A further financial penalty has been handed out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, with PointsBet to pay C$150,000 for a failure to meet the province’s responsible gambling requirements.
This is said to be related to “several alleged violations of the responsible gambling provisions”, with the operator having the right to appeal.
Among the shortcomings discovered by the AGCO is a failure to appropriately intervene and provide assistance to a player who was potentially experiencing gambling harms.
This related to one player that lost over $500,000 in under three months and was reportedly “flagged as potentially high-risk by the operator’s systems on multiple occasions”.
One of these occasions included significant losses being incurred and repeated withdrawal cancellations being made. However, no interventions ensued.
Furthermore, a failure to enforce a required 24-hour cooling-off period when a player cancelled their per-day deposit limit was also found, with gambling inducements, bonuses, or credits through direct advertising without active player consent also issued.
“Despite the player withdrawing their consent for direct advertising and marketing, credits totaling $35,500 were deposited on various occasions into the player’s account, and numerous offers of free tickets to sporting events were provided,” the AGCO said.
As a result, it was also suggested that these incidents demonstrate a failure to ensure that employees understood the importance of responsible gambling and were adequately trained to respond appropriately to, and assist, those that may be experiencing harm.
“In Ontario, igaming operators have an obligation to proactively monitor their patrons’ play for signs of high-risk gambling, and to take appropriate actions to intervene and reduce the potential for gambling related harms,” commented Dr. Karin Schnarr, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar of the AGCO
“The AGCO will continue to focus on player protection by holding all registered operators to these high standards.”
In August, Apollo Entertainment was served a notice of monetary penalty totalling C$100,000 by the registrar of the AGCO for alleged responsible gambling failures.
This followed fines being issued to three operators – Bunchberry Limited ($15,000), Mobile Incorporated Limited ($30,000) and LeoVegas Games ($25,000) – totalling $70,000 for violations of its standards for internet gaming regarding game integrity.
