IGC Urges Ontario To Regulate Online Gambling

This story was published more than 11 years ago.

Online gambling trade association the Interactive Gaming Council has publicly urged the Canadian province of Ontario to regulate and license online gambling in order to provide legal clarity, protect players, and generate tax revenues.

A statement released by the IGC on Thursday spoke about how Ontario is facing debt issues and asks where revenue generating opportunities are being exploited.

The IGC statement read:

"The Interactive Gaming Council applauds this direction, as it supports the backbone of a regulatory model for online gaming."

"The OLG has publicly declared its intentions to enter this (online gambling) space in 2013, and we hope that the corporation's preferred model for its existing operations will also be applied to any new offerings and will not follow the current model of picking only one supplier."

"Online gaming is an activity that people are enjoying in great numbers. The IGC is not advocating in favour of an expansion of gaming on the Internet -- that ship has sailed, so to speak, as it is an activity that is already being undertaken here in Canada, as it is around the world. Governments in other jurisdictions have embraced this market and have established successful open market regulatory regimes."

"Just last week Britain announced it is putting together plans to alter the tax policy for online gambling and make it worthwhile for companies to do business in England. Taxes would be paid at the point of consumption - or where the bettor is - rather than the point of supply, where the operator is. A company based offshore would still be required to pay taxes to England, even if its operations are in in the Isle of Man. By changing the tax benefits, more incentive will be provided to open up operations in Britain and hire local workers."

"The IGC would like to see Canadians benefit from this approach as well, starting with Ontario."