Canada is a sports-mad nation. Hockey is a national religion, the Toronto Blue Jays captured imaginations with their World Series run last year, this summer’s FIFA World Cup had the entire country watching, the NFL, NBA, CFL, and European soccer all have an eager following, to name but a few.
This enthusiasm for sports has paid off well for the regulated sports betting industry in Ontario. And as Alberta joined its fellow province in launching a regulated iGaming market on July 13, the same can reasonably be expected there.
With the emergence of new betting markets and continued expansion of the industry, challenges always come. The conversation around sports integrity is constant, and it has been at fever pitch since last year amid numerous high-profile incidents of alleged match-fixing in North American pro and college sports.
For integrity monitoring and compliance firm Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360), preserving sports betting integrity is a way of life.
“The broader conversation goes to what this means for our society as a whole and what this means for sport as a whole,” Ilkim Hincer, IC360’s President of Canadian Operations & Managing Director of Global Advisory Strategy, tells Canadian Gaming Business.
Hincer joined IC360 in October 2025, three and a half years after Ontario opened its iGaming market and months after Alberta gave the final approval for its own market launch.
Prior to IC360, Hincer worked as a lawyer for over 30 years, with around two-thirds of that time spent in iGaming. His career has included spells at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Penn National Gaming (now PENN Entertainment), Hard Rock International, and a stint as Chair of the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA).
Hincer notes that the way the industry has approached integrity has been ‘fragmented’, though stakeholders have taken the sometimes harsh lessons on board.
“It’s being addressed now, in part because of the learnings of the Ontario launch,” he says. He also cites the establishment of a nationwide safe sports mandate under Sports Integrity Canada, previously the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports, as a key moment.
You never stop learning
Ontario has benefited from examples from elsewhere, including the U.S., where most states have embraced regulating sports betting in their own way since the 2018 repeal of PASPA. But Hincer stresses that the province’s own experience of gaming, both before and after regulation, has also paid off.
“One of the things to remember with Ontario is that although it launched this model in 2022, there has been a very robust gaming in Canada for some time,” Hincer notes. “There was a two-pronged approach; the crown corporation monopoly model where they regulate gaming including online gaming, and then the unregulated market, the grey market.
“There was a very robust market for at least 15 years in Canada and in Ontario. It’s not like what we see today was created from scratch. We’ve had many years to address integrity issues and compliance issues, albeit in the land-based space and the crown corporation space.”
Four years on from the launch of Ontario’s market, the province’s iGaming channelization rate is around 90%. This is a stat that significantly more mature markets in Europe would be jealous of.
But it doesn’t mean that everything is peachy when it comes to integrity. For Hincer, the fact that Canada has not yet signed up to the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, the Macolin Convention, is an oversight.
Although a Council of Europe initiative, the Convention can be ratified by non-European nations — Australia being one example. IC360’s Canadian President holds the Convention and its principles in high regard, and feels that Canada should too.
“The Macolin Convention is a tremendous tool for looking at this issue globally, and whether Canada should join the convention is a big area of discussion,” he suggests. “I think it would be a big benefit.”
Ontario regulator takes firm hand
As with every market, sports integrity always comes with an element of controversy around it, particularly when regulations are breached and unsavoury headlines are made.
The notorious case involving former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter is the most prominent example. An investigation found that Porter had manipulated his own performances in multiple games and supplied insider information to known bettors. He became the first NBA player to be banned for life for involvement in a sports betting scandal.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) subsequently moved to suspend one Ontario-licensed operator, PointsBet, in February 2026 for alleged violations related to bets on Porter. PointsBet appealed the penalty and a tribunal hearing is scheduled for October. Separately, the AGCO fined FanDuel $350,000 in January in relation to several weeks’ worth of alleged suspicious betting on Czech table tennis.
While he won’t comment on specific examples, Hincer does not believe that the AGCO has necessarily become more strict in its approach to integrity matters. Perhaps it’s just that the spotlight has started to shine more brightly.
One can forget that sports integrity isn’t always as obvious as match fixing.
“The laws haven’t changed, the standards haven’t changed,” adds the IC360 executive. “There have been confusions and there have been clarifications. There have been communications with stakeholders, and the CGA has a role in that.
“I think it’s more of a recognition that active enforcement is needed and that sports integrity is a part of the fabric of Canadian life. Sport is in Canadians’ DNA. But one can forget that sports integrity isn’t always as obvious as match fixing — it could be athlete harassment, insider information. As these things evolve, the AGCO and others’ approach needs to evolve.”
Does Canada need new federal sporting integrity laws?
The regulatory picture in Canada remains fragmented between provinces, and probably will for some time. When it comes to sports integrity, fragmentation transcends the provincial level and reaches the federal level.
Hincer points out that Canada does not have any specific national legislation that deals with issues like match manipulation.
There are broad Criminal Code provisions which deal with it, but actual legislation may be needed. Australia is looking at this, and the UK has some already. We could do with some too.
Regardless, Hincer sees the gradual rollout of regulated sports betting across other Canadian provinces as ‘inevitable’. Access to mobile technology, consumer expectations, and the reality of grey markets already in place make further rollouts highly likely.
If and when that happens, it will require the same robustness seen in Ontario, where operators are required to partner with an independent integrity monitoring firm like IC360. Alberta has committed to the same mandate and a stringent approach would be demanded in other provinces, Hincer adds.
“When you look at integrity, conversations go back to the first principle of opening up markets — how do you protect the end users? You protect them by having regulations, by bringing them under the umbrella of the regulated market, and making sure the operators comply with all the rules and regulations.
If we don’t think this activity is happening across the country, we’d be fools. If there were a national database upholding the integrity of gaming, that would be great.
As sports betting grows in prominence and accessibility, the convergence between sports and gaming continues to accelerate. Integrity should already be a top priority for the industry, Hincer emphasizes, and it requires everyone pulling in the same direction.
“I’ve had the benefit of seeing multiple perspectives over the past 20 years,” Hincer reflects. “It’s critical to realize that this ecosystem is so interconnected. And one of the key pillars of making sure integrity is connected is education for all involved. What is match manipulation? What is integrity? How do the dots connect across the ecosystem?
“It’s making sure we all work together — IC360, law enforcement, operators, leagues. These are no insular issues. It’s not one stakeholder or another who will solve this problem. It needs all of us.”
A version of this story first appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Canadian Gaming Business magazine.
Ted Orme-Claye is Editor of SBC News and Lottery Daily.
