Published: 12.04.2019, 19:03
2 min read
Canada’s largest province is on the verge of eliminating its online gambling monopoly. It’s planning to welcome businesses to the sector.
On Thursday, the recently-elected government of Ontario came up with its first budget that contained a pledge to have the online gambling options extended for the province’s 15 million residents.
Today, the province has a single local legalized online gambling site dubbed PlayOLG.ca, run by the province’s Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation.
The Tories, political force that just came into power in Ontario, intends to set a competitive market for web legal gambling, which is going to reflect customer choice by permitting private operators to apply for licenses to work in the province.
Ontario is eager to negotiate it with industry stakeholders before creating a regulatory system, which could potentially reflect user preferences, provide a thrilling gaming experience and also reduce the burden on businesses simultaneously ensuring sufficient protection.
Started more than four years ago, PlayOLG is hardly the main source of revenue for OLG’s operations, bringing only C$73.1m to the overall gain of C$7.58b earned by the monopoly-holding company in 2017-2018.
However, it’s a rather mediocre result in contrast with the numbers demonstrated by the province-run betting sites in less populated Quebec and British Columbia, showcasing that competition brings more into the economy, while providing more variety for the players.
The Tories have devoted a lot of attention to online betting, due to the fact the province pushes the federal cabinet to renew efforts to legalize single-game sports betting.
