TORONTO, March 7, 2023 – NorthStar Gaming Holdings Inc. (formerly Baden Resources Inc.) (the “Company” or “NorthStar”) is pleased to announce that the Company’s common shares (the “Common Shares”) will commence trading tomorrow, March 8, 2023 on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSX-V”) under the symbol: “BET”.
This follows the previously announced completion of the reverse takeover of Baden Resources Inc., and concurrent fundraising that resulted in aggregate gross proceeds of C$22.33 million, including an investment of C$12.25 million from Playtech.
In conjunction with the public listing, NorthStar is pleased to announce the appointment of new directors to the company’s Board of Directors. The new directors bring diverse and extensive knowledge, expertise, and experience that will contribute to NorthStar’s success:
Vic Bertrand: Vic has 35+ years of global business experience. From 1986 to 2014, he co-led MEGA Brands (MEGA BLOKS), transforming his family’s small local business into a vertically integrated, global toy leader with sales in over 100 countries. Mr. Bertrand is currently President of Stratinn Inc., a real estate and investment firm. From 2019, he was CEO of ToysRUs CDA, where he restored profitability leading to an exit in 2021. In addition, he is an active advisor and director currently serving on the Boards of CardioMech (Norway), Soundbite (Canada) and Spinal Stabilization Technologies (USA/Ireland).
Brian Cooper: Brian has more than 30 years of experience in athlete representation, activation management, broadcast programming, executive-level property leadership and sport marketing. He has been recognized for his imprint on the Canadian sports and entertainment landscape, and was twice named one of the Globe and Mail’s Top 25 Power Players in Canadian Sports, Yahoo’s Top 25 most influential people in Canadian Sport, and was the first inductee to the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada’s Hall of Fame. He has negotiated more than 1 billion dollars’ worth of sponsorship agreements for brands such as Canadian Tire Corporation, Scotiabank, Adidas, and Molson.
Chris Hodgson: Chris sits on the Board of Directors for GreenFirst, Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation, and Fairfax India Holdings Corporation. He previously served as Lead Director for The Brick Ltd. and director for Recipe Unlimited Corporation, and for EACOM as a public company and a private board for more than 12 years. As a Member of Provincial Parliament, he served as Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Chairman of Management Board of Cabinet, Deputy House Leader and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. As Chairman of the Management Board of Cabinet, Chris was responsible for all gaming operations in Ontario. He has a background in real-estate development and municipal politics in Ontario’s Haliburton County, and is an Honours Bachelor of Arts graduate from Trent University.
Dean MacDonald: Dean has had a long and successful career as an operating executive and entrepreneur. His operating experience includes serving as Executive Chairman and President and Chief Executive Officer of ClearStream Energy and its predecessor Tuckamore Capital, President and Managing Partner of Cable Atlantic, as the Chief Operating Officer of Rogers Cable and as the Chief Executive Officer of Persona Inc. (“Persona”), a TSX-listed cable and internet services company. Mr. MacDonald has also served as Chairman of the Newfoundland and Labrador Energy Corporation, which manages the province’s oil, gas and hydro assets. He has management and investment experience in a number of industries including energy, commercial real estate, marketing and communications.
He has served on numerous public and private boards over the past three decades. In 2007, Mr. MacDonald was selected as CEO of the Year by Birch Hill Capital Partners.
Chris McGinnis, CFA, CPA: Chris is a strategic finance executive with over twenty years’ experience across finance, accounting, investor relations, corporate strategy, M&A and equity research. Chris is currently Chief Financial Officer at Playtech plc, the leading online gambling technology company. Prior to being appointed CFO in 2022, he was Director of Investor Relations, having joined the company in 2017.
Prior to joining Playtech, Chris was Head of Corporate Strategy at software company Temenos. He started his career at Deloitte in Canada where he qualified as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). Chris then worked in Equity Research for UBS in Canada and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the UK. Chris is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Michael Moskowitz: Michael is the Chief Executive Officer and a founding partner of NorthStar who is a veteran technology executive and transformative leader who has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the consumer, communications, gaming and technology industries.
Previously, Michael served as CEO and Chairman at Panasonic North America, where he led the company’s successful business and growth strategy in delivering integrated technology solutions for businesses, government agencies, and consumers across North America. Michael has also served as President and CEO of XM Canada (XSR.TO) and President of Palm in the Americas International.
Michael sits on the Board of Directors of Hillcrest Energy Technologies (CSE:HEAT), a rising clean tech innovation and e-mobility development company. He also sits on the Executive Board of Consumer Technology Association (CTA / CES) which represents the largest and most innovative technology companies in North America. He previously served as a Director of Mobilicity (Canada), Hussmann Corporation (USA) and Panasonic Avionics Corporation (USA).
Sylvia Prentice: Sylvia is the President and owner of Mackinnon Calderwood Advertising (“MCA”). MCA is a full-service Canadian agency providing media services, creative services and promotional support across a number of industries. Sylvie and her team have been involved in a number of early iGaming business’s including Playground Poker Club, CanPlay, Party Poker.net.
Barry Shafran, CPA: Barry is a seasoned growth-focused career business leader with extensive public and private company leadership and Board experience in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings, in the U.S. and Canada, in multiple industries, including financial services, online gaming and the service industry.
Barry was the founder, Director and CEO of Chesswood Group Limited which is a financial services business traded on the TSX. He spent 20 years growing the business from $100M to $1B in 2020 with 30,000 commercial customers in North America. He is a veteran executive, advisor and board member.
Barry has vast experience across multiple business’s and has a CPA designation. Prior to Chesswood, Barry founded cars4U.com which was Canada’s first online auto retailer. On the iGaming front, Barry has worked with the Cryptologic founders to stabilize operations, service international licensee-customers and expand Cryptologic’s gaming and cash management analytics. He was involved in the sale of Don Best (Las Vegas) which is a well known odds-maker including due diligence and the sourcing of a purchaser.
For more information on NorthStar Gaming, please visit www.northstargaming.ca or visit www.northstarbets.ca to register for the online casino and sportsbook platform.
About NorthStar Gaming
NorthStar Gaming proudly owns and operates NorthStar Bets, a made-in-Ontario casino and sportsbook gaming platform that provides players with a uniquely local, premier user experience. The NorthStar Bets sportsbook provides real-time news, stats, analysis and scores directly in the betting environment along with the most popular online casino games.
A Canadian company, NorthStar Gaming is uniquely positioned to become a convergence leader in the intersection of sports media and sports wagering thanks to its partnerships and agreements with leading media companies. NorthStar Gaming is committed to operating at the highest level of responsible gaming standards and to ensuring local players’ entertainment dollars stay in the province of Ontario and other regulated jurisdictions as they develop.
Forward-Looking Information
This communication contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada. Forward-looking information may relate to future events or future performance of NSG. All statements in this communication, other than statements of historical facts, with respect to NSG’s objectives and goals, as well as statements with respect to its beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, and intentions, are forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements in this communication include, but are not limited to: expectations regarding certain of NSG’s future results and information, including, among other things, revenue, expenses, revenue growth, capital expenditures, and operations; risk factors relating to national or international economies (including the impact of COVID-19), and other risks present in the jurisdictions in which NSG, its customers, its partners, and; statements with respect to expected use of cash balances; continuation of prudent management of working capital; source of funds for ongoing business requirements and capital investments; expectations regarding sufficiency of the allowance for uncollectible accounts; analysis regarding sensitivity of the business to changes in exchange rates; impact of recently adopted accounting pronouncements; risk factors relating to intellectual property protection and intellectual property litigation; and, expectations concerning any remediation efforts to NSG’s design of its internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “continues”, “forecasts”, “projects”, “predicts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “believes”, or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. This information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. NSG believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information included in this discussion and analysis should not be unduly relied upon. Information contained in forward-looking statements in this communication is provided as of the date hereof and NSG disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or results, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.
For further information:
NorthStar Gaming
Ben Powell
VP Corporate Development