The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has fined Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto for allegedly failing to detect cheating and dealer collusion at the casino.

In a notice, the AGCO said it had issued a monetary penalty of $120,000 to Ontario Gaming GTA Limited Partnership, a joint venture of Great Canadian Entertainment and Brookfield Business Partners in the Greater Toronto Area. Those two parties acquired the operational rights to the casino from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) in 2017.

In March 2024, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Investigation and Enforcement Bureau (IEB), which is embedded within the AGCO, laid charges against five individuals after investigating allegations that two table games dealers at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto were colluding with a group of casino patrons.

A subsequent compliance review determined that the dealers had engaged in a cheating scheme on multiple occasions with the same group of players, leading to nearly $20,000 in illicit winnings in less than one week. The scheme allegedly involved the dealers intentionally exposing face-down cards while dealing, as well as inappropriately overdrawing cards and issuing overpayments on winning hands.

The AGCO’s review found that Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto’s surveillance and supervisory staff failed to detect the scheme and casino staff did not follow proper table games audit procedures, which are intended to ensure rules of play are followed by dealers and patrons.

Canadian Gaming Business reached out to Great Canadian Entertainment for comment.

“We acknowledge the fine issued by the AGCO and reaffirm our zero-tolerance policy for any behaviour that has the potential to compromise game integrity,” Great Canadian Entertainment EVP of External Relations and Business Development, Chuck Keeling, told CGB by email. “We will continue to support all efforts to prosecute those responsible.”

“Ontario’s registered casino operators have an obligation to ensure the integrity of gameplay in their casinos,” said AGCO CEO and Registrar Dr. Karin Schnarr. “This includes a responsibility to detect and prevent collusion and cheating. The AGCO will continue to monitor and take all necessary steps to uphold the integrity of gaming in Ontario’s gaming sites.”

Great Canadian has the right to appeal the penalty.

Second incident at Great Canadian’s Toronto casino

This is Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto’s second recent incident involving allegations of cheating and dealer collusion at the casino.

In September 2023, the AGCO fined the casino, then known as Casino Woodbine, $80,000 after failing to detect a similar scheme in which an electronic craps dealer was in collusion with five patrons over a period of around six months.

In that case, the AGCO review ntoed that table games supervisors were often absent from the craps table when suspicious gambling activities occurred and added that although the casino had issued seven procedural violations to the dealer for inappropriately pushing dice to patrons before closing bets, the dealer was allowed to continue dealing electronic craps during that time.

The $1 billion Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto opened in June 2023 adjacent to the Woodbine Racetrack.