How does Ontario's iGaming model differ from the Crown-operated model that existed before April 2022?

Ontario's shift in April 2022 was genuinely structural — not just a rebrand. If you're trying to understand why the market looks so different now compared to what existed before, the clearest way to see it is through three lenses: who was allowed to operate, who bore regulatory responsibility, and what happened to the vast majority of Ontarians who were already gambling online.

The old model: one provider, one site

Prior to the creation of iGaming Ontario, all internet gaming in the province was provided through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, a Crown corporation. In practical terms, that meant OLG was the only provincial agency authorized to conduct and manage lottery schemes — the Criminal Code category that covers all gaming products including iGaming — and it operated its own iGaming website at OLG.ca. If you wanted to play legally, OLG.ca was your only option. Everyone else — and the numbers are striking — was playing in the grey market. An estimated 70 per cent of online gambling occurred on unregulated sites before the Government of Ontario established the new open market in April 2022.

What changed on April 4, 2022

April 4, 2022, marked a historic milestone — Ontario was the first Canadian province to launch an open, regulated internet gaming market. The mechanism that made this legally possible was the creation of iGaming Ontario (iGO), announced on July 6, 2021, as a separate and distinct legal entity to conduct and manage internet gaming in the province when provided through private gaming companies, in accordance with Canada's Criminal Code. This matters because the Criminal Code requires that gaming be "conducted and managed" by a province — iGO slots into that role on behalf of Ontario, with private operators acting as its agents. On May 12, 2025, the iGaming Ontario Act was proclaimed and iGaming Ontario became an independent agency.

The AGCO's role shifted alongside this. The AGCO's role as regulator is kept separate from iGaming Ontario's commercial role; the AGCO continues to be responsible for regulatory oversight of all gaming activities in Ontario, including private igaming operators and suppliers as well as iGaming Ontario itself. So you now have a two-layer structure: iGO commercially manages the market, and the AGCO sets and enforces the rules for everyone — including OLG.

For players aged 19 and over (the legal gambling age in Ontario), this opened up a much wider field. Beginning April 4, private gaming operators that have registered with the AGCO and have executed an operating agreement with iGO can begin offering their games to players in Ontario. Being a fully registered and authorized operator in the igaming market means the organization has successfully received AGCO registration and, with the exception of OLG.ca, has executed an operating agreement with iGO — and to complete those steps, organizations must have met rigorous standards of game integrity, fairness, player protections, and social responsibility.

OLG's position in the new structure

OLG didn't disappear — it just lost its monopoly. When Ontario's online gaming market opened in April 2022, OLG went from being the only legal online gaming provider in the province to being one of many. OLG continues to offer internet gaming across OLG.ca, and in alignment with all regulated internet gaming providers, OLG is also responsible for making sure its internet gaming offerings comply with the Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming. The key distinction is that OLG's online operations remain under OLG's own conduct and management — not under iGO's — while every other registered operator falls under iGO's commercial umbrella and the AGCO's regulatory oversight.

The practical result for players

The framework was built to bring internet gaming operators into Ontario's market while enhancing consumer protections. The player-protection piece is real and measurable. According to an Ipsos study conducted in February 2024, 86.4% of Ontarians who gambled online over the preceding three months gambled on regulated sites — a sharp improvement from that 70% grey-market baseline. Regulated sites must meet the AGCO's Registrar's Standards, which cover responsible gambling tools including deposit and loss limits, and cooling-off periods before those limits can be relaxed. You can verify whether a site is legitimate by checking for the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard logos — per iGaming Ontario, those logos signal the site is managed by iGO and regulated by the AGCO. The full list of registered operators is published on the official iGaming Ontario registry, which is the live source of truth given how frequently operators join or exit the market.

If gambling is ever causing stress rather than entertainment, ConnexOntario is available at 1-866-531-2600.