Soft2Bet and World Poker Tour Sign Ontario Licensing Deal to Launch WPT Royale Casino and Sportsbook

Soft2Bet and World Poker Tour publicly confirmed a multi-year licensing partnership on June 30, 2026 to launch WPT Royale, a new online casino and sportsbook product built specifically for the Ontario market. The announcement, surfaced through a Covers exclusive interview with Soft2Bet chief commercial officer Andrew Cochrane the same day and picked up by trade press on July 2 and July 6, makes WPT Royale the first online sportsbook and casino product World Poker Tour has launched in Ontario — and the first major Ontario product rollout Soft2Bet has powered outside its existing ToonieBet licence.

The structural shape of the deal matters for Ontario players because the platform will run on Soft2Bet's existing Ontario operating licence issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) — not on a newly minted licence. Soft2Bet already powers ToonieBet, the AGCO-licensed operator that became the official online casino partner of the Canadian Football League in 2025 and extended its Ontario footprint with an exclusive Hamilton Tiger-Cats partnership earlier this month. WPT Royale will reuse that licence, the same platform stack, and the same managed-operations layer, with the WPT branding layered on top of the casino and sportsbook verticals. Cochrane's framing to Covers was direct: the deal gives WPT "a branded presence in Ontario through a platform and licence structure already built for the local market."

What the WPT Royale Ontario Deal Actually Covers

Under the licensing agreement, Soft2Bet will independently develop, launch, and fully operate the WPT Royale-branded casino and sportsbook in Ontario. The platform will run on Soft2Bet's Motivational Engineering Gaming Application (MEGA) — the company's gamification engine that won Industry Innovation of the Year at the SBC Awards Europe 2026 for its MEGA Clawee bonus mechanic, a 3D arcade-style claw machine experience that turns standard bonuses into interactive reward rounds. WPT Royale will combine casino play and sports betting at launch, with both verticals localised for Ontario players rather than presented as a generic Canadian product.

The launch remains subject to final regulatory approvals. Both the yogonet (July 2) and tribuna.com (July 6) coverage of the deal state explicitly that the WPT Royale rollout is expected "in the coming months" once the required filings are completed. For Ontario players, that means the WPT Royale product will not appear in any AGCO-licensed lobby on launch day — the operator still has to file for product-level approval before casino tiles and sportsbook markets can go live, even though the underlying Soft2Bet licence is already in place. The Covers exclusive framed it as a deliberate sequencing choice: Soft2Bet brings the licence, the platform, the compliance controls, the payments layer, and the player protection controls; WPT brings the brand.

Why a WPT-Branded Casino and Sportsbook Is News in Ontario

The Ontario angle here is the World Poker Tour brand recognition. WPT has been building a poker brand for more than 20 years, with high-stakes tournaments and events televised in 150 countries, $1.5 billion-plus in prize money awarded worldwide, and a roster of poker pros (Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, the late Mike Sexton) that are household names in the poker world. Bringing that brand into the Ontario online casino and sportsbook space is a meaningful market signal — poker-branded verticals have historically struggled to translate the live-tournament cachet into online casino product, and the WPT Royale deal is the first time WPT has extended beyond poker into online sportsbook and casino verticals at scale.

For Ontario players evaluating the product when it goes live, the brand extension has two structural implications. First, the WPT Royale lobby will likely carry an identity built around the World Poker Tour aesthetic rather than the standard generic sportsbook shell — the company has said the product will "carry the look and feel of World Poker Tour, with casino and sports betting at the centre of the launch." Second, the cross-vertical positioning (poker brand + casino + sportsbook) is unusual for the Ontario market, where most operator brands were built sportsbook-first or casino-first. The Soft2Bet x WPT combination is a casino-plus-sportsbook product on day one, with poker integration likely to follow if the launch goes well.

Soft2Bet's Ontario Position Going Into the WPT Royale Launch

Soft2Bet's underlying Ontario business is the second reason this deal matters. According to the Covers interview, Soft2Bet reported 88% year-over-year revenue growth and a 96% increase in EBITDA in 2025, with its MEGA-driven product suite helping increase screen time by 400% year-over-year across its portfolio. ToonieBet, the Ontario-branded Soft2Bet operator, has used that platform to build a CFL partnership, an exclusive Hamilton Tiger-Cats deal, and a position in the AGCO-licensed operator roster as a recognised local brand. WPT Royale gives Soft2Bet a second Ontario front door — and a chance to capture a different player segment than ToonieBet's CFL-aligned audience.

Cochrane's framing to Covers also leaned on the iGaming Ontario market data. "iGaming Ontario's latest market performance report shows 34% year-on-year revenue growth and revenue above CAD $4 billion," he said. That $4 billion figure is the publicly reported running total for the Ontario regulated market through the most recent monthly report, and the 34% YoY revenue growth is the headline growth metric that AGCO and iGaming Ontario have used in their 2025-26 communications. The structural read for Ontario players: a regulated market growing at that pace is attracting exactly the kind of cross-vertical brand-extension deals — WPT into casino and sportsbook, here — that would have been economically marginal in a slower-growing market.

Regulatory Path to Launch in Ontario

The product-level approval pathway for WPT Royale will run through the AGCO and iGaming Ontario (iGO) on the existing Soft2Bet operator licence, rather than as a new operator application. For Ontario players, that distinction matters because the underlying operator already meets the AGCO's Registrar Standards for Internet Gaming, has the iGO commercial agreement in place, has the responsible gambling framework audited, and has the payment rails and player protection controls tested at ToonieBet scale. The new filings are product-level: what games go into the WPT Royale lobby, what the sportsbook market catalogue looks like, what the bonus structure is, and how the MEGA gamification engine maps onto the AGCO's responsible gambling rules.

That product-level path is meaningfully shorter than a greenfield operator application, which is the practical reason Soft2Bet can credibly target a "coming months" launch window. The yogonet and tribuna coverage both note the timeline as pending regulatory approval — but the framework around that approval is already in place through ToonieBet's Ontario licence. Cochrane's framing to Covers was that the deal "positions the WPT-branded casino and sportsbook to compete for market share against established operators in the province," and the structural path to that competition runs through product-level filings on an existing licence rather than a multi-month operator application.

What Ontario Players Will and Won't See at Launch

When WPT Royale goes live — likely in the September-November 2026 window if the filings progress as expected — Ontario players will see a casino and sportsbook product carrying the World Poker Tour aesthetic, branded as a separate operator from ToonieBet rather than a ToonieBet skin. The MEGA gamification engine will be present (it is already part of Soft2Bet's Ontario product suite) but the AGCO responsible gambling rules around bonus mechanics, autoplay, and session limits will govern what the MEGA layer can do in Ontario. Sportsbook markets will be configured for Ontario player preferences — Canadian Football League, NHL, NBA, NFL, and soccer markets will likely headline the sportsbook alongside the standard major-league global calendar.

What Ontario players won't see at launch: a poker vertical on day one. The Covers exclusive is explicit that the launch is built around casino and sports betting, with poker not mentioned in the deal's scope. The WPT poker brand recognition that powers the partnership is being deployed as a casino-and-sportsbook identity rather than as a poker product — a deliberate sequencing choice that keeps the launch scope manageable for the regulatory filings. For poker players evaluating the WPT Royale proposition, the brand promise is real (the WPT identity, the WPT tournament heritage, the WPT look and feel), but the day-one product is casino and sportsbook, not poker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WPT Royale?

WPT Royale is a new Ontario online casino and sportsbook product announced on June 30, 2026 through a multi-year licensing partnership between Soft2Bet and World Poker Tour. It will be the first online casino and sportsbook product that World Poker Tour has launched in Ontario. The platform will run on Soft2Bet's existing Ontario AGCO operating licence, the same licence that powers ToonieBet, and will feature the Soft2Bet MEGA gamification engine. Launch is expected in the coming months pending product-level regulatory approval.

Is WPT Royale licensed in Ontario?

WPT Royale will operate on Soft2Bet's existing AGCO-issued Ontario operating licence — the same licence that already powers ToonieBet, the AGCO-licensed operator that became the Canadian Football League's official online casino partner in 2025 and extended its Ontario footprint with a Hamilton Tiger-Cats deal earlier this month. Soft2Bet does not need a new operator licence for WPT Royale; the deal runs on the existing licence with product-level filings for the casino, sportsbook, and MEGA gamification components. You must be 19 or older and physically located in Ontario to play.

When will WPT Royale launch in Ontario?

The WPT Royale Ontario launch is expected in the coming months, with both the yogonet (July 2) and tribuna.com (July 6) coverage explicitly framing the timeline as pending final regulatory approval. The product-level filings run on top of Soft2Bet's existing AGCO licence, which is a meaningfully shorter path than a greenfield operator application. A September-November 2026 launch window is consistent with the deal structure and the licensing path described by Soft2Bet chief commercial officer Andrew Cochrane to Covers on June 30.

What is Soft2Bet's role in WPT Royale?

Soft2Bet will independently develop, launch, and fully operate the WPT Royale-branded casino and sportsbook in Ontario. Soft2Bet is providing the licensed Ontario platform, the proprietary technology stack, the compliance controls, the player protection layer, the payments infrastructure, and the managed operations. The platform will feature Soft2Bet's Motivational Engineering Gaming Application (MEGA) — the gamification engine that won Industry Innovation of the Year at the SBC Awards Europe 2026 for the MEGA Clawee bonus mechanic. World Poker Tour contributes the brand identity, the look and feel, and the poker heritage that anchors the product positioning.

Will WPT Royale have a poker product at launch?

No. The WPT Royale launch is built around casino play and sports betting, with the World Poker Tour brand deployed as a casino-and-sportsbook identity rather than as a poker product. The Covers exclusive that broke the deal on June 30 is explicit that poker is not part of the day-one scope. The WPT tournament heritage and the poker-pro brand recognition that anchors the partnership are layered on the casino and sportsbook verticals at launch, with no integrated poker client announced as part of the initial rollout.

How is WPT Royale different from ToonieBet?

WPT Royale and ToonieBet will run on the same Soft2Bet licence and the same proprietary platform stack, but they will be branded and positioned as separate Ontario operators rather than as a ToonieBet skin. ToonieBet is anchored on the Canadian Football League partnership and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats exclusive, with a sportsbook-and-casino product targeting the CFL-aligned audience. WPT Royale will carry the World Poker Tour aesthetic and the WPT look and feel, targeting a different player segment through the poker heritage, the MEGA gamification layer, and the cross-vertical casino-plus-sportsbook product on day one.

For context on the broader Ontario AGCO-licensed operator landscape, our How Live Dealer Games Work in Ontario guide covers the regulatory framework around live dealer tables. For related Soft2Bet Ontario coverage, see our ToonieBet Hamilton Tiger-Cats Partnership coverage from earlier this month. For an overview of how Ontario-licensed operators are positioned in the regulated market, see our Ontario iGaming May 2026 Monthly Report.