AGCO Tightens Bonus Disclosure Rules, Demands Upfront Terms on Ontario Casino Sites

19 October 2026

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has proposed new standards that will further restrict the advertising of casino bonuses and credits, mandating upfront disclosure of all material terms and limitations from the first presentation of an offer. The regulator has also signaled it will emphasize faster payouts of winnings as a condition for operators.

Currently, Ontario's laws prohibit public advertising of gambling inducements, requiring that any bonus promotions be shown only on an operator's own gaming site or through direct communication after receiving a player's active consent. But the AGCO's draft rules would go further, specifying that all material terms must appear in an offer's first presentation and not more than one click away. Operators would also be disallowed from describing a bonus or credit as "free" or "risk-free" unless the language can be defended in strict legal terms.

"The critical aspects of any bonus or credit offer – how much you get, what you must do to claim it, and any restrictions on how you can redeem it or withdraw winnings – need to be made crystal clear to players from the very start," AGCO Registrar Tom Mungham said in a statement. "These amendments are needed to ensure Ontario's players are not being misled by vague or unclear bonus promotions online."

Bonus rules are not the only change the AGCO has hinted at in a discussion paper released this month. Mungham suggested that the commission would prioritize "fast payouts" of winners' funds in the coming year, though the proposal does not specify a precise timeframe or criteria. The AGCO's Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming, which were activated when Ontario's iGaming market began in 2022, already require that players not "suffer undue disadvantage or delay at any point" in claiming their balance, but the language has never been interpreted as a firm deadline by AGCO or iGaming operators.

The AGCO's moves on bonus transparency and payouts wrap up a year in which the regulator continued to tighten its iGaming framework to focus on player protections. Earlier this year, AGCO put sports book bettors at the center of its regulatory mission, detailing a raft of new rules for over/under bets to prevent problem gambling in the National Hockey League. The AGCO also updated its guidelines for land-based casinos, limiting the advertising of betting incentives to registered players and targeting ads at sports gamblers with the option to opt out of promotional messaging.

Industry experts predict the changes in bonus disclosure might be met with some resistance among operators, especially the small companies that rely on creative advertising to compete with deeper-pocketed rivals. According to Phil Marbach, an analyst with iGamingEdge, disclosed terms are trading on a bonus's key selling points and may undermine the marketers' success if the percentage, number of spins, or other details appear first to the player.

"If a bonus ad discloses all the fastest terms up front, in plain language, it's going to be a very dry read, and you might lose the player's interest," Marbach said. "There's a real danger that this is killing the goose that's laying the golden eggs in terms of player attraction among almost all business models that rely on bonuses to start a relationship with a player."

Ultimately, compliance will be an expensive, multifaceted process for iGaming operators in Ontario. Each bonus campaign will require approval from an external law firm to satisfy the AGCO's mandate. And close coordination is always needed to run across devices and media, requiring testing and synchronization across the operator and its developer. AGCO also forbids operators from running bonus-related ads outside the operator's website without players' consent.

AGCO's proposed rules on bonus disclosures are subject to public notice and comment. The commission expects to receive feedback in the coming months and issue a revised draft in 2025. Fast payout policies are not expected to change until 2026 at the earliest, if the AGCO emerges from its current consultations with an agreement on how the fast payout standard will work in practice.

In its guidance, the AGCO has committed to conducting an economic impact assessment before the regulations are finalized, and to determining what amount of financial burden, if any, will be considered "excessive" for the sake of complying with the rules.