888 gains Ontario iGaming license

888 Holdings, parent company of 888 Casino, have announced they have been awarded a license to participate in the soon to be opened Ontario online gambling market. It takes the company’s tally of locally regulated licenses to 19, including in 7 US states.

The new Ontario market is set to open to licensed offshore operators on April 4. 888 plan offer players in Ontario a comprehensive game suit on launch.

Per CEO Itai Pazner,

“As we prepare for launch in the coming weeks, we are excited to bring all of 888’s leading products and games to new audiences across the province, providing our unique and differentiated experiences to players.”

Locally licensed online casino games aren’t new to players in Ontario. Neither are live casino games.

Ontario government owned and operated OLG.ca has been taking bets since 2015. Last year OLG.ca added live games from Evolutions Vancouver studio.

But from 4 April, OLG.ca will finally have some competition.

Some time last year, lawmakers in Ontario decided their residents needed a little more choice when it comes to where to play online. On July 6,  iGaming Ontario was established as a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Its purpose would be to manage online gaming provided through private operators.

So AGCO regulates OLG. iGaming Ontario regulates the rest.

The relationship is simply described at AGCO’s website as follows:

“The AGCO establishes and upholds standards and requirements (known as the Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming) applicable to OLG with respect to its internet gaming site, to iGaming Ontario with respect to its activities in the soon-to-be launched open and competitive igaming market.”

Or graphically depicted as follows:

A roadmap to the new market’s go live is very clearly set out here, A copy of the infographic summarising what will be happening when, is shown below (they like their infographics).

Looks like everything is going to schedule (taking a very different approach to Netherlands regulators!). We’re sitting somewhere around stages 4 and 5. Operators have been licensed. System testing will take place this month.

Go live, April 4 is fast approaching.