Canadian Online Gambling Offers Many New Opportunities

The future seems very right for developers of online games and systems that can handle gamblers transactions and other information. According to a report in the Canadian version of ITBusiness online news the opening up of online gambling and casino operations in various provinces in Canada could provide a massive number of high tech jobs and attract technology development talent to the industry there.

Regulated online gambling has already been introduced in British Columbia and Quebec and will soon be rolled out in Ontario. The market is said to be worth more than $16 billion and will grow as the popularity of online gambling continues to expand. According to Paul Burns, vice-president of the Canadian Gaming Association, “Our industry supports more than 128,000 full-time jobs, 283,000 associated jobs and generates $12.5 billion in labour income and $8.7 billion in annual revenues remitted to the government.”
Burns also pointed out that the online gaming industry almost tripled in size since first coming into the gambling scene in 1995. The industry now exceeds the combined revenues generated by magazines, book sales, social establishments, spectator sports, movies theatres and the performing arts.

Burns states that many small and medium sized businesses involved in product development for the internet gaming industry could benefit well from the provincial government’s online trend. “I would estimate that gaming companies in the field will be purchasing anywhere from $4 billion to $7 billion in products and services. That's a lot of opportunity for Canadian SMBs.”
The new way of placing your bets and being entertained will also require other technology based employees such as security technicians and administrative talent. Burns says he also expects a demand for mobile app experts. “Increasingly there is a focus towards new game delivery technology. In B.C. Lottery is planning to offer games to mobile device users.”
All this is good news especially for Canadian developers who before the new offerings in Canada had to go offshore to find work in their field.