Rumour has it that Ontario may put off the launch of online casinos and sportsbooks until the beginning of 2022, after all, despite all the efforts made by the Ontario government to open its iGaming market.
Currently, the only legal iGaming site and sportsbook in Ontario is PROLINE+, a platform operated by Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. To offer more online gaming opportunities to Canada players, the government created a competitive iGaming market open for other first-class online casinos and sportsbooks.
According to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) plan, the initial date for putting regulated online gaming in motion was sometime in December 2021. However, there’ve been talks that Ontario won’t take care of all the little details regarding the regulatory approvals in time for the initial launch date.
The rumour was confirmed by PointsBet Holdings Ltd., one of the most interested candidates for settling Ontario’s iGaming market. Sam Swanell, the CEO of PointsBet, believes that his company won’t start operating in Canada before 2022 since the market hasn’t been properly set up yet.
To the disappointment of all online gaming fans from Ontario, the Canadian Gaming Association’s president, Paul Burns, stated that the delay of the iGaming market launch is certain. He mentioned that the reason for this lies in details related to commercial contracts that tie iGaming operators with iGaming Ontario.
In other words, Burns doesn’t want to leave anything to chance as the launch of a regulated online gaming market is a serious move that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Therefore, he wants to make sure that everything goes according to plan before players from Ontario start joining iGaming sites.
