Ontario’s Long Hoped for Online Gambling Facility Soon to Commence with Soft Play Launch
Play OLG, the regulated online gambling site that took years of planning is finally coming to Ontario’s gambling market, as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has announced its forthcoming launch any time soon. The site though will initially go through a beta test phase before it officially launches as a full-fledged real money online gaming site available to legal-aged Ontarians.
The OLG said that members of its Winner’s Circle Rewards deemed as qualified to participate in a short-term trial run period have been invited to try out the site, and in the process give feedback about Play OLG’s online offerings and about their playing experience. According to OLG official spokesperson Tony Bitonti, their input “will dictate how quickly the rest of us will get to explore the site.
Spielo G2, the interactive gaming arm of GTECH will power up the site by providing the primary services that will enable Play OLG to offer initially, casino style games such as slots, video poker, card and table games, as well as enable customers to purchase online OLG’s Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max and ENCORE lottery offerings. The online casino-games will be accessible to Ontario-based players aged 19 and above, while the lottery products will be available to those who are at least 18 years of age.
Since Play OLG will be the only regulated only gambling site in the province of Ontario, the site will eventually offer bingo games, sports betting products, online poker games and other types of innovative real money gambling entertainment, including online versions of popular land-based casino games. The lottery corporation intends to roll out new contents on a regular basis, as well as make the online casino games and lottery offerings accessible using mobile devices, albeit confined within the province of Ontario.
Ensuring Responsible Gaming
To ensure that responsible gaming is maintained and observed by players who will engage in the site’s online gambling products, the provincial crown corporation has instituted responsible gaming tools that meet global standards. The focus of such tools is not only to prevent but also to mitigate the harms posed by gambling, by providing player education, furnishing problem gambling support, and integrating responsible gambling measures that include but not limited to the following:
- Prohibiting anonymous play
- Mandating age and identity verification at point of registration
- Providing parents with guidelines on how to protect their password, to utilize tools for limiting website accessibility and availability to children, and for monitoring Internet sites visited and used by minors.
- Implement deposit limits on a weekly basis
- Impose limits on casino loss
- Set time limits for casino gaming activities
- Set purchasing limits for lottery tickets
- Incorporate responsible gambling messages on all playing levels
- Impose seven-day cooling-off period before granting requests for increased limits
- Furnish players with self-assessment and risk-profiling tools
- Require play-breaks at Play OLG for one day at the least and up to a maximum of three months
- Institute self-exclusion program
- Provide every Play OLG player with full account history of gambling activities
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will oversee the transactions and operation of Play OLG to ensure that the site will carry on with gambling activities in a regulated gaming environment.