Ontario will soon follow in the footsteps of British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba and the Atlantic provinces by offering a regulated online gaming system.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. announced Tuesday that the site, dubbed PlayOLG, will launch “in the coming weeks.”
Notices were sent to members of OLG’s existing loyalty program members Tuesday morning inviting them to participate in the soft launch of the site.
“If they say yes, we will be sending them an invitation in the coming weeks. They’ll get … early access to PlayOLG,” OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti told CTV News.
After that initial testing period, the site will open up to all Ontarians of legal age.
The site will offer the ability to purchase lottery tickets through the internet, as well as online versions of games like blackjack, roulette and single-player poker.
In time, Bitonti said, the site will be expanded to include poker games between multiple users on separate computers.
According to OLG estimates, 500,000 Ontarians partake in online gambling – spending as much as $500 million per year on the activity.
