OLG gaming site in final testing

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s regulated online gambling site is up and running for 500 pre-selected participants. The OLG is hoping to cash in on the estimated 400 to 500 million dollars Ontarians spend annually on unregulated gambling sites. The corporation says ‘Play OLG’ has the tools necessary to promote responsible online gambling.

If you want to gamble online with the government — first, you have to register, and then you may need to pass an additional identity verification.

John Wisternoff, V.P. iGaming: “The player may be requested to provide a copy of government issued ID and this additional information may be requested at any point in time that the player is playing PlayOLG.”

Now in the testing stages, PlayOLG is set to be available early in the new year to all eligible Ontario residents. Those 18 an older can purchase lottery tickets on the site — users 19 and older can play casino style games.

Through Visa, MasterCard or Interac, players will be allowed to deposit as much as $9,999 a week into their accounts. But OLG officials note they have a drop down menu of suggested moderate amounts.

Wisternoff: “The four options are 30 dollars, $50, $75 or $100.”

The corporation says the site has embedded responsible gambling tools. Those include options for users to take breaks from playing, or to lock themselves out for 6 months, 1 year, or even indefinitely through self exclusion.

Paul Pellizzari is the Executive Director of Policy and Social Responsibility: “We encourage them to seek counseling, we encourage them to manage their behavior in the period where they are in those breaks or the self-exclusion.”

But Intervention Toronto’s Howard Cohen equated self monitoring measures to driving on a highway where the speed is posted at 60 miles an hour when you have a souped up car that can go 150. He says it’s ceremonial.