The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has amended the province’s lottery standards to allow for built-in cameras to be used at self-service terminals (SST) and expand flexibility for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG)’s SST program.
Changes were issued in Ontario’s Registrar’s Standard for Gaming on 28 October, allowing registered sellers to use cameras which are built-in to the terminals and can capture user interaction without also taking in personally identifiable information.
The second amendment calls for registered sellers to save the footage for 14 days to help ensure all recordings are available to the AGCO and OLG in case of a compliance or public safety concern.
“These changes provide retailers with greater choice in how they monitor SSTs and support OLG’s oversight of terminal access to avoid unauthorized use,” the AGCO said.
“This supports public safety while helping protect customers’ personal and financial information.”
On 21 October, the AGCO and PointsBet Canada reached a settlement regarding a previously issued five-day suspension of the operator’s iGaming registration, as PointsBet will instead conduct a 48-hour suspension of its Ontario gaming site.
In February, the AGCO issued a notice of proposed order to suspend the iGaming registration of PointsBet for a five-day period, alleging the operator failed to report suspicious betting patterns that were related to the investigation of former NBA player Jontay Porter.
The AGCO had requested all Ontario-regulated sportsbooks confirm whether they had offered bets on Porter or if any suspicious betting activity was found in relation. Following a “significant delay,” PointsBet advised the AGCO it had not offered any bets on Porter leading up to the suspension.
However, the public release of a US Department of Justice indictment forced the AGCO to once again confirm with Ontario operators whether any suspicious betting had occurred on Porter markets.
18 months after stating it never provided bets on the former NBA player, PointsBet acknowledged it offered such wagers for the first time.
The AGCO fined NorthStar Gaming CA$100,000 in August for failing to classify a player as ‘high risk,’ despite the bettor’s disclosed occupation having been flagged by its own AML policies
