Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO)
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario regulates Ontario’s open, competitive igaming market — the only regulated online casino and sports-betting market in Canada — launched in April 2022. Operators register with the AGCO and contract with iGaming Ontario to legally offer online casino and sports betting to Ontario players.
What we like
- A modern regulatory framework built around current player-protection standards
- Only licensed, registered operators may legally advertise to Ontario players
- Player funds must be kept separate from the operator’s own money
What we don’t
- Self-exclusion is set per operator rather than through one province-wide scheme
- The regulated market covers only Ontario, not the rest of Canada
Licence at a glance
Authority details
- Full legal name: Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
- Jurisdiction: Ontario
- Regulatory body: Provincial Crown regulatory agency
- Licence types issued: Internet gaming operator registrations for online casino, sports betting and poker
- Official website
- Official register
Oversight snapshot
- ✓ Player fund segregation
- ✓ Independent dispute resolution
- ✓ RNG / fairness testing
- ✓ Responsible gambling tools
- ✓ Public complaints channel
- ✓ National self-exclusion scheme
How players are protected
Ontario built its Registrar’s Standards from scratch in 2022, drawing on established European rules, so its player protections sit close to Malta or Great Britain’s despite being new.
- Player funds held separately from operator funds
- Independent dispute resolution available once an operator’s complaint process is exhausted
- RNGs and games tested by an accredited independent lab before launch
- Mandatory responsible-gambling tools, including deposit limits and time-outs, on every registered site
What an AGCO / iGaming Ontario licence means for players
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario regulates Ontario’s open, competitive igaming market — the only regulated online casino and sports-betting market in Canada — launched in April 2022. Operators register with the AGCO and contract with iGaming Ontario to legally offer online casino and sports betting to Ontario players.
- Only operators registered with the AGCO and contracted with iGaming Ontario are legal in the province
- Deposit limits, time-outs and other RG tools are mandatory on every registered site
- Segregated funds keep your balance apart from the operator’s working capital
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a Kahnawake licence?
The AGCO registration is Ontario’s own provincial framework, built specifically for the province’s regulated market; Kahnawake is a separate, older jurisdiction that licenses operators for international markets rather than a single Canadian province.
Can I trust an operator that says it is "licensed by iGaming Ontario"?
For Ontario play, yes — operators must be registered with the AGCO and under contract with iGaming Ontario to legally operate or advertise in the province; unregistered sites are not permitted to target Ontario players.
Is there a province-wide self-exclusion scheme?
Each registered operator must offer self-exclusion tools, but Ontario does not yet run one unified scheme covering every operator the way GAMSTOP does in Great Britain.
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