iGaming Ontario has launched BetGuard, a centralized self-exclusion platform for the province’s regulated online gambling market.
The tool allows people aged 19 and older to opt out of all regulated iGaming websites in Ontario through one process. It covers private operators in the province’s legal market and Ontario Lottery and Gaming’s online platforms.
Players can block access in one place
BetGuard is meant to replace the need for players to self-exclude separately with each operator. A person who registers can choose an exclusion period of six months, one year, five years or a custom term.
Once the exclusion is active, regulated operators must block access to existing accounts. They must also stop the person from creating new accounts during the exclusion period.
The system also tells operators not to send direct marketing to people who have opted out. That adds an advertising control to the account-blocking process, which had been one of the gaps in site-by-site exclusion.
Operators must take part
Participation in BetGuard is required for Ontario’s regulated iGaming operators. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s centralized self-exclusion standards are now in effect, setting the compliance rules operators must follow.
Operators already had to offer self-exclusion tools under Ontario’s internet gaming standards. BetGuard adds a province-wide system, making one exclusion apply across the regulated sector.
The system was developed with Integrity Compliance 360 and Dataworks, formerly IXUP. iGaming Ontario had selected the companies in 2024 to build the province-wide self-exclusion system.
Launch comes after market growth
Ontario opened its regulated online gambling market in April 2022. Since then, the market has grown into one of North America’s largest legal iGaming sectors, with dozens of operators and many casino, poker and sports betting sites.
That growth made a single self-exclusion system more important. Without one, players who wanted a full break from regulated online gambling had to deal with each site separately.
BetGuard gives Ontario a central player-protection tool after more than four years of regulated online gambling. The launch also gives operators a clearer process for account blocking, marketing suppression and exclusion checks across the province’s legal market.
