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Ontario Steps Up Licensing Process for Regulated Online Casinos
By Shane Addinall Sep 20, 2021 LegalityOnline casino operators are excited by the news that Ontario plans to approve and distribute online gambling licenses to applicants before the end of 2021.While sports betting has been legal in Ontario since 1985, excluding single-event bets which were only approved earlier this year, online casino games are still not allowed. With the recent launch of the Canadian state's online gambling regulatory body, iGaming Ontario, this seems set to change in the very near future.
Casino Operator Applications Inbound
Earlier this month the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) officially began accepting applications from hopeful online and mobile casino operators. The Commission has made the bold claim that it intends to vet, process, and distribute licenses to qualifying operators within the next three months allowing Ontario to be a functioning online gambling jurisdiction before the end of the year.
As the online gambling division of the AGCO, iGaming Ontario will be solely responsible for the management of the newly approved Ontario-licensed online casinos. In addition to disclosing all their operating websites, in-depth personnel and investor profiles, as well as an array of legal and financial supporting documentation would be operators will be expected to pay CA$100,000 per online casino portal they intend to operate in Ontario.
Operators will have the option to pay for a 2-year license in advance which will see this fee double to CA$200,000 but give them the benefit of not having to reapply in twelve months can go by quickly when most of it is spent setting up a new online casino.
New Broom Sweeps Clean
Long before the announcement by the AGCO that it would be fast-tracking the processing of online casino licenses iGaming Ontario has begun to outline some of its plans for ensuring that local gamblers are kept safe from gambling harms.
The regulator has already imposed the following restrictions on slots players:
- All video slots must permanently remove autoplay options
- Each spin of the reels must last at least 2.5 seconds
- No multi-screen or split-screen slots will be allowed
Taking their lead from the UK Gambling Commission the Canadian regulator has also introduced rules stating casino balances must be shown in Canadian dollars, not as credits, deposit limit tools must be made available to all real money players and no designs or themes deemed to appeal to children may appear in any marketing material.
The OLG Stands Alone
The one exception to iGaming Ontario’s sweeping control over all things online casino related in the state is the games of chance offered online by Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).
The OLG currently offers a selection of casino games on its website and the AGCO has made it crystal clear that despite iGaming Ontario managing all online casino sites in the region it is to leave the OLG site alone.
Exactly what level of friction this will cause between the OLG and both iGaming Ontario and licensed offshore casinos down the line only time will tell but it is never a good idea to create separate power silos, especially in a newly regulated market.
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