Canada
What You Need To Know About iGaming & Gambling In Canada
There’s absolutely no doubt that online gambling is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in various places in the world – and Canada has cottoned onto that. But the regulation across the country can still be confusing – what’s legal and in which provinces?
We’re going to take a look at iGaming & gambling regulations for the people who want to play at new online casinos in Canada and all of the games they have. We’ll also take a closer look at one of the latest provinces to change things: Ontario.
How Gambling works in Canada
It was just a few short months ago – April of 2022, that Ontario opened up its doors and let the big wide world of online casinos in. This big change in the legislation allows all of the businesses that offer online gambling to apply for a licence to operate there. This licence is handed out by the Liquor and Gaming Commission and is needed to legally offer gambling services in the province.
This was a huge deal for the whole of the iGaming and gambling industry – Canada has previously had an incredibly strict outlook on gambling regulation. The only way to get licensed in Canada was to have one issued by the province they wish to operate in, and any company wanting to do business there would have to stick to each province’s individual regulations.
These governing bodies don’t directly operate the casino, they only handle the licensing. It’s down to private companies to handle the online casino sites. Because each province is licensed differently, each one has its own licensing body that regulates everything gambling related within the confines of its jurisdiction.
The Case of Ontario
The government of Ontario commented back in 2020 that it had started making plans in creating a fully regulated iGaming and internet gambling sector and that regulating this would fall within the reach of its Gambling and Alcohol Commission. Registration for its iGaming Ontario program began at the end of 2021 and overseas online casino businesses could legally operate there from April 2022.
Thanks to these plans, gambling businesses from all over the world can offer their casino sites to the people of Ontario. In order to get a licence from iGaming Ontario, casino operators must be registered with the AGCO and then they can apply.
Introducing this new legislation could have a massive impact on the gambling industry, as it’s a whole new market to be established. Some of the biggest names in the gambling sector are jumping on this opportunity to offer their sites to this new and potentially lucrative market.
The Rest of Canada
Alberta is the only other province so far to allow third-party and overseas gambling companies in. All of the other states run on different legislation.
In most of the other provinces, gambling is run by governmental agencies, with incredibly strict regulations. It’s not just online casinos that are affected by these strict measures – sports betting is too. It was only recently that Canadians were able to place single-event bets – before a bill named Bill C-128 passed, all Canadians could only place parlay bets on more than one event.
The governmental agencies offer a range of different games and betting – from different lotteries to slot games and scratch cards. But due to their only being one place to play, there’s an extremely limited number of games on offer, with games from some of the big name developers such as Yggdrasil and NetEnt missing.
The Future of Online Gambling in Canada
You only need to look at other countries to try and see where the future of online casinos and betting lies with Canada. Other countries that are strict on gambling – such as America and India – are opening up their doors territory by territory and allowing third-party companies to offer their gambling-related services.
This has a number of advantages, including two big ones: A massive crackdown on illegal overseas gambling and also a big bump in gambling taxation revenue. This is what we can see from the two provinces of Canada that have opened up their doors so far – Alberta and Ontario. In just Ontario alone, gambling revenue is set to almost double from $1.6 billion to $2.3 billion in just a year!
It’s for these reasons and more it’s highly possible the rest of Canada will open up its doors to online casinos everywhere, ushering in a whole new era of Gambling regulation.
Canada
Hacksaw Gaming and Caesars Digital Partner to Launch Online Casino Games in Ontario
Launch brings Hacksaw Gaming titles to Caesars Palace Online Casino and Caesars Sportsbook & Casino in Ontario
Hacksaw Gaming today announced its first market launch with Caesars Digital in North America, in the regulated iGaming province of Ontario, Canada. The new partnership marks the exciting launch of new games on Caesars Palace Online Casino and Caesars Sportsbook & Casino in the province.
This new partnership, a first between the two companies, will bring familiar titles to online casino players and will be followed by a dedicated roadmap for additional launches in more jurisdictions in 2024, showcasing the entire Hacksaw Gaming catalog. The first release of games includes Hacksaw Gaming classics Wanted Dead or a Wild, RIP City, Hand of Anubis and Mines.
“Forging partnerships with new faces is always an exciting time but the influence of Caesars Digital is one we pride,” the Chief Executive Officer for Hacksaw Gaming, Marcus Cordes, said. “Launching this partnership in Ontario is the perfect place to begin our journey.”
“Hacksaw Gaming brings an exciting catalog of games to our platforms that should provide a thrilling experience for our players,” the Senior Vice-President and Chief iGaming Officer for Caesars Digital, Matthew Sunderland, said. “We’re excited to see how our players engage with this content in Ontario and in jurisdictions in the future through our new partnership.”
Canada
BET99 Partners with U.S. Integrity
U.S. Integrity announced a comprehensive partnership with BET99, a leading online sportsbook in the Canadian market.
“The integrity of the sports betting experience at BET99 is of utmost importance, and we are thrilled to be working with U.S. Integrity as we ensure an optimal and secure online experience for the Canadian market. U.S. Integrity’s proactive approach to maintaining integrity will play an important role in detecting potentially suspicious wagering activity,” Jared Beber, CEO of BET99, said.
U.S. Integrity conducts analysis across dozens of data sets to proactively identify irregular contest-level, officiating & wagering patterns, and will provide integrity monitoring services via its proprietary dashboard to BET99.
“U.S. Integrity is proud to partner with BET99 and assist as they grow their brand across the Canadian regulated sports wagering market. U.S. Integrity’s mission is to provide conflict-free, best in class insights & compliance solutions to our clients. We are looking forward to working with the exceptional team at BET99. All our partners are committed to the highest integrity standards, and they are no exception. These types of partnerships help ensure sports betting integrity and strengthen the unique & proprietary anomaly detection tools we have developed at U.S. Integrity,” Matthew Holt, CEO & co-founder of U.S. Integrity, said.
Canada
Relax Gaming to support Rhino Entertainment Group’s Big Boost
Relax Gaming, the renowned iGaming aggregator and provider of unique content, will power Rhino Entertainment Group’s latest brand, Big Boost.
This is the company’s fifth brand, and is available now in Finland, Norway, and Canada. The group has enjoyed acclaimed success throughout the industry with other brands in its portfolio including Lucky Spins and Casino Days.
Big Boost is a value-driven online casino that offers a wide variety of games, including slots, table games, and live dealer games.
In addition to the array of games, there will also be a variety of other promotions, including daily cashback, raffles and free spins.
Nadiya Attard, CCO of Relax Gaming, commented: “Big Boost is a meticulously designed platform that we believe will give our content extra exposure in key markets such as North America and the Nordics.
“Our long and fruitful partnership with Rhino Entertainment Group makes this new venture all the more exciting and we’re looking forward to seeing our players enjoy even better entertainment experiences.”
Ross Parkhill, CEO of Rhino Entertainment Group, said: “We are excited to launch Big Boost, our newest online casino brand. Big Boost is designed to offer players a great user experience, with a wide variety of games and excellent promotions. We are confident that Big Boost will be a popular choice for players in our markets.”
Established as one of the industry’s leading B2B suppliers, Relax Gaming was awarded GGA’s Product Launch of the Year in February 2023 for Dream Drop Jackpots.
Relax’s Money Train 3 won Slot of the Year at the 2023 CasinoBeats Game Developer Awards, while the brand secured Gold for Skill Games Supplier at the 2023 EGR B2B Awards, along with Innovation in Mobile at the 2023 SBC Awards.
In total, Relax Gaming provides more than 4,000 online casino games, from its high-performing proprietary slots to a significant, varied library of content from hand-picked third-party studios via its partnership programmes.
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