Ontario’s gambling regulator has fined Arrise Solutions Limited and Relax Gaming Limited after finding that their casino games were available to players in the province through unregulated gambling websites.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario issued a CA$40,000 penalty to each company. Both suppliers are registered with the regulator, which said they breached provincial standards by allowing their games to appear on sites that are not licensed in Ontario.
The regulator says supplier content helps illegal sites operate
The AGCO said unregulated sites operate outside Ontario’s player protection system. That means users may not have the same safeguards around game integrity, responsible gambling, withdrawals, data security or dispute resolution.
The regulator said the presence of games from licensed suppliers can help illegal sites look more legitimate to Ontario players. It said both companies cooperated with the investigation and moved quickly to restrict access to their games from Ontario on the unregulated sites.
Arrise powers Pragmatic Play, one of the largest suppliers of online slots and live dealer products. Relax Gaming also supplies content to licensed operators in regulated markets, while its titles have appeared across parts of the sweepstakes casino sector.
Supplier scrutiny is widening across North America
The Ontario action fits a wider shift in enforcement. Regulators and public officials are paying closer attention to suppliers whose games appear outside licensed gambling markets, including on sweepstakes casino platforms.
Connecticut suspended High 5 Games’ supplier license last year after accusing the company of operating an unlicensed online casino. The case later ended in a settlement of nearly $1.5 million, and the company’s license was reinstated after the disputed platform was shut down.
Suppliers have also been drawn into civil actions. Los Angeles filed a case last year against Stake.us and several partners, including game providers, over allegations tied to illegal gambling in California.
AGCO keeps pressure on licensed companies
The AGCO has taken several enforcement actions against licensed gambling companies in recent months. It fined FanDuel Canada CA$350,000 in January over failures tied to suspicious table tennis betting and later moved to suspend PointsBet Canada’s registration for five days over its handling of suspicious bets linked to Jontay Porter.
The latest penalties show that Ontario’s regulator is not only targeting operators. Licensed suppliers are also expected to control where their games appear and act quickly when their products are found on unregulated sites accessible from the province.
