Open social media or scroll a website these days in Canada, and you may well find yourself staring at an advert for an online casino. Many of them are not what they seem.
In recent months, we’ve seen numerous warnings from law enforcement, gaming regulators, crown corporations and regulated casinos about fraudulent ads. These adverts, many of which use names and photos of reputable casinos to masquerade as licensed gaming entities, look to suck the public into clicking on the ads and ultimately yielding their sensitive information.
It’s by no means a Canada-only issue. Several individual U.S.-based casinos have issued warnings in their respective states of this kind of activity, and some state regulators have issued consumer protection alerts urging residents to look out for fake online casinos.
But it’s certainly a problem pervading Canada from coast to coast.
‘Predatory and sophisticated’
As just some examples: Last year, Ontario’s Casino Rama’s name and image were used to direct the public to a website belonging to an unlicensed online casino registered to Curaçao. Earlier this year, Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan (LGS) was forced to remind the public that none of that province’s land-based casinos have a legitimate online version after advertising purporting to be from Dakota Dunes Casino, Casino Regina, Casino Moose Jaw and others spread on social media. And the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) published a notice that “predatory and sophisticated scams” using the BCLC logo were claiming to offer exclusive bonuses and promotions for anyone who clicked and registered.
The fraud can also get remarkably innovative. One particularly bold social media ad took an old CityNews video report and altered the footage to use the name of Alberta’s River Cree Resort & Casino to try to attract clicks.
As Canadian Gaming Association President and CEO Paul Burns said last year, “virtually every land-based casino brand in the country has had its brand hijacked to promote fraudulent online sites.” And the number of mainstream media reports and official communications to the public would seem to suggest the problem is worsening. Or, at least, it’s not getting better.
‘A game of Whac-A-Mole’
For Great Canadian Entertainment, which operates more than 20 retail casinos across four provinces, the issue has become so troublesome that it goes as far as to keep a list on its website of known fraudulent advertising attempts concerning its properties. In the last 12 months, the company’s River Rock Casino Resort, Casino Nova Scotia, Casino New Brunswick, Casino Resort Toronto, Pickering Casino Resort and others have all been targeted numerous times, mostly via ads on Meta’s social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
Chuck Keeling, Great Canadian’s executive vice-president of external relations and business development, told Canadian Gaming Business recently that “battle” is an apt term for the fight to tackle the issue.
“It’s a game of Whac-a-Mole. If one is forced down, another pops up.”
Great Canadian Entertainment’s Chuck Keeling
“It’s a never-ending cycle and it does seem to have picked up in recent months, based on what we’re seeing as it relates to some of our brands,” Keeling added. “And these online sites that pretend to be casinos are not operating in the shadows, either. It’s in broad daylight.”
Taking advantage of consumer confusion?
Keeling noted one example of a fraudulent ad that used “Woodbine Casino” branding to try to lure in unsuspecting people. That was never the name of that venue, which was formerly known as Casino Woodbine and was replaced by Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto branding in 2023.
That, Keeling suggested, is indicative of the fact that the people and companies behind fraudulent casino advertising may be looking to use the public’s lack of deep knowledge about the Canadian gaming industry to their advantage. “It takes advantage of the confusion in the marketplace as to what’s a legitimate site and what isn’t.”
Great Canadian as an operating brand has “no direct online presence, full stop,” Keeling stressed.
“If they can rip off a brand like ours to give themselves an air of legitimacy, why would they not?”
Keeling
The problem is that people who are not well-informed gamblers or attentive to the industry may not know that. Similarly, not every social media scroller knows that in Ontario, all regulated commercial online casinos have to include the iGaming Ontario (iGO) logo in their adverts.
Burns said at last year’s Canadian Gaming Summit that, “in a lot of cases, the public doesn’t actually know what to look for.”
Damage both reputational and financial
It’s a problem on several fronts. As well as the evident risks to the public, whose financial details and personal information become vulnerable if they click on malicious advertising, there’s a risk of reputational damage to the legitimate gaming operators whose names and logos are used in the fake ads.
“It really does have an impact on the reputation of the industry,” Keeling said. “But who’s getting hurt the most from this? It’s the consumers who get duped by it.”
In many cases, these adverts will use fake email addresses, domain names and website links that are very similar to the legitimate versions, sometimes even sending text messages or other alerts to people who click on links and provide basic information. Great Canadian and other operators have warned that they will never contact someone directly and ask for personal or financial information.
Still, you can’t stop every potential case.
“We get emails from people complaining that they have lost money on these sites, and there’s nothing we can do,” Keeling added. “Thankfully, we don’t get a lot of those messages but that’s the worst manifestation of this, that people are actually getting taken advantage of and losing money as a result of it.”
What can be done?
Operators like Great Canadian work closely with law enforcement to try to tackle the issue.
Those efforts are both reactive, wherein customers or observers flag instances to the relevant casino operator or to law enforcement, and proactive. Keeling noted that the Great Canadian team has taken to conducting media scans “just to see what we can pick off ourselves.”
The B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General told Canadian Gaming Business that one responsibility of the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) is to investigate any conduct or activity connected to gambling that could threaten the integrity of the industry. Once instances are identified, the GPEB investigates complaints or potential violations of the Gaming Control Act or the Gaming Control Regulation.
“GPEB’s Enforcement Division has been working with BCLC to identify the owner(s) of a series of social media scams impersonating B.C. casinos, along with the associated social media accounts,” said a ministry spokesperson. “We know this issue is not unique to B.C., with partners in other jurisdictions highlighting similar concerns.”
The Enforcement Division continually monitors and probes such scams and vows to take enforcement action if violations of the Gaming Control Act are identified. In some cases, the matter is referred to police if there are potential violations of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Do tech companies need to step up?
The CGA and other stakeholders have been vocal in the past in suggesting that tech giants such as Meta and Google need to take more responsibility in vetting the adverts they allow on their sites.
While Meta recently announced some more stringent requirements for gambling advertisers, Keeling acknowledged that fake casino ads are likely not top of those firms’ list of priorities. But without a firmer hand from that end, you’d say that constant game of Whac-A-Mole is likely to continue. Operators and regulators can report instances and law enforcement can pursue action in individual cases, but beyond that, the problem persists.
“It does have an impact on the reputation of the industry. But who’s getting hurt the most? The consumers who get duped.”
Keeling
“Does it trigger greater action going forward? I don’t know,” mulled Keeling. “Maybe, if the problem continues to escalate. I would like to think so because it seems so egregious and it happens in other consumer sectors too. I would like to hold out hope that the Metas and Googles will be more diligent about who is using their platforms. Ultimately, they’re the gatekeepers.
“I don’t know what else we do beyond what we’re doing already. We’re the tip of the spear. But it certainly merits attention. People are getting ripped off.”
A version of this story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Canadian Gaming Business magazine.
