The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has fined Betty Gaming Ltd. C$120,000 after determining weaknesses in the company’s age-verification and player eligibility systems let underage users access its Betty.ca online gambling platform.
The regulator said Betty informed the AGCO in November 2025 after identifying a vulnerability affecting its age-restriction and eligibility controls. As a result, nine people younger than 19 successfully opened accounts, deposited money, and gambled on the site. Another 14 underage individuals created accounts but never deposited funds.
AGCO widens enforcement as compliance failures by Betty Gaming draw penalties
Ontario’s gaming rules require operators to have reliable safeguards that stop underage access and confirm player eligibility before any account is created. According to the AGCO, those protections are designed to keep young people away from gambling while reinforcing trust in the province’s regulated online gaming market.
The monetary penalties relate to alleged breaches of the Registrar’s Standards for Gaming. The standards prohibit operators from allowing underage individuals to create accounts, sign in, or gamble online. They also require companies to gather, complete, and validate relevant player information before an account is established.
The AGCO said every registered operator is responsible for making sure its technology works properly before it reaches customers. When those systems fail, the regulator said, young people can be exposed to gambling and confidence in Ontario’s regulated market can be weakened.
“The legal age requirement is one of the most basic and important safeguards in Ontario’s regulated gaming market. Young people must not be able to create accounts, deposit money, or gamble online. Registered operators are responsible for making sure their systems work before those systems go live. When those responsibilities are not met, we will take action to protect young people and uphold confidence in Ontario’s regulated market,” said Dr. Karin Schnarr, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar, AGCO.
Betty Gaming can challenge the Order of Monetary Penalty. Under Ontario’s process, operators have 15 days to appeal to the Licence Appeal Tribunal, an independent adjudicative body operating within Tribunals Ontario.
The enforcement action fits into a wider pattern of AGCO oversight during the past year. Earlier, the regulator revoked lottery seller registrations connected to unapproved Prime Slot gambling machines in the Greater Toronto Area and later carried out more than 200 inspections across bars, restaurants, and lottery retailers. Those efforts resulted in the removal of more than 50 machines that the AGCO said were operating illegally in locations accessible to minors and other vulnerable groups.
The regulator has also taken action against licensed operators over compliance issues, including a C$54,000 ($38,500) penalty issued to Well Played Media over a promotional offer the AGCO said encouraged high-risk gambling and failed to clearly disclose key terms.
In Ontario, most online gambling requires participants to be at least 19 years old, although online lottery ticket purchases are permitted from age 18. The AGCO oversees the province’s alcohol, cannabis, gaming, and horse racing sectors through a risk-based regulatory framework focused on compliance, integrity, and public safety.
Featured image: Betty Gaming via press release / AGCO via X
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