Kindred Group, the international gambling operator behind Unibet, has announced it will withdraw its online sportsbook and casino from North America. This will include its gambling operations in Ontario. Unibet Ontario launched when online gambling first went live on April 4, 2022, with licensing from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

In addition to withdrawing from Ontario, Unibet will also remove its online presence from Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Last year, Unibet left Iowa to improve its North American performance.

The move comes in response to a strategic review of the company, which started in April 2023. The withdrawal from North America is expected to be complete by the end of Q2 in 2024. Through a press release, Kindred Group acknowledged the move was one of the “cost-saving initiatives” the company was employing.

Another one of its initiatives will be to cut 300 jobs, mainly focusing on North American employees and contractors. These efforts combined are estimated to save the Kindred Group up to £40 million per year.

“The cost reduction actions announced today are both necessary and decisive. While it is never a desire to inform valued colleagues of redundancies, this puts us in a stronger position to secure long-term growth for Kindred across our locally regulated core markets,” said Interim CEO of Kindred Group Nils Andén.

Andén took on the role of Interim CEO at the start of the strategic review, which led to this North American withdrawal. He took over the position from Henrik Tjärnström, who had served as Kindred Group CEO since 2010.

According to the press release, the funds raised from these cost-saving initiatives will allow Kindred Group to invest in its “existing core markets” to “capitalize on core market potential and gain market share.” This aims to expand hyper-local casino brands, reallocate marketing funds, and produce more exclusive content.

“We can now focus our resources and tech capacity towards strategic initiatives and selected markets where we see clear potential to grow our market share,” commented Andén