The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has come under fire on several fronts from the Auditor General of the Canadian province.
Bonnie Lysyk criticised the OLG in her 2022 Annual Report on the Crown corporation, owned by the Government of Ontario.
Lysyk highlighted several financial concerns in the OLG’s operations, as well as criticisms over responsible gambling.
The report found that despite tracking customer satisfaction, relationships with operators and players’ mental health, the OLG “does not measure or report on its progress on responsible gambling, job growth, capital investments, integrity of gaming and anti-money laundering activities.”
What’s more, the OLG’s responsible gambling tools are “not being used by online players” and that players who exclude themselves from the OLG website can still access iGaming Ontario’s private operator sites.
Staying on the private operator front, the Annual Report detailed the growth patterns of the province’s igaming and the private operators in the iGaming Ontario umbrella. The OLG’s igaming revenues showed a seven per cent increase in the three months to September, to $108m. In contrast, the iGaming Ontario operators reported an increase in gaming revenue of 65 per cent to $267 million for the three-month period ending September.
The report concluded that OLG growth has slowed and now faces “significant competition” from private operators following the legalisation of igaming in Ontario in April.
Lysyk pointed out further responsible gambling concerns for the OLG, including that Ontario casinos “do not verify the source of funds from patrons using large amounts of cash”, warning of subsequent AML risks and pointing to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada’s move to beef up security over large transactions in June 2021.
And reporting of suspicious transactions is low and varies among casinos, the report found.
