Ontario’s gaming regulator has ordered NorthStar Gaming to pay a C$100,000 monetary penalty after finding anti-money-laundering control failures tied to a single player account that was active from March 2024 to June 2025.
According to GamingIntelligence, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario said NorthStar did not meet the enhanced due diligence requirements in the Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming. The account holder had disclosed a high-risk occupation and had passed the $25,000 lifetime-deposit threshold that should have triggered enhanced checks, including verification of source of funds, but NorthStar did not classify the player as high risk, begin the required assessment or verify where the money was coming from.
The regulator also found that NorthStar did not take the escalation steps required by its own AML policies, which called for actions such as refusing transactions or excluding the player when risk indicators appeared. Deposits continued for more than a year after the obligations were first triggered. The player put in more than $55,000 in December 2024 and roughly $189,395 by June 2025, when NorthStar finally classified the account as high risk and terminated it after inquiries from the AGCO.
The compliance review was prompted after the player was charged by police in connection with Project Outsource in the towing industry. Dr. Karin Schnarr, the AGCO’s registrar and chief executive, said operators are the first line of defence against criminal activity in Ontario’s gaming market and that anti-money-laundering controls must be more than policies on paper.
NorthStar did not dispute the finding and said it had cooperated fully with the investigation. Corey Goodman, the company’s chief executive, said NorthStar accepted responsibility for the matters identified in the order and that the conduct was confined to a specific period that is now behind it.
The company also said it has since made substantial changes to its compliance programme, including appointing a new vice president of compliance, adding staff, expanding its Compliance Committee with experienced industry members, completing an external compliance effectiveness review, strengthening its risk-scoring and player-classification systems and formalising escalation procedures.
NorthStar may request a hearing before the Licence Appeal Tribunal within 15 days of being served with the order.
