Responsible Gambling Tools in Canada: What You Need to Know

Responsible gambling tools are one of the most overlooked aspects of gambling online in Canada. Whether you are worried about problem gambling or just want to keep on top of your playing habits, these tools can really help.

Let’s take a look at some of these tools, particularly the setting of limits, how you can use them, and examine the state of responsible gambling tools in Canada overall.

As we will see in a moment, some of the best online casinos in Canada really make responsible gaming one of their selling points, while others are far less transparent on the matter, and might just point you in the direction of organizations like GamCare or Gamblers Anonymous.

Whether or not you think you’ll even use responsible gambling tools, it’s always a good idea to play at a casino that has them. Better safe than sorry, perhaps? While there are multiple options available to players in Canada, the most common tools include:

Setting limits

The focus of this discussion is on the ability to set limits on your casino account, whether that’s a limit on how much you can deposit on any given day, week or month, or even a limit on how much you can bet at a time. Some casinos even go so far as to allow you to set a time limit on your gaming sessions.

Cooling-off periods

A more significant tool, a cooling-off period is when you request that the casino temporarily close your account and prevent access to it, until such time as you are ready to come back and play.

Self-exclusion

This is one of the most drastic things you can do in the name of preventing problematic gambling. If you self-exclude yourself from your preferred gaming platform, you will be permanently locked out and unable to play at all. Drastic as it may seem, it is a very useful tool for those for whom gambling is getting out of hand.

Before we get into the tools themselves, we have to discuss where you can use them. Right now, the Canadian market is extremely fragmented. With no national legislation, provinces are in pretty much complete control of online gambling.

Ontario – through the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and iGaming Ontario (iGO) – is the only province to create a regulated online gambling market for private-sector operators. These agencies have strict responsible gambling rules and have created guidelines for online casinos to follow. iGO offers RG Check Accreditation to operators who follow the guidelines, but this accreditation is not mandatory.

Québec, British Columbia, and other provinces offer online gambling exclusively through their state-run lottery platforms. Offshore betting sites are also available, but they are not regulated, which obviously means they are not required to have responsible gambling tools either.

Should online casinos allow players to set limits during sign-up?

Part of the reason responsible gambling tools are not available everywhere in Canada is because many people in the industry debate whether they are necessary. The most heated debate is whether online casinos should be required to prompt players to set limits as a part of their registration processes.

The argument for allowing players to set limits during the casino sign-up process is that prevention is the best way to fight problem gambling. If players set gambling limits online early, they are less likely to become problem gamblers later.

iGaming operators argue against this, saying that pushing limits front and center as a part of the sign-process puts a bad light on the casino industry. It could cause backlash to the industry overall and can even deter new players from signing up.

Both sides have merit, but it’s hard to argue against letting players know about the problem gambling prevention tools available to them as early as possible. Yes, some players might be scared off by them, but that’s not a big cost compared to the effects of problem gambling that could be avoided by these tools.

As I just mentioned, some online casinos have pushed back against advertising their responsible gambling tools. This is because they think raising attention to the potential of problem gambling will scare away players and give a bad impression to people outside the casino industry.

There’s some truth to what these casinos are saying, but I think it’s missing an important part of the conversation. People tend to have a bad impression of online gambling because all they know are the risks. If online casinos show that they take responsible gambling seriously and offer plenty of ways to practice safe gambling, the industry will look more favourable to the average person.

Think about it, would you rather gamble at a site that has multiple responsible gambling tools or at a casino that seems like it’s hiding those tools from you? I know that I personally would trust the first site more than the second. Showing that casinos take the risk of problem gambling seriously would also be a good way to combat arguments by anti-casino advocates, who tend to have a big influence on local lawmakers.

If the online casino industry is going to survive, it needs to embrace responsible gambling and work with lawmakers instead of fighting against them and hurting their own image in the process.