iGaming Ontario Makes BetGuard Part of Its Logo Test for Regulated Sites
By Antonina Tupikova · Founder, iGaming Times2 min read
Ontario's online market agency used Illegal Gambling Awareness Week to give players a two-step test for a legal site: look for two logos, then check its directory. One of those logos belongs to the self-exclusion tool it launched in May.
- iGaming Ontario (iGO) published a player notice on 9 November telling Ontarians to look for the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard logos on a site and then confirm it is listed in iGO's directory of regulated sites
- The notice is tied to Illegal Gambling Awareness Week, which the International Association of Gaming Regulators runs from 9 to 13 November
- iGO's directory, accurate as of 6 November, lists 48 operators and 83 gaming websites, with OLG.ca listed separately
- The market took about CA$29.3 billion in cash wagers and CA$1.23 billion in revenue from July to September 2026, up about 21% and 26% on a year earlier
- Ontario's channelisation case rests on surveys from an agency that kept a problem gambling study confidential, according to the Toronto Star
iGaming Ontario Gives Players a Two-Step Check
iGO posted "Choose to play? Choose a site in Ontario's regulated igaming market" on Monday, 9 November. It calls Illegal Gambling Awareness Week a good reminder to confirm a site is regulated, though it does not name the IAGR, which organises the week. The check, according to iGO, takes two steps: look for the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard logos, which regulated sites display, and confirm the site appears in iGO's directory of regulated gaming sites.
The notice says every regulated site offers oversight, mandatory safeguards such as BetGuard and a trusted complaints process. It gives no figures beyond "dozens of operators and more than 80 sites", and no estimate of unregulated play.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which registers operators and sets the Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming, tells players on its player support page to look for the iGaming Ontario logo, and does not mention BetGuard. It says unregulated sites need not offer game transparency, may withhold or delay payouts and may expose personal data.
BetGuard, the Directory and the Market Behind Them
iGO launched BetGuard on 14 May as a single portal for anyone aged 19 or over to opt out of every regulated site, OLG's included, for 6 months, 1 year, 5 years or a custom term. On 10 September iGO warned that third parties were using the BetGuard name and branding to make misleading statements about opting out.
The directory, accurate as of 6 November, lists 48 operators and 83 gaming websites, with OLG.ca run separately under the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. According to iGO's monthly data, published on 28 October and unaudited, cash wagers in July, August and September totalled about CA$29.3 billion (approximately $20.8 billion), and non-adjusted gross gaming revenue about CA$1.23 billion (approximately $868 million). The same months of 2025 produced CA$24.3 billion and CA$975.7 million. The figures exclude OLG's own online games.
In May, iGO said an Ipsos study it commissioned with the AGCO found 91.1% of online gamblers reported playing on regulated sites, up from 83.7%, and 8.9% played only on unregulated ones.
A Logo Is the Weaker Half of the Test
A logo can be copied, and iGO has already had to warn about misuse of the BetGuard brand. The directory is the check that cannot be faked from outside. Making BetGuard one of the two marks of legitimacy presents self-exclusion as proof that a site belongs to the regulated market, and gives the agency's newest tool visibility on 83 sites.
Survey Numbers Carry the Channelisation Case
The 91.1% figure comes from self-reported answers in a study iGO commissioned, and the 8.9% playing only on unregulated sites leaves out anyone who plays on both. iGO also kept its own prevalence research confidential, according to the Toronto Star, which makes independent replication more valuable. Britain's Gambling Commission now publishes a survey-based illegal gambling index with its method attached.
The AGCO Is Doing the Harder Work
Consumer notices are the cheap end of enforcement. In May the AGCO fined Relax Gaming and Arrise Solutions CA$40,000 each after their games appeared on unregulated sites reachable from Ontario, going after the supply chain rather than the player. A logo campaign works only if that pressure stops unregulated sites offering the same games as regulated ones.
iGO's two-step test is sound, and the directory step is the one that counts. Whether it shifts play will be clear only when Ontario publishes channelisation data that others can check.
