Fair Warning: Unblocked Gambling Games Pose Concerns Over Fairness
For more than two decades, people all over Canada have been gambling online. Many of us consider it a luxury; an opportunistic freedom afforded by the genius assimilation of the World Wide Web.
Up until recently, Ontarians were spending millions, if not billions of dollars with offshore gambling sites. We did so with the trust that these operations had our best interest at heart. That they would protect us as players, just as native-born eChecks would protect our deposits. Yes, we all knew their number-one goal was to win our money, but they would do so safely and fairly. As fair as any legitimate land-based casino, that is. Right?
There is no straight answer to this question, and therein lies the problem. Thousands of websites, all offering the same unadulterated gambling; all promising the same security, the same fair results, the same opportunities to win unfathomable prizes. Can they really all be that trustworthy?
How do you know who you can trust, and who you can’t? Is there an official seal of integrity that separates one group from the other? Of course not. We can call upon reputation until the cows come home, but the truth is, our faith in such institutions is reckless, at best. But there is good news.
This volatile environment changed when Ontario launched its own regulated iGaming market in April 2022. For the first time, we have a genuinely safe and trustworthy array of websites to place bets on. The only problem now is that not everyone understands the difference, and why it’s so important to heed the warnings.
Ontario vs. Foreign Unblocked Gambling Games
The biggest difference between domestic and accessible foreign (unblocked) gambling sites is not the act of regulation, but rather the interests of the agency in charge of regulation. The most lax regulators are only there to make sure operators pay their due fees to their respective governments. Others are strict about compliance, but the regulations themselves may lack suitable player protections.
In Ontario, the safety of each and every player comes first. Regulatory enforcement is dealt with an iron fist. The fact that these websites are locally authorized and regulations locally enforced means everything. We trust eCheck payments because they are exclusive to the Canadian banks we inherently trust to secure our money. We trust Ontario’s local iGaming market for the same reason – because those who regulate it really do have our best interest at heart.
iGaming Regulation in Ontario
Our locally regulated market is governed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), as well as iGaming Ontario (iGO). The AGCO thoroughly vets all gaming operators, vendors and software suppliers before approving licenses. iGO, under strict supervision and guidance of the AGCO, monitors all licensees to ensure they abide by provincial law. Ontario’s regulatory standards call for the utmost safety, security, and fairness of all gambling amusements. Regular software audits are performed to make certain the games fall within mandatory payout rules.
Offshore Gambling Regulation
Other jurisdictions may not be nearly so meticulous about protecting players. Some of them are, like the United Kingdom. But the UK’s regulations apply only to their own local players and operators. If you were to gamble at a UK-licensed website, only to find that your information was not safe, or the games were not fair, who’s to say the UK government will listen to your complaints? They won’t, because you aren’t under their jurisdiction. They might look into the matter and even punish the operator, but your recompense is unlikely at best.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have jurisdictions like Costa Rica, which are purposefully unaccountable. The Costa Rican government hands out online gambling licenses like sticks of gum. The only two major stipulations they require of their licensees are 1) pay your fees, and 2) do NOT let Costa Rica residents play on your website. Why do you think that is? Because if the operator cheats its players, the government wants nothing to do with complaints. Thus, they protect their own citizens by prohibiting them from accessing the very websites the government is licensing.
Even Reputable Software Can Be Manipulated
There are hundreds of gambling software companies out there supplying their games to the world’s iGaming industry. Some of them predate the turn of the millennium. Global Games (formerly Microgaming), for instance, dates back to 1994. It is among the most reputable software brands in the world, alongside companies like IGT, NetEnt, and Playtech. They pride themselves on the fairness of their games.
If you think the games must be fair just because they come from one of these illustrious brands, think again. It is possible for a rogue operator to cheat players on these titles. Some do it by pirating the software and altering the code to decrease the payout percentage. It’s a very illegal practice, but one that has become all too common among casinos operating from lax jurisdictions.
Others do it by commissioning the software brand to produce an exclusive game for their casino. This gives them direct access to the game’s coding. It’s illegal to advertise one payout percentage and present players with another, but who’s to say an operator won’t stoop so low? The simple fact that they can do it should be a huge red flag.
What Makes Ontario Any Better?
It took many years for Ontario to get from Point A to Point B; Point A being ‘we want to regulate a competitive gambling market‘, and Point B being the realization of that goal. There were two reasons why it took so long. One was a lot of legal red tape from the federal level. Ontario had to amend its own laws to permit private gambling companies to compete in the online space. The second delay was the great debate over how to protect players from the inherent harms of gambling.
As government officials looked more into the matter, they found that gambling addiction wasn’t the only problem they had to solve. Safety, security, and fairness were all major concerns. Numerous research studies revealed that these were the issues Ontarians faced when gambling on websites abroad. Provincial leaders knew that if this new open market was going to be successful, it had to provide locals with unquestionable trust.
While it’s not possible to prevent an operator from breaching its contract with regulators, it is certainly possible to discourage it. The AGCO and iGO enforce iGaming laws with a heavy hand, threatening swift penalties for noncompliance. Several operators have already endured the wrath of our regulators. Best of all, if any player takes issue with a local gambling site, iGO will be there to investigate and resolve the matter.
Now just over a year into regulation, Ontario has more than 70 online casinos, sportsbooks and poker rooms to choose from. Slot machines, blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, video poker – every game you could possibly want to bet on is available right here at home, in a safe and fair iGaming environment. And yes, many of them provide our highly-preferred eCheck deposits and withdrawals, too.
Anyone in Ontario who wants to gamble online should consider themselves lucky that they can do so at any one of Ontario’s home-regulated websites. To bet on any unblocked gambling games at offshore casinos is to take far more risk than is naturally associated with the activity.
