Ontario: Largest Land-Based Operator Commissions Study on iGaming
The largest operator of land based casinos in Ontario commissioned a research study and have distributed it to the Ontario Government. They claim that the study shows that iGaming in Ontario will jeopardise jobs and result in a loss of $182 million in contributions to municipalities and result in $2.65 billion in overall lost tax revenue to the Government.
They state that the report shows that the proposed iGaming strategy cannibalises land-based gaming revenue and is bad for local governments, unions, first nations and responsible gaming.
As such they want:
1) The proposed iGaming licensing to be immediately halted.
2) That existing land based casinos in Ontario be granted a 24-month exclusivity period to operate iGaming ( e.g. tethering)
3) Real enforcement to stop any ongoing illegally operated ‘grey’ market activity
4) Any future approved iGaming operators would be required to delete existing databases that were not legally gathered before launching legal operations
5) There be no allowance for any offshore operators to create any kind of physical presence in Ontario e.g. sports lounges in bars
6) That all sports book transactions be limited to land-based casinos.
… and while that bomb was detonating inside Government, Great Canadian shared portions of their research report with media, unions and other groups – at least 2 TV networks that I have been contacted by will be running this story by Saturday – and as such it is going to be a very interesting time period in Ontario as we watch how the media and public react – and if this will further delay the announcement of a launch date for iGaming in Ontario.
I will have a great deal of information to share with you and the iDEA members tomorrow.