AGCO fines Hard Rock Ottawa for 36 regulatory violations

The Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission has served the firm with a penalty totalling $227,250.

Canada.- Ontario’s Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO) has served HR Ottawa LP, operator of Hard Rock Ottawa, with a penalty totalling $227,250 for 36 violations of its standards. The fine follows an audit of the company’s Rideau Carleton Casino.

Among the violations, Hard Rock Ottawa is alleged to have provided advertising to people who had self-excluded from gambling. AGCO also found incomplete or completely lacking staff training in AML policies and best practices and insufficient data and gaming systems protections against security vulnerabilities.

Hard Rock Ottawa has the right to challenge the decision and must approach the License Appeal Tribunal to do so.

AGCO CEO and registrar Tom Mungham said: “The AGCO has the mandate and the responsibility to ensure casinos are operating with honesty, integrity, and in the public interest. These penalties are intended to drive the improvements needed at the Rideau Carleton Casino, and we will be carefully monitoring the casino’s activities to ensure these significant audit findings are addressed.”

AGCO issues first penalties to BetMGM Canada and PointsBet Canada

In May, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission for Ontario (AGCO) issued its first fines for breaches of regulations just one month after Ontario’s igaming market opened. It fined BetMGM Canada for infractions of standards for advertising and inducements.

The standards include restrictions on advertising of inducements, bonuses, or credits and state that marketing, advertising and promotions must be truthful and not misleading or misrepresentative. Materials must not imply that the chance of winning increases the more spent.