Mark Keast

I share tips, news and opinion around sports betting and igaming. Writer at

[Steve McAllister @StevieMacSports]

The province has failed to communicate the benefits of a competitive, legal gambling industry and if/how it has used the $2 billion-plus in tax revenue collected over the past four-plus years.

[Steve McAllister @StevieMacSports]

With apologies to Dickie Dunn, Dave and I tried to capture the spirit of the thing from last week's annual gathering of the Canadian sports betting and gaming industry.

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Really getting tired of this Marner shit. Bottom line is he couldn’t cut it in the hockey cauldron that is Toronto. So he left for a sunnier, quieter climate, an organization, the Vegas Golden Knights, that’s now been to three Cup finals in nine years. Good for him. The Leafs haven’t been to a Cup final in six decades. The Leafs are buried so far in the woods Moses couldn’t lead them out. All of this has more to do with the current state of the Leafs organization, and the corruption there, then it has to do with Marner. He couldn’t cut it here so he left. The Leafs are so f’ed up I’d leave too.

[TSN @TSN_Sports]

"It was a special moment. There's been some dark times in hockey for myself honestly... I'm thankful for my family. That was a moment to just express some joy and fun."

Mitch Marner on his expressive celebration after Vegas' WCF win.

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Industry source says 500 people have signed up for iGaming Ontario’s BetGuard centralized self-exclusion tool 10 days in. @Casino_Org

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Ipsos study: Ontario’s regulated igaming market hits 91.1% channelization rate, 7.4% increase over last year. @Casino_Org

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Dan Keene, new CEO of AiGC, at SBC Summit Canada today: “We're currently working on a memorandum of understanding with Ontario about interprovincial liquidity.” @Casino_Org

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Man, they do it right in Montreal. #canadiens

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Yes. Organizational rot. The entire operation is buried so deep in the woods they can’t find their way out. I don’t care who plays for them or manages them or coaches them.

[Todd Fuhrman @ToddFuhrman]

Is this really how triggered Leafs fans are by Marner’s performance so far this postseason?

Auston Matthews somehow contributed for Team USA this past Olympics too; must have been soft competition there as well.

Maybe it’s not a player problem but an organizational issue for a franchise that hasn’t won a cup since 1967

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Umm …. No

[Jonah Sigel | Sports media + streaming @yyzsportsmedia]

This could be one of the dumbest tweets ever

[Covers @Covers]

Simply unbelievable 😂

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

I don’t have the words.

[Steve Simmons @simmonssteve]

Leafs win draft lottery. What a great first day on the job for John Chayka and Mats Sundin.

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

That’s what six decades of F all in terms of winning anything substantive gets you.

[The Joker @JohnnyGiunta_]

After watching that press conference it’s genuinely pathetic how a lot of the “journalists” there were more interested in asking gotcha insult questions instead of the direction of the team and plans for the offseason

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Agreed. Figure the F out what kind of team you want to be and plan accordingly.

[Scott Wheeler @scottcwheeler]

If the decision to hire John Chayka as GM was Keith Pelley’s biggest as CEO, I truly believe John Chayka’s biggest decision as GM could be on Craig Berube. You can’t waste another year or two of Matthews and Nylander on the wrong coach. They’re going to be 29 and 30 next year.

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

I feel bad for Mats. I don’t think he fully understands the Cluster F he is walking into.

[steve buffery @Beezersun]

@worldhockeyrpt Give the fans something warm and fuzzy to cheer about

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

100 per cent yes.

[steve buffery @Beezersun]

My former colleague @simmonssteve has the balls to ask pertinent questions. Reporters aren’t cheerleaders. They’re not guidance councillors. When he says he talked to 20 or so prominent NHL people, he talked to them. Takes heat for doing his job correctly #LeafsForever

[E.J. Hradek @EJHradek_NHL]

Hard to argue

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

100 per cent agree.

[Jonah Sigel | Sports media + streaming @yyzsportsmedia]

There has been a misconception that the Toronto media is hard. It's voluminous, NOT hard. Until this question got asked. I promise you, we have never seen this here before. The question or the answer. WOW. Some dislike Simmons, but he brought it.

[Mark Keast @onthemark_22]

Steve has been asking the tough questions - that few others would ever ask - for decades. He asks the questions that are on everyone’s minds. Unless you are with the content platform owned by the same company that owns the team and the stadium they play out of.

[Roberts&Tucks @ldl716]

Steve Simmons HAS BALLS. No one can ever take that away from him. What a great question. To which Pelley had no answer.

[Jonah Sigel | Sports media + streaming @yyzsportsmedia]

Here's the thing: Sundin is now mostly irrelevant. An advisor without any authority is... good at shaking hands. If this fails, it will set the franchise back an additional 10 yrs. Sundin will be in Sweden, Chayka @ Wendy's, KP retired & Corp YYZ will STILL buy tickets. The End