Coming Soon: Online Gaming for Ontario

The recent signing of an agreement between the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) will lead to a new regulatory framework under which the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) will launch online gaming later this year. On offer to Ontario players will be online lottery tickets, instant tickets, interactive casino games and peer-to-peer online poker.

The AGCO is responsible for regulating gaming in Ontario and upholds the requirements of the Gaming Control Act 1992.

This new arrangement between the AGCO and AGCC will see greater exchange of information and cooperation during investigations and inspections. Additionally new initiatives will be developed in the areas of common standards, requirements, testing protocols and other matters that will enhance integrity, consumer protection, public confidence and anti-crime measures.

This is just the latest agreement in a string of recent collaborations between various jurisdictions around the world. One of the latest, for example, was a bilateral cooperation agreement between the Jersey Gambling Commission and the Danish Gambling Authority and the the AGCC has already entered into cooperation agreements with regulators in Denmark, Nevada, Kahnawake and now Ontario.

The objective of this new framework is to promote social responsibility and ensure that players are protected through enforcing a level of honesty and integrity in the online gaming operators. At this stage, it is thought that the new online gaming will be launched by OLG at the end of this year – a full 18 months after the first announcement of plans to launch the service in Ontario.