Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) announced on Tuesday it will be extending its operations to include online gambling.
Jurisdictions in Canada including British Columbia, the Atlantic provinces, and many European Union states including the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, and Sweden, already allow regulated online gaming.
“Across Canada and around the world, online commerce is part of our everyday lives and OLG is excited to start the consultation process for online gaming and growing its marketplace in the future,” said OLG chairman Paul Godfrey.
“OLG’s internet gaming program will stress responsible gaming while providing an enjoyable experience for Ontario players."
Ontarians currently spend nearly $400-million per year online through unregulated internet gaming providers, and that revenue was simply to big to ignore for the provincially run operation. The mostly-offshore providers are not regulated or licensed to operate in Ontario. Nor can they be taxed.
OLG will begin a thorough consultation and implementation process over the next 18 months. Between now and 2012 when the program is set to launch, OLG will benefit from analyzing and enhancing best practices and security procedures adopted in other jurisdictions across Canada and in Europe. In particular, OLG will implement a strong online responsible gaming program and offer increased player protections, secure transactions and data privacy.
OLG’s internet gaming program will be regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
OLG is a provincial agency responsible for province-wide lottery games and 27 gaming facilities including four resort casinos.
It has 8,000 direct employees and more than 10,000 employees at the resort casinos, It returns $2-billion in profit annually for the province. Those earnings support Ontario’s hospitals, amateur sport, recreational and cultural activities, communities through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
