The Ontario Superior Court has found, in a decision published on Monday, that iGaming Ontario’s (iGO) management processes and rules regulating iGaming in Ontario meet the requirements of Canada’s Constitution.
The iGO is a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and manages the online gaming market in Ontario. A year and a half ago, near the end of 2022, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke (MCK) took the iGO to the Superior Court of Ontario, claiming that the iGO’s model did not adhere to the requirements set forth in Canada’s Constitution.
“Instead,” a representative of MCK said at the time, “iGaming Ontario is allowing operators to conduct and manage themselves, subject to the payment of a portion of their revenues to Ontario.”
Canada’s Constitution requires online gaming to be “conducted and managed” by the Ontario government. According to MCK, the way iGO operates – by giving licenses to regulated operators – does not properly adhere to this requirement, and it violates Section 207 of the Criminal Code specifically.
MCK further argued that an open Ontario iGaming market would lead to “significant” revenue loss for the Kahnawàke community. Mohawk Online, MGK’s Ontario online casino, is no longer able to operate in Ontario and hasn’t since the new iGO regulations were introduced in 2022.
In its final decision, though, the court sided with iGO: “The province has retained key decision-making power over the iGaming scheme,” Judge Lisa Brownstone wrote in her conclusion.
The Ontario Superior Court found that iGO was indeed the “operating mind” of Ontario’s online gaming market, and that their management processes and rules regulating the market therefore met the requirements of the Criminal Code.
“We have always been confident in our model and are pleased that the court has ruled in our favour,” said Martha Otton, Executive Director of iGaming Ontario.
Otton continued: “Ontario’s model meets the requirements and contributes to the public good by protecting players, their data and their funds while helping to fund priority public services in Ontario and bringing well-paid, high-tech jobs and economic development to Ontario.”
“Ontarians can continue to play with confidence in our regulated iGaming market,” she declared.
The dismissal of MGK’s application means the Ontario Superior Court is permitting iGO to continue its mission “to conduct and manage Ontario’s safe, efficient, and legal world-class iGaming market” in the way it has since its launch in 2022. The court’s decision is a huge win for iGO.
