Luxury sports betting brand Fitzdares has joined forces with igaming and betting specialist Affili8 to develop its digital strategy and SEO for operations in Canada.

Fitzdares first launched in Ontario in February, making the first time the bookmaker had launched its service outside its native UK.

Less than four months later, however, Fitzdares Canada was handed a monetary penalty by the AGCO ‘for offering prohibited bets on Canadian major junior hockey’.

Nevertheless, Fitzdares is focused on enhancing its operations in Canada, an objective which has seen the bookmaker extend its arm to another UK-based brand.

Tristan Wootton, Fitzdares’ Director of Growth, commented: “We’re delighted to work with Affili8 on our first launch outside of Europe.

“The team understands our brand ethos and not only solves one of our many headaches as we scale the business, but is also helping to educate our teams on best industry practice.

“We’re passionate about supporting British businesses like Affili8, so this is a win-win.”

Affili8 has been steadily growing since its launch as an online gambling company in 2020, managing to build up more than 40 sites across 15 different countries including Canada, Brazil, and Germany within its first year.

The firm expects to hit $1.7m turnover in the next 12 months.

“We’re excited to be working with Fitzdares again – they are such a unique brand with a great heritage in the igaming sector,” said Affili8 Director Chris O’Rourke. “We initially worked on a project with their UK sportsbook back in 2021 and we’ve maintained a relationship ever since.

“They acquired a Canadian (Ontario) licence in 2022 and we look forward to helping them establish themselves in what has quickly become a very competitive Canadian market.”

O’Rourke added: “Fitzdares is a wonderful brand to represent – it has personality and kudos in a very crowded market. However we’ve been getting fantastic results for all of our clients, enabling them to compete with the more established big-name brands.

“That has enabled us to expand with key appointments, including a new head of SEO, bringing the workforce to 11.

“It has been an amazing and intense journey for Affili8 so far – and long may it continue.“

Fitzdares, meanwhile, has plenty of plans in the pipeline for Canada, as alluded to by CEO William Woodhams in an interview with SBC earlier this year.