Technology Behind Betting Sites in Ontario

The single-game sports betting market in Ontario is completely legal. You are able to make bets online via a diverse selection of mobile apps and websites all of which are accessible from any location inside the province.
Anyone in Ontario who was interested in betting on sports had two choices up until very recently: they could either place a parlay bet at PROLINE, which is operated by the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation, with 3 or more selections, or they could go to an offshore betting site to place a single-game bet.
Sports Betting Laws in Ontario
In 2021, the federal government successfully pushed through the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act. It did this by repealing the provision of the Canadian Criminal Code known as Section 207(4)(b), which prohibited betting on a single sporting event. This provision had been in place since 1892. This resulted in substantial shifts in Ontario sports betting laws, including the following:
- Single-game wagering on sports could be added very rapidly at PROLINE+ and retail sportsbooks if the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation decided to do so.
- The government of Ontario was granted permission to initiate the creation of its very own legal industry for privately-owned sportsbooks.
- Currently, licensing, rules, and taxes are all within Ontario’s authority. Bookmakers are required to pay a tax equal to 20% of the money they bring in.
- There are no restrictions that may stop gamblers from utilizing offshore sportsbooks, therefore this option is available to them. Because they often provide additional betting markets inside the province, such as bets on horse racing, they continue to enjoy a high level of popularity there.
Restrictions in Advertising and Responsible Gaming
iGaming & sports betting firms starting in the province must comply with stringent advertising restrictions that have been established by government authorities. The advertising requirements stipulate that high-risk players, self-excluded individuals, or children should not be the focus of any marketing efforts.
A statement about responsible gambling has to be incorporated into all marketing, and the iGO emblem needs to be shown on the websites of all operators, as well as on social media and advertising channels.
The use of public advertising and social media to advertise bonuses is prohibited for operators, and players will be required to provide some level of permission before they can get information about deposits, sign-up, or incentive offer information.
There are currently no restrictions in place that limit the amount of advertising for sports betting. Individual broadcasters, particularly those operating in the sphere of cable television, have a part to play and they will ultimately be responsible for deciding the number of gambling advertisements that are shown.
The number of ads for sports betting has been steadily growing as the industry prepares for the possible entrance of over 30 providers into the regulated market.
Standard of Geolocation
Private operators will be required to have player geolocation validation technologies in place if the regulators get their way. At the moment that the wager is placed, all players participating in the authorized iGaming market in Ontario are required to be physically present inside the province’s boundaries.
Third-party geolocation service providers include organizations such as GeoComply and LocationSmart, both of which have the potential to be used in the province of Ontario to offer cybersecurity solutions that can identify location fraud and validate a user’s genuine identity.
The market-leading software developed by GeoComply is used on more than 400 million devices all across the globe and performs an annual analysis of more than 3 billion transactions funded. The firm already has partnerships in place with some of the most prominent sportsbooks in the United States.
Since the debut of GeoComply’s sports wagering market in January, the company has been carefully tracking the whereabouts of players and keeping tabs on their betting behavior throughout the state of New York.
Drawbacks of Moving to a Regulated Market
Because Ontario has, for many years, permitted operators of grey markets to do business in the province, the shift to a regulated environment has been made more difficult than it should have been in the province. In order to make the transition from being an unregulated sportsbook to a regulated one, current grey operators are required to pay all outstanding wagers with their existing customers in the province prior to the debut date.
Before these formerly unregulated sportsbooks can become formally sanctioned, for instance, all open futures bets will have to be paid out or canceled. It is up to the casino to determine the specifics of how bets like this are paid out.
Players in Ontario who participate in daily fantasy sports are also finding that the regulated market is giving them issues. Even while the new AGCO laws do not outright ban daily fantasy sports in Ontario, they do make it economically impossible for DFS operators to continue running their businesses in the province.