas Summit

Where: Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

When: October 8th, 2023, 2 pm – 6 pm PST

Presenters: Paul Liberman (DraftKings), Lesley Eccles (HelloRelish Inc), Joey Levy (Betr), Nik Robinson (Big Time Gaming), Nan Wang (Sleeper), Matt Davey (Tekkrop Capital LLC), Scott Longley (Clear Concise Media), Anna Sainsbury (GeoComply), David Briggs (GeoComply), Andrew Fabian (Citi)

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet founders, market leaders, and visionaries during and after the event which will end with a networking cocktail hour on the Bellagio balcony overlooking the city.