As Ontario continues to prepare to launch a revamped iGaming marketplace, as well as lead the way in a new expansive and regulated Canadian sports betting industry, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has released an iGaming Operator Application Guide.

The Canadian Gaming Association notes the guide will assist prospective iGaming operators in understanding the application requirements and beginning to prepare to submit their applications. All operators interested in participating in Ontario’s regulated iGaming market will first need to be registered by the AGCO.

The guide was developed after a series of stakeholder engagements were held covering a wide range of topics related to how Ontario’s open, regulated, and competitive iGaming market will work.

All applications for registration will be made through iAGCO, the AGCO’s web-based portal and the AGCO will announce the application date in the near future.

An application guide to assist iGaming suppliers will also be released shortly.

This comes after the AGCO last month released its draft sports wagering standards for consultation. Those standards outlined that the AGCO will not be restricting products, permitting betting exchanges, DFS, eSports, and live in-game wagering within the province’s market. The full sports betting draft standards can be found here.

Following that, the commission’s iGaming Ontario subsidiary, mandated with facilitating the creation of a safe, regulated, and competitive online gaming market, published more technical information for existing and prospective operators earlier in August. In particular, it released an overview of iGaming Ontario’s mandate and operations, and elements of the commercial agreement for prospective operators.

The subsidiary had already pubished its initial rules for iGaming in Ontario. The Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming include, among numerous other directives, the prohibition of auto-play for online slot games and the enforcement of a minimum spin speed of 2.5 seconds.

In addition, with most casinos across Ontario now open to the public again, the AGCO has established an inter-agency task force in conjunction with Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG), to monitor cash transactions as casinos reopen and the province gears up to further open up its igaming and sports betting market.