After over a year of heated debate, lottery officials in Ontario have announced that the Canadian province will be launching an online casino in 2012 as a way of easing an estimated annual budget deficit of $19 billion.
After over a year of heated debate, lottery officials in Ontario have announced that the Canadian province will be launching an online casino in 2012 as a way of easing an estimated annual budget deficit of $19 billion.
At a news conference last week, officials revealed that the new online casino will be operated by the Ontario Lottery And Gaming (OLG) Corporation and regulated by the province’s Alcohol And Gaming Commission.
The western province of British Columbia premiered North America’s first government-run online casino at PlayNow.com last month while the Atlantic jurisdictions of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland And Labrador are expected to follow suit with a collective offering of their own soon.
The OLG was created in 2000 when the Ontario Lottery Corporation was merged with the Ontario Casino Corporation and is responsible for the management of the province’s lotteries and casinos. The Crown Corporation stated that it wants to collect some of the estimated $380 million that Ontarians gamble with non-Canadian sites each year and will launch its new online offering following a ‘thorough consultation and implementation process over the next 18 months’.
“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 Paul Godfrey, Chairman for the OLG.
“The OLG’s Internet gaming programme will stress responsible gaming while providing an enjoyable experience for Ontario players.”
The OLG stated that it would benefit from ‘analysing and enhancing best practices and security procedures adopted in other jurisdictions across Canada and in Europe’ between now and when the programme launches. It revealed that it would be implementing a ‘strong online responsible gaming programme’ while offering ‘increased player protections, secure transactions and data privacy’.
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