GME3: (Prize) Picked Off, Data-Driven Driving & Under Age/Under Review

In this week’s GME3, PrizePicks is packing up and leaving Canada, highlighting the limits of trying to scale fantasy sports in a fragmented and heavily regulated market. At the same time, a proposed U.S. class action against Allstate is putting a spotlight on just how much driving data insurers and their tech partners may be collecting, and whether consumers really understand the trade they are making. And in Ottawa, the federal government is weighing new restrictions on young people’s access to social media, adding Canada to a growing global debate over how far lawmakers should go to protect kids online. Read the full stories below!

Gambling

(Prize) Picked Off

The daily fantasy sports (“DFS”) operator, PrizePicks, is exiting Canada as part of a broader strategic shift toward the U.S. market. The company announced it will stop accepting deposits for new fantasy lineups on March 10, require players to withdraw funds by April 2, and fully shut down Canadian operations on April 3. According to the company, Canada had become a lower priority as it focuses on expanding across the United States and improving its product there.

Its Canadian business was always somewhat limited. PrizePicks never operated in Ontario on a regulated basis and did not seek an iGaming licence there, likely because Ontario’s framework requires all players in a game to be located within the province. That kind of limitation, known as “ring-fencing,” makes Ontario a poor fit for daily fantasy sports, which generally depend on large, multi-jurisdictional player pools. Other major DFS operators, including FanDuel and DraftKings, similarly withdrew paid fantasy contests from Ontario after regulation came into force.

The company’s departure also reflects broader legal and market realities in Canada. Outside Ontario, PrizePicks had offered paid DFS contests, but those operations were reportedly deprioritized. Canada also offers fewer opportunities for the company’s newer business lines. In the U.S., PrizePicks has expanded rapidly through peer-to-peer DFS and prediction markets, including products launched through a partnership with Kalshi. But that model is harder to replicate in Canada, where securities laws generally treat event contracts as prohibited binary options. Taken together, regulatory constraints, a fragmented Canadian market, and stronger U.S. growth prospects appear to have made Canada no longer worth pursuing for PrizePicks.

Media

Data-Driven Driving

Canada’s privacy commissioner is watching a proposed U.S. class action against Allstate and its data analytics arm, Arity, over allegations that they collected and monetized detailed driver data through smartphones and related technology without proper transparency. The lawsuit claims the companies tracked information such as location, speed, braking, acceleration, phone use, and even whether someone was paying attention to the road, while also allegedly misreporting some behaviour, including instances where people were merely passengers. Allstate denies wrongdoing and says users who share data through Arity-powered apps do so through a clear notice and opt-in process.

In Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner says it has not received similar complaints, but noted that privacy law under PIPEDA requires meaningful consent before companies collect or share personal information. That issue is especially relevant because usage-based insurance and telematics programs are already common in Canada. Insurers such as CAA, Intact, and Aviva say their programs are optional, consent-based, and designed to tailor premiums based on driving habits such as mileage, speed, braking, cornering, and distracted driving.

The broader issue is not whether insurers can use driving data at all, but how clearly they explain what is being collected, how it is used, and with whom it may be shared. Industry groups say express consent is required in Canada, and that using telematics data for underwriting without it would not be allowed.

Entertainment

Under Age/Under Review

Canada’s federal government is considering new restrictions on young people’s access to social media, although it has not yet said what age group would be covered or exactly how the ban would work. The proposal is framed as part of a broader effort to protect children online, with the government signalling that it intends to move quickly on online harms.

The idea has drawn support from some parents, students, and child-safety advocates. Supporters argue that social media can expose young people to harmful interactions, anxiety, cyberbullying, and predatory behaviour. Some teenagers interviewed said they can now see the value of keeping younger children off these platforms, even if they might have opposed such a ban when they were younger themselves. Experts also raised concerns that heavy social media use can undermine in-person social development and reduce time spent on healthier offline activities.

The push comes amid growing concern over the scale of online harm facing children in Canada. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection says that since 2020, it has received more than 14,100 reports of extortion, with most linked to Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Children First Canada also points to widespread cyberbullying, saying roughly one in four children experienced it in the past year.