AGCO

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is the provincial regulator overseeing Ontario's legal online gambling market, which opened to private commercial operators in April 2022. It works alongside iGaming Ontario, the subsidiary that contracts directly with operators, while the AGCO sets and enforces the registration and conduct standards. What it requires: operators must hold AGCO registration and an iGaming Ontario operating agreement to offer real-money betting or casino play to Ontario residents. Affiliates and marketing suppliers that promote those operators must themselves register with the AGCO as gaming-related suppliers. The regime imposes strict advertising rules — for example, tight restrictions on the use of athletes and celebrities in gambling promotions, and a prohibition on advertising bonuses and inducements outside an operator's own controlled channels. Why it matters: Ontario is, as of 2026, the only Canadian province with a fully regulated, open private online gambling market. Other provinces still run gambling through government-owned monopolies. For an affiliate, this means Ontario traffic must be sent only to AGCO-registered operators, using compliant creative that avoids prohibited inducement messaging, or the affiliate risks losing its registration. Common mistake: assuming a single Canadian licence covers the country. It does not. Targeting Ontario specifically demands AGCO compliance and registration; targeting the rest of Canada involves an entirely different, monopoly-based landscape. Running standard bonus-led advertising — perfectly normal in many markets — can breach Ontario's inducement rules. Operators and affiliates should treat the province as its own discrete regulatory jurisdiction.