Leading betting brand Pinnacle is one step away from joining Ontario’s iGaming market, as the operator eyes a launch next week. In preparation for its imminent launch, the operator has already started to contact Ontarian bettors and inform them that its license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will become active on October 26. 2022.
Ontario kicked-started its online gaming market for private brands on April 4, 2022, and it is overseen by AGCO and its subsidiary iGaming Ontario. The market was introduced to stop provincial bettors from playing on unregulated websites, while also keeping the revenue in the province and reinvesting it into the local coffers.
Preparing to Go Legal
Pinnacle has now started to email Ontario-based bettors that its registration for internet gambling will go into effect on October 26, 2022. After that, users will be directed to a new website. Customers will have to download and install the GeoGuard Location Validator app to confirm their location. Additionally, existing users may be required to re-verify their identity.
Also, the bookmaker informed that it will stop accepting wagers from around 11 p.m. ET on October 23, 2022, until 12 p.m. ET on October 26, 2022. This way the company will be able to make the transfer into the regulated market in the province. It also warned its pre-existing bettors that futures bets may be voided due to the migration.
The sportsbook also informed that pending futures bets with a settlement date of October 26, 2022, or later will be cancelled and players’ stakes on these wagers will be refunded. But the company warned that if markets of the cancelled bets are no longer available on the new site and the bet is not yet settled, the sportsbook will re-offer the bets to users. With the exception of Multiples bets.
In addition to that, the operator informed that players will have time until October 28 to contact its customer service if they wish to re-place their bets on the new accounts. However, either all cancelled bets must be re-placed or none at all. This applies to futures before October 18. And regarding cancelled bets available on the new websites, bettors will be able to place them again themselves.
Q2 Performance and Deadline for Grey Operators
In October, AGCO released its financial report for the second quarter of Ontario’s internet gambling and sports betting market. For the period of July 1 through September 2022, the local market generated a total wagering handle of CA$6.04 billion and over CA$267 million in gaming revenue. There were 628,000 active users with an average monthly spent of monthly spend of CA$142 per player.
The regulator has also finally taken steps toward ending the grey-market operations in the province. Just recently, it announced that it gives illegal websites a deadline of October 31, 2022, to become legal in the jurisdiction. If the new standard is not met by operators when the time comes, they could suffer a penalty from AGCO.
