BC internet gambling breakthrough

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BRITISH COLUMBIA EXPANDS ONLINE GAMBLING OFFERING

Minister to announce 75 new online casino games Thursday

The Canadian provincial government for British Columbia will announce a significant expansion of its online offering this week, regulating and legalising online casino games in a first for North America, the Vancouver Sun reports.

The newspaper says that Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman, who oversees the B.C. Lottery Corp., is expected this morning to announce 75 new online games for the corporation’s website, Playnow.com.

The games will be broken into separate categories, including bingo, lottery, sports betting and casino games. The casino-style games are expected to include blackjack, roulette and poker, among others.

The B.C. Lottery Corp.’s website was taken down Wednesday, and a message on the site said both BCLC.com and PlayNow.com would relaunch as of noon North West Canadian time Thursday.

The online expansion follows a move by the B.C. Lottery Corp. last August to dramatically increase the weekly limit for players on Playnow.com, bringing the cap to $9,999 a week, up from the previous limit of $120 a week.

At the time of that increase, the corporation raised the possibility of casino-style games going online, adding they may be designed so players could access them not only from computers, but also from portable devices, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry or iPad.

The corporation has previously said only registered members whose ages and addresses have been verified will be able to open an online account.

One of the benefits of expanding online gambling cited by government is to provide a provincially regulated alternative to private websites.

The new PlayNow.com website is expected to include visible links to support programs for people who may be seeking help with a gambling addiction or related problem. There will also be safeguards in place to ensure proper online security and reminders about responsible gambling.

According to the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, gambling in B.C. generated revenues of about Cdn$2.52 billion dollars in 2009-10. After expenses, including prize payouts and other costs, government revenues from gambling for that year were about Cdn$1.07 billion.

The announcement also comes on the heels of news that the B.C. Lottery Corp. is working with other Canadian provinces to create what could become a nationwide online gambling network (see previous InfoPowa reports).

In May this year, a gambling consultant working with Atlantic Lottery said that organisation and Loto-Quebec would be launching a common online platform this fall, and that he expected other provinces to follow suit within about 18 months.

Loto Québec has since confirmed it is partnering with GTechG2 and Openbet in opening up online gambling operations later this year.
 
Woohoo! I hope slot games aren't far behind, I actually knew about this as I am a Playnow player already and asked support about this earlier in the year, they said this was coming in the future but I thought we were still at least a year out :O
 
Hiya: This is why the UIGEA in America is Retarded. On one hand they say, "It is money laundering, and funding terrorist". If that is true, then should not America now add Canada to the Axis of Evil? :confused:
 
So typical BCLC, Orbis Openbet games like PIMP MY SLOT (an all time pinnacle of graphics technology, bring bandaids for bleeding eyes!!!), the lowest paytables in the industry.
 
Totally crazy, isn't it? Ugh, AMERICA!! (and I'm American, hehe ;))

Anyway, my boss Calvin Ayre certainly has an opinion on this move by BC...he thinks it's both good and bad news...take a look at his full article if interested, it's a great read!!

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Haven't logged in yet as the site is down/overloaded, but from my earlier conversations with their support it was just table games that were being launched thus far, no slots. Believe me I cried being a slot lover...LOL
 
............and furthermore, typical govt BS, went and signed up, have to use a cc for address and age verifictaion, they do a credit report with Equifax, I get flagged because something doesnt meet their verification process, so not only do I have an inquiry on the bereau (they say "soft inquiry", I pulled my bereau and its a "hard" so your score can get affected:mad:), I still have to send in my D/L and utility bill just to get in the site.
 
Whoa, a hard hit on your Bureau??? That's not cool, I joined a long time ago when it was just bingo and scratch tickets and have pulled my report since and no hits to be seen....

Is there anything in the T&C that discloses that they are gonna hit your bureau?
 
Whoa, a hard hit on your Bureau??? That's not cool, I joined a long time ago when it was just bingo and scratch tickets and have pulled my report since and no hits to be seen....

Is there anything in the T&C that discloses that they are gonna hit your bureau?

I could not find it, however after 37 mins on hold to c/s she pointed it out to me.
 
Haven't logged in yet as the site is down/overloaded, but from my earlier conversations with their support it was just table games that were being launched thus far, no slots. Believe me I cried being a slot lover...LOL

There are slots there. But you'll still be in tears when you see them LOL. Orbis? Aren't Cryptologic a Canadian company?
 
Aren't Cryptologic a Canadian company?

Originally yes, based in on Ontario, still listed on the TSX. As of a few years ago the corporate plan was to relocate the "home office" stuff to Ireland, much of which has been done AFAIK, though I believe it was always intended that the development offices would stay in Canada.

Having said that your basic assumption is probably something along the lines of "wouldn't BC, a Canadian province, go to a Canadian company for it's software". Put it this way, people in Western Canada don't generally spent a lot of time looking 'Eastern' Canada when they want partners, business alliances, etc. Think Scotland VS England and you're getting warm, more or less.

PS. No intention to offend any Canadians but as a born and bred Western Canadian I thought the picture could use a little clarifying. Needless to say, your views may vary.
 
Originally yes, based in on Ontario, still listed on the TSX. As of a few years ago the corporate plan was to relocate the "home office" stuff to Ireland, much of which has been done AFAIK, though I believe it was always intended that the development offices would stay in Canada.

Having said that your basic assumption is probably something along the lines of "wouldn't BC, a Canadian province, go to a Canadian company for it's software". Put it this way, people in Western Canada don't generally spent a lot of time looking 'Eastern' Canada when they want partners, business alliances, etc. Think Scotland VS England and you're getting warm, more or less.

PS. No intention to offend any Canadians but as a born and bred Western Canadian I thought the picture could use a little clarifying. Needless to say, your views may vary.

I knew there was more to you ;)
 
@maxd

This reminds me of a cartoon I saw once of a Bull representing Canada, The East was the bulls head and of course the West was the Bulls ass...

I think the notion could be shared by both ends, suffice it to say its a mystery to me who came up with the original cartoon.
 
Looks like they would have been wise to consult some people that were already managing online casinos. I'm in IT and this is a MAJOR booboo:

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It does, however illustrate the high demand for properly regulated online gambling in Canada, with the BCLC saying that they're now beefing up the technical delivery (as at 9am GMT Saturday the site was still down).

Maybe that will be noted by Canada's southern neighbour, where most politicians still seem to be resident in the Dark Ages (before all those internet toobs and stuff!)

Still 'n all, you would think that a little more research and advance planning could have obviated the embarrassment of the website falling over due to overuse shortly after launch...that really surprised me.

@Max - your assessment of the corporate structuring of Crypto is spot on.
 
Well this isn't a new phenomena, every time the LottoMax draw goes into Max mode it crashes the site. They should have KNOWN what kind of load an online casino would cause.
 
Still 'n all, you would think that a little more research and advance planning could have obviated the embarrassment of the website falling over due to overuse shortly after launch...that really surprised me.


Oh dear, it appears that the BC government (read politicians) told a little fib. Site wasn't taken down due to overloaded servers, or overuse after all. Kudos to them for coming clean, but I suspect their hand was forced. Much the way an online casino operator gets exposed when problems occur. Whether that be outright rogue behaviour, technical problems, or human error.

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VICTORIA — The B.C. Lottery Corp. disabled its online gambling site last week because the accounts belonging to 134 users had been compromised, organization president and CEO Michael Graydon said Tuesday.

Graydon said that after a major relaunch of the website on Thursday, about $8,000 was wagered by accounts controlled by someone other than the owner and in 12 cases, users were able to view other people’s personal information.

In one case, he said, the last four digits of a person’s credit card were compromised. In another, the breach revealed banking information “similar to what you would find on the bottom of a personal cheque.”

The explanation comes in stark contrast to what B.C. Lottery Corp. had said previously on why it had disabled its online gambling site, PlayNow.com, just hours after a major expansion and relaunch on Thursday morning.

In an interview Friday afternoon, a company official said the site was taken down because it was overloaded with traffic, leading to “slowness” or “not good responsiveness.”

Company vice-president Kevin Gass made no mention at the time of a security breach.

On Tuesday, Graydon said the company opted not to reveal information about the breach until it knew what had taken place, and until after it had informed those who had been affected.

“Our first priority was really to our players and making sure we got to them first,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure that they heard from BCLC and not read it in the newspaper.”

Critics were quick to pounce.

“It’s very concerning that they spun this on Friday — the minister and the corporation — as being about too many enthusiastic people wanting to play on the site,” said New Democratic Party critic Shane Simpson.

“We now know that they were fully aware on Friday that this was a security breach,” he added, saying the response by both government and B.C. Lottery Corp. was “not honest”.

Story continued at above link.....
 
(please excuse the temporary derail)

This reminds me of a cartoon I saw once of a Bull representing Canada, The East was the bulls head ....

Yes, well, I'll bet that cartoon wasn't drawn by anyone from Western Canada. :rolleyes:

The difference between Western Canada and 'Eastern' Canada -- it's really Central Canada we're talking about here, Ontario and Quebec -- is that the East thinks the West are "asses" because the East has most of the power and a lot of the West's money. The West thinks the East are asses for having, and taking, all that and being smug about it. Who the ass really is depends entirely on how you look at it.

Having since lived in 'the East' for several years I have to say that the general attitude there was that Western Canada might as well be on the moon for all they knew or cared about it. Western Canadians don't (didn't?) have the luxury of such a cavalier attitude, although given the opportunity I think many of them would welcome the 'Easterners' to take up such remote residence.

Where (and when) I grew up 'the East' was the enemy, as you may have gathered. ;) The government of the day, that was Trudeau's Liberals if I dare date myself so unequivocally, were about as popular in the West then as that cartoon would be with Western Canadians now: not very!
 
Site is still down.

The BCLC is now in more hot water (involving a $670 000 fine) with FINTRAC - Mr. Graydon is having a bad week, it appears!
 
@maxd - Agreed its just the way it works in Canada :)

On the new developments with the Playnow site, barely out of the gate and heading straight for the Rogue Pit.

My BF (who used to work for Bodog) suggests they should have hired Calvin Arye to get it right in the first place...heheh
 
Did I read properly in the last article posted here that now they are going to be inspected and regulated by a 3rd party, As opposed to the self regulation they were proposing.?
 

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