Most recently, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario along with several other regulatory bodies have received prestigious awards at the International Association of Gaming Regulators conference. It was acknowledged via the award for Regulatory Excellence for the creation of the first-of-its-kind regulatory framework for online gaming in Ontario and Canada.
The AGCO is responsible for overseeing and regulating, the alcohol, gaming, horse racing, and cannabis retail sectors in Ontario. It does so in accordance with the principles of honesty and integrity, and in the public interest. Also, the commission is a Crown agency and it reports directly to the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Recognized for its iGaming Efforts
At this yearās edition of the International Association of Gaming Regulators conference, the AGCO has been recognized for its iGaming framework and received the award for Regulatory Excellence. This is in relation to the opening of the provinceās legal online gaming and sports betting market for private operators on April 4, 2022. It is the first of its kind sector in Canada.
The winners of the awards were announced on Wednesday night at a Gala Dinner in Melbourne during the annual conference. The rest of the winners were the National Indian Gaming Commission which was recognized via the Regulatory Innovation honour, and the Office of Responsible Gambling with the Best Regulatory Campaign award for the second year in a row.
Speaking on behalf of the panel of judges, Jason Lane, IAGR President and award judge congratulated the three award winners and thanked everyone who voted. He said that the winning entries are exceptional examples of teams across the globe who have worked tirelessly to set new standards in regulations in the ever-changing gambling landscape.
Deadline Has Been Set
Despite the success of its iGaming framework, AGCO was still criticized for some aspects of its regulation, such as the strict advertising rules and the leniency to deal with grey-market operators. However, just recently, the regulator announced a deadline of October 31, 2022, for grey operators to become legal in the province or face the consequences.
In addition to that, the province also published its fiscal report on the marketās second quarter of operations. It applies to the period of July 1 through September 30, 2022. For the second quarter, the local sector generated a total wagering handle of CA$6.04 billion and over CA$267 million in gaming revenue, which was an improvement on Q1ās CA$4 billion handle and CA$162 million of revenue.
During the quarter, the market had 24 operators and 42 gaming websites were up and running and there was a total of 628,000 active user accounts. Mobile bettors had an average monthly spend of CA$142 per customer, excluding promotional credits. Revenue numbers from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporationās PROLINE+ are also not included, as it is a separately run website.
Source: ā2022 International Regulatory Award Winners announcedā IAGR, October 20, 2022
