Canada set to launch its legal iGaming market in Ontario on April 4 - iGaming Ontario (IGO), the new subsidiary of Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, which will also be the governing body of the newly launched market, announced the date on Friday.
Gambling activities in Canada have been illegal unless under the provincial or territorial authorities, most of which operate lotteries as well as casinos that provide online betting. This new framework will essentially bring widespread benefits to Ontario and put the province on the map as one of the biggest as well as most important regulated iGaming markets in North America.
Good News to the Private Casino Operators
As of this date, all private online gaming operators listed with the AGCO and have an operating contract in place with IGO can start offering their service to players in Ontario province legally.
Following the announcement of legal iGaming Market in Ontario, IGO executive director, Martha Otto said customers can rest assured the operators that successfully enter the new market will have been rigorously vetted for integrity, social responsibility, fairness, game quality, and player protection, allowing all players to game safely and confidently.
The Province's Call to the Grey Market Players
The vast majority of game websites that currently serve Ontario players are offshore based and have been operating unimpeded for a long time and reports indicate that they already hold a big share of the market.
Ontario said that it is going call upon some of the grey market online casino operators to join the new regime, a move that will not only capture new tax revenues but also impose responsible gaming standards as well as anti-money laundering protocols.
Ontario Legal iGaming Market Welcomed by Many
The president of Penn National Gaming and Jay Snowden, the Chief executive, together with John Levy, the chief executive of its subsidiary theScore, all welcomed the news with great enthusiasm.
The chief executive congratulated the government of Ontario, along with AGCO and IGO for their dedication to creating a modern and regulated online gaming and sports betting market.
Following the announcement, Jay Snowden said that launching theScore Bet in the Canadian province will mark an exciting expansion of the company's iGaming business into a major new market, where it already has a reputable mobile sports media product in theScore app as well as a wide base of loyal users.
TheScore Bet and Penn National, last week, became the first potential private operator in the province to secure the Responsible Gambling Check iGaming Accreditation from the RGC ahead of the opening.
The news was also welcomed by NorthStar Gaming, which is the gaming project of NordStar, an investment company headed by Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett that's also the owner of Torstar - a newspaper and other media properties proprietor.
NorthStar said that they plan on launching an online betting brand to take bets on sports - it further continued to say that it has reached a marketing agreement with Torstar.
Micheal Moskowitz, the CEO of NorthStar said the announcement is a milestone for this Canada's province - giving casino players of Ontario more flexibility for wagering online is something iGaming enthusiasts have been requesting for a long time.
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