Rival Gaming to exit the Canadian market in February

Online gambling marketing affiliates were surprised this week to receive notifications from the Rival Internet gambling company, believed to be owned by Canadian residents, that it intends to exit the Canadian market within the next few days - effective February 1st 2009.

The notification advises that beginning February 1st 2009 Canadian players will not be allowed to register new accounts with any Rival powered casino. Existing Canadian players will not be permitted to deposit in the casino from this point on, and will be ineligible for any bonuses.

Apparently Rival executives made the decision to cease operations with Canadian players because of a request from many of their suppliers located in Canada. For various reasons, these suppliers have asked Rival to sever ties with Canadian players and Rival has agreed. It does not specify exactly what type of suppliers it refers to.

"February 28, 2009 at midnight EST will see all existing Canadian player accounts suspended indefinitely," the notification goes on. "Players have been urged to use the month of February to complete any wagering on active promotions and withdraw funds from their accounts. Any funds left in their account after February 28th, 2009 will not be cashable and the player will not be allowed to login to their account," the advisory controversially informs.

The notification advises affiliates with Canadian-facing campaigns: "If you have campaigns running that are directed strictly at Canadian players, they will no longer be effective beginning February 1st. Paradise 8 and Cocoa Casino will continue to promote and accept players from the USA and every other country in the world with the same vigor and as always."

The notice is signed off by Jaxon Lam of the affiliate marketing team.

Source: InfoPowa News

Ed's note: Our own enquiries to various casino managers have yielded only a "Rival Gaming has asked all its casino operators not to comment on this situation at this point in time". So we can only speculate on what the motivations behind this strange decision are, especially considering Rival will continue to accept players from the typically more problematic United States. Rival Gaming was recently sued by T2 Marketing for a relatively small amount of money. Only time will tell whether this decision is related to the ongoing case.

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