Gambling Weekly News Summary in Canada – 2025/09/27
Two Arrested in Ontario for $400K Gift Card Betting Scheme
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have arrested two people for fraud after using compromised gift cards to purchase Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) Proline beta at gas stations in Sault and Thunder Bay.
It was confirmed that those involved placed large bets on both teams to ensure a win, with gift cards that were fraudulently obtained. The investigation began in March after the OLG told police it had found suspicious betting activity happening at gas stations.
Spokesperson of the OPP, Gosia Puzio, said, “The betting pattern was consistent with money laundering, where individuals place large wagers on both sides of a sporting event to ensure minimal gain or loss. Further investigation confirmed that the wagers and purchases at gas bar locations were made using fraudulently obtained gift cards.”
Employees of the gas bars were said to be unaware that the gift cards being used were fraudulent.
The two men, both from Thunder Bay, have since been charged. A 36-year-old has been charged with fraud over $5,000, money laundering, conspiracy, identity theft, forgery, uttering a forged document, and possession of property obtained by crime.
A 45-year-old has been charged with fraud over $5,000, money laundering, conspiracy, uttering a forged document, and possession of property obtained by crime.
They remain in custody until their respective court dates.
iGaming Ontario Reports Record $8.1B in Wagers for August
Ontario’s online gaming market celebrated a record-breaking month in August. Total cash wagers generated $8.1 billion, the highest amount recorded since the regulated market went live in April 2022. It also marked a year-on-year increase of 34.6%, rising from $6 million, and is the second time that wagers surpassed $8 billion, the first being in May 2025.
The figures, published by Ontario’s gambling regulator, iGaming Ontario, also revealed that total non-adjusted gross gaming revenue (NAGGR) increased 40.5% year-on-year, rising from $238 million to $334.8 million. Active player accounts were also up, rising from 718 to 1,016, while average revenue per active player account dropped from $332 to $330.
Online casinos had 80% of NAGGR’s market share, reporting $267.8 million, up from the previous year’s figure of $186 million. This was followed by online betting, which took up 18% of the market. NAGGR increased from $47 million to $60 million. Peer-to-peer poker had the lowest market share at 2%, with NAGGR rising from $5.9 million to $6.8 million year-on-year.
12-Year-Old Vancouver Kid Sues Roblox for “Gambling-like Mechanisms”
A child in Vancouver is suing popular gaming platform Roblox for its alleged addictive and manipulative gameplay, which the lawsuit claims has “gambling-like mechanisms” aimed at keeping engagement with the site up, as reported by CBC News.
The child, named only as D.J., had experienced “signs of addiction” to the game as well as displayed symptoms of anxiety, depression, irritability, emotional instability, and anti-social behaviour, among other things, when online. According to the lawsuit, D.J. had also been exploited financially and would spend up to $500 in the game’s virtual currency, Robux, a day.
Vancouver Community College lecturer, Benjamin Wong, described Roblox’s in-game microtransactions as addictive, explaining that they take on the form of “loot boxes,” which resemble slot machines and other gambling-type games.
“It’s just becoming challenging to imagine, without these elements, how fun the game would be or how much not fun the game would be,” he said.
Ziv (Steve) Chen
CEO at Major League Content
Ziv has been working in the iGaming industry for more than two decades, serving in senior roles in software developers like Playtech and Microgaming. He then followed his lifelong passion of writing and became a fulltime journalist, covering casinos, sports betting, legislation and other gambling topics and news with a specialty in North America.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziv-steve-chen-94b01b5/
