In early 2022, the province of Ontario was coming to the realization that change was afoot in the online gaming world, at least for them. The provincial government had passed regulations on all online gaming. This included virtually every gaming activity that Ontarians had previously gone to “rest of the world” companies to participate. Sports betting, online casinos, daily fantasy sports (DFS), and online poker fell under these new rules, which took effect in April 2022 .
What do people who have to live with these new gaming rules think? Poker News Daily asked a group of the players what they thought of the changes, both good and bad. The resulting honest interpretation from these players indicates that, while they were not against the regulation of the industry and the consumer protections that came along with it, they were fine with the way things had been done. They also yearn for the days when there were full online rooms for the activities they enjoyed.
WHY Did Ontario Do This?
Many of the players asked why the provincial government of Ontario took this step of regulation. “(It) almost makes me wonder if the Ontario government was lobbied by the casinos to do this,” Gordon said in our discussions. “It seemed to be a good way to get people back into the physical poker rooms after a couple of years of playing online…(maybe) they just wanted access to more tax dollars off the companies and the Ontario citizens.”
James was a little more direct with his criticisms of the provincial government. “The government and IGaming.ca hoodwinked the poker players of Ontario and any tourists who may enjoy playing poker online while visiting our great province,” he said. “They alienated us from the other Canadian poker players and alienated us from the global poker market. Canadians miss playing against the rest of the world…it was an absolute betrayal, and we will remember this for future years and decades to come.”
Excellent Breakdown of the Pros and Cons
Several players were able to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. They recognized that the […]
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