Wazdan expands in Canada through NorthStar Gaming partnership
Online games developer Wazdan has expanded its presence in Canada by partnering with online operator NorthStar Gaming.
NorthStar Gaming operates the NorthStar Bets platform via Playtech, which combines in-house media content, a casino, and a sportsbook.
Under the new agreement, Ontario players will gain access to Wazdan’s titles, including 36 Coins, Hot Slot: 777 Cash Out Grand Diamond Edition, Mighty Fish: Blue Marlin, and Mighty Wild: Panther Grand Platinum Edition.
Radka Bacheva, Head of Sales and Business Development at Wazdan, said, “Expanding our presence in Ontario with such a locally rooted and trusted brand as NorthStar is an exciting milestone. Their strong position in the market, combined with our portfolio of rewarding experiences, ensures we can deliver measurable growth and enhanced entertainment to players nationwide.”
NorthStar will also have access to a variety of Wazdan’s game engagement features, including Hold the Jackpot, Cash Infinity, Collect to Infinity, Sticky to Infinity, and Cash Out.
Dean MacNeil, Vice President of Product at NorthStar, added, “NorthStar is committed to giving Ontario players a safe, world-class gaming experience that blends trusted local roots with premium global content. Partnering with Wazdan brings innovative features and proven titles to our platform, strengthening our offer.”
Wazdan also has a strong presence in the US, providing its portfolio of games to Bet365 in New Jersey, through a partnership agreed with the operator in July.
Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
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The Backstory
Why this tie-up lands now
Wazdan’s move to deepen its footprint in Canada by joining forces with NorthStar Gaming comes as both companies are executing scale plays on parallel tracks. NorthStar runs its NorthStar Bets platform on Playtech’s tech stack and media-led approach, positioning it as a locally rooted sportsbook-casino hybrid. Wazdan brings a slate of feature-heavy slots and in-game mechanics aimed at boosting retention and repeat play. Together, they are trying to turn Ontario’s highly competitive, maturing market into a growth engine by adding recognizable content, faster feature pipelines and a tighter integration loop between media, sportsbook and casino.
The timing aligns with NorthStar’s push for operating leverage and profitability, and with Wazdan’s ongoing North American rollout that prizes regulated markets, distribution breadth and partner depth. Ontario players will see titles and engagement features already proven across multiple jurisdictions, while NorthStar gets a differentiated library to fuel acquisition and cross-sell.
NorthStar’s balance-sheet reset set the stage
NorthStar recently moved to shore up liquidity and extend runway, striking up to CAD$43.4 million in long-term debt financing with Beach Point Capital Management, with Playtech stepping in as guarantor. The financing, which matures in 2030, refinanced existing borrowings, funded an interest reserve and covered transaction costs while supporting operations. As part of the arrangement, NorthStar issued 32.7 million common share purchase warrants to Playtech. The deal’s structure underscored Playtech’s strategic weight in NorthStar’s ecosystem and helped remove near-term financing overhang as the operator targets scale. Read more on the credit facility and Playtech’s guarantees in NorthStar Gaming enters CAD$43.4 million finance agreement with Beach Point and Playtech.
Signs of traction are visible in preliminary fourth-quarter figures. NorthStar forecast total wagers of about CAD$303 million, up 42% year over year, with revenue rising 47.6% to CAD$9.6 million and gross margin climbing 76% to CAD$4.4 million for the period ended Dec. 31. For full-year 2024, the company projected wagers near CAD$980 million and revenue of CAD$29.7 million, each up roughly 50% from 2023, alongside a 76% jump in gross margin to CAD$12.5 million. Management framed the momentum as proof the product simplification and innovation focus is yielding operating leverage as the user base scales. See the rundown in NorthStar points to growth in preliminary Q4 results.
Those numbers explain why content partnerships matter. As NorthStar aims for profitability on its current platform, premium supplier integrations like Wazdan’s provide fresh inventory to extend session times, improve conversion from sportsbook to casino and lift margin via proprietary features and stickier titles. The debt financing bought time; the content pipeline is tasked with turning that time into durable unit economics.
Wazdan’s North American template
For Wazdan, the NorthStar alliance fits a pattern: leverage anchor operators in regulated markets, then layer in its proprietary engagement mechanics to lift player value. In the United States, Wazdan has leaned into multi-state launches and big-brand distribution. It staged a three-state debut with Fanatics Casino across New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania, making 58 titles available in New Jersey and seeding initial lineups in the other two states. The coordinated rollout, a first for Wazdan, highlighted the supplier’s growing compliance muscle and operational cadence. Details are in Wazdan announces triple US launch with Fanatics Casino.
Wazdan also broadened its U.S. reach with a New Jersey partnership with Bet365, extending a relationship already active in Ontario, Greece, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. That deal put top-performing titles and mechanics such as Cash Infinity, Hold the Jackpot and Collect to Infinity in front of Bet365’s New Jersey users and followed Wazdan’s expansion into Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan. The steady cadence of state-by-state entries has given Wazdan a clearer read on feature efficacy, volatility preferences and theme performance in North American markets. It also provides social proof as the supplier seeks deeper access in Canada with brands that value compliant, tested content.
Against that backdrop, plugging into NorthStar’s Ontario platform is less an experiment and more an optimization. Wazdan is importing product and mechanics that have been iterated with U.S. and global operators, while adapting to localized demand and responsible gaming standards. The cumulative learnings reduce execution risk and align with NorthStar’s need for proven, retention-focused titles.
Platform dynamics and Playtech’s quiet hand
The NorthStar-Wazdan deal is also a platform story. NorthStar Bets is built and operated via Playtech, which not only supplies technology but also deepens the operator’s capital access and credibility. Playtech’s guarantees were instrumental in closing NorthStar’s recent financing, giving the operator flexibility to prioritize product and marketing in 2025. As covered in the finance agreement coverage, the warrants issued to Playtech reflect an alignment of incentives as NorthStar scales.
For suppliers, a Playtech-powered environment can accelerate onboarding and feature deployment, especially for studios like Wazdan that want their mechanics—Cash Infinity, Collect to Infinity and others—implemented consistently. The integration layer matters in a province where speed to lobby and promotional support can determine whether a title becomes a staple or fades after launch.
A crowded Canadian lobby raises the bar
Ontario’s market has matured quickly, and content breadth is now table stakes. International operators are pushing into Canada with expansive libraries and personalization tech. Finnish brand Winlandia.com, for instance, launched to Canadian players with more than 9,000 titles and SkillOnNet’s personalization features, alongside localized payments and bilingual support. The move, outlined in Finnish casino Winlandia.com debuts in Canada, underscores how aggressive content expansion and localization have become the norm for new entrants.
That competitive pressure raises the value of distinctive mechanics, sticky franchises and data-driven promotions. Wazdan’s catalog gives NorthStar more tools to fight for time-in-lobby and cross-sell from sports, while NorthStar’s media integration can lift discovery and repeat visits. In a crowded lobby, differentiation is not just about how many titles you have but how effectively you surface the right ones to the right customers at the right moments.
What’s at stake next
NorthStar says it has the funding to reach profitability on its current platform, and its preliminary results suggest operating leverage is improving. To sustain that trajectory, it needs higher-value play, improved retention and disciplined customer acquisition. The Wazdan partnership aims to move those needles by adding high-engagement content and features calibrated for regulated markets. If successful, the tie-up could widen gross margin and accelerate payback on the marketing dollars NorthStar deploys in 2025.
For Wazdan, success in Ontario would validate its cross-market template and strengthen its pitch to other Canadian operators. Its recent momentum with Fanatics and Bet365 shows the supplier can execute at scale in the U.S.; converting that playbook to Canada, via a local brand with Playtech’s backing, would deepen its North American credibility.
The next markers to watch: how quickly Wazdan titles climb NorthStar’s top-games lists, whether session lengths and conversion from sportsbook to casino improve, and how NorthStar calibrates promotions around Wazdan’s mechanics without eroding margin. With Ontario’s lobby growing more crowded each quarter, execution speed and measurable uplift will determine whether this partnership moves the needle or just keeps pace.
