The Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO) has updated the lottery section of its gaming standards to remove a requirement that staff must maintain direct visual oversight of self-serve lottery terminals (SSTs).
The regulatory change that went into effect on Feb. 2 means that sellers can now use CCTV or other video camera systems to monitor their terminals. Previously, the standards required Ontario Lottery and Gamign and retail sellers to ensure that when an SST was installed within a retail store, it was in the direct line of sight of the seller and/or employees on the premises for the purposes of monitoring every usage.
Now, sellers can choose the monitoring method that best suits their business – either direct line-of-sight surveillance or camera-based oversight. The AGCO said that the updates reflect “the evolving risk profile” and practical needs of expanding self-serve lottery terminals into third-party locations.
If camera-based surveillance is used, measures must be in place to ensure that cameras are in good working condition, are recording and storing files in high definition and are directly and clearly capturing the self-serve lottery terminal when in use. Video footage monitoring the self-serve lottery terminal must be retained for seven days or such other time period required by the registrar and must be provided to the AGCO upon request.
Operators must also ensure that a self-serve lottery terminal is equipped with a disablement mechanism. When line-of-sight monitoring is used, the seller should use the disablement mechanism whenever an ineligible person attempts to access the self-serve lottery terminal or in any cases of suspected tampering or similar misuse of a self-serve terminal.
Wider change follows casino carve-out last year
The AGCO said that the changes are part of the regulator’s ongoing modernization efforts for SSTs.
Previous updates include last year’s change to the standards to allow SSTs terminals on gaming floors at Ontario casinos. In that case, AGCO allowed for an exemption to the line-of-sight monitoring rules so that casinos could more freely add terminals across their often expansive floors, rather than limiting them to locations where an attendant could be near the machine at all times.
The AGCO noted at the time that as casinos have “a high degree of control and surveillance” and already must meet other regulatory requirements, they should not need to meet the same line-of-sight surveillance standards as retailers.
Now, the regulator has green-lit the use of video surveillance for retail stores too.
