Amidst the most recent responsible gaming scandal that shook the Ontario iGaming industry, iGaming Ontario has started looking for a partner to create a centralized self-exclusion system that would allow players to self-exclude from all regulated Ontario online casinos at once.
A request for proposals will be launched shortly, looking for a partner that can develop a simple, transparent, and centralized solution that would help players experiencing gambling issues to exclude from all online casinos in one fell stroke.
Potential developers will be given a time to submit their bids, which will be reviewed by iGaming Ontario, with the winning bid awarded the project to develop a system that will be used to improve the responsible gambling efforts across the province.
Simple, Secure, and Transparent System Needed
The province’s iGaming regulator is looking to raise the levels of responsible gambling across Ontario by creating a unified self-exclusion system that will help players nip any gambling problems in the bud.
Currently, operators allow players to self-exclude from each casino separately, but the system often leaves players switching from one casino to the next and repeating patterns across different operators.
With a unified system that is going to be developed, players will have a chance to self-exclude from all the operators at once, and iGaming Ontario is looking to launch a solution that is player-friendly, non-judgmental, and easily integrated with operators’ existing offer.
iGaming Ontario representatives commented: “We are seeking interest from responsive and nimble companies that are able to build modern, innovative, secure, cloud-based SaaS solutions that are high-profile, public-facing and critically important to building and maintaining the trust and confidence of a wide range of stakeholders.”
Calls for such a system have been heard across Ontario and other legal gambling markets worldwide, as the seriousness of problem gambling continues to be demonstrated by incidents such as PointsBet Ontario’s most recent failure to protect its players and act in accordance with existing responsible gambling standards.
Ontario iGaming Industry Continues to Soar
Ontario’s iGaming market has been on a massive uptick in recent months, with fiscal Q2 of 2023 being the best since the market’s launch in April last year, as revenues across the board more than doubled year-over-year.
Among the three existing verticals, it is online casinos that remain dominant in terms of overall bets made and revenue generated. In Q2 of 2023, online casinos generated $407 million in revenues, compared to $118 million of sports betting, and $16 million generated by online poker.
With such an abrupt growth being recorded across the whole industry, calls for responsible gambling and close market monitoring have been getting louder, as operators continue to break the rules and online gambling industry remains far from completely safe for the customers.
In the most recent such development, operator PointsBet was fined by iGaming Ontario for allowing a player to lose over $500,000 in a three month period without intervening, despite the player demonstrating all signs of compulsive gambling and repeating his behavioral patterns across an extended period.
As Ontario iGaming market continues to boom, the necessity of an integrated self-exclusion system and more careful monitoring of the overall player pool remains, and the regulator appears adamant in pursuing this course of action in the nearest future.
