Another industry giant appears close to entering the regulated Ontario online betting market as Pinnacle has now received its license to operate from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

The AGCO website lists pinnacle.ca as a licensed betting site in the province as of September 7. The license covers a two-year period until September 6, 2024.

Pinnacle has been noticeably absent from the market for the first five months since the April 4 launch date. The Curacao-headquartered company does not operate in the ever-expanding US market and so will be pitting itself against US industry giants and Ontario-licensed operators such as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and theScore Bet for the first time in a regulated North American market.

Ontario joins Malta and Curacao as just the third country where Pinnacle is regulated, and the province is the first new jurisdiction to license the company since it received Maltese approval in 2015. It used to operate in both the British and American markets before pulling out over regulatory concerns.

Covers assesses that the addition of Pinnacle could be a big boon for the Ontario market. The company has been around for 20 years and has a significant customer base acquired over decades of grey-market operation.

Pinnacle’s license is the latest issued to a major grey-market operator after the likes of Betway and Sports Interaction went live in the market in recent weeks at Bet99 received licensing in recent days.

All of those operators plus more grey-market brands and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s PROLINE offerings were absent from iGaming Ontario’s first official revenue report, which covered only the period from April 4 until June 30.