iGaming Ontario (iGO) President and CEO Joseph Hillier has a wide remit leading the agency responsible for overseeing Canada’s only regulated online gambling market.
From helping to lead iGO initiatives like the development of its centralized self-exclusion platform and bolstering its anti-money laundering capabilities to working with stakeholders on a host of other top-of-mind issues, 2026 promises to be a big year as provincial iGaming hits its fourth anniversary in April.
While Ontario’s own $9 billion iGaming market keeps growing by the month, the province can now look ahead to potentially expanding its horizons in a new way. The Court of Appeal determined in November that it would be lawful under the Criminal Code for Ontario to allow players of peer-to-peer (P2P) games such as online poker and daily fantasy sports (DFS) to compete with players in other countries.
Ontario wants to push the boundaries
At the time that Ontario’s government filed that reference question on pooling players in February 2024, Hillier was leaving his position as Attorney General Doug Downey’s chief of staff and taking up the role of chief strategy officer of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). As iGO leader, he will be one of the key figures working out how the province may put things into practice.
“Like so many, I’m excited at the possibilities offered by the decision,” Hillier told Canadian Gaming Business this week. “We’re still in an appeal period, but credit to Attorney General Downey for bringing that question forward.
“I think it shows a commitment on the government’s part to continue to push the boundaries and deliver on the promise of what this market could be, and what potentially could come next.”
As it stands, regulated DFS is a non-existent vertical in Ontario. Meanwhile, ring-fenced online poker makes up only around 1.5% of monthly handle and gross gaming revenue at the last count.
The court’s decision was heralded by the likes of the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA). Hillier noted that not only does it expand Ontario’s borders physically and metaphorically and further enhance consumer choice, but multi-jurisdictional P2P play could be an additional tool “to chip away at that unregulated space.”
Ontario iGaming can cross borders — but how, and where?
Now, the questions really begin. Exactly where and how iGO might look to expand P2P iGaming is the biggest.
Hillier referenced gaming compacts in Europe and the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) as examples of successful cross-border play in other regions. Is there a world in which Ontario could join MSIGA, currently a U.S.-only venture?
“We’ve been thinking about it a lot, as you can probably imagine,” Hillier added. “It’s been a hot topic in all quarters and joining the agency, it was one of the first things on my list to assess our options, the plans we’ve got and the conversations we can have.
“The mechanics, a lot of that will be conversations with our government partners, our ministry colleagues, and understanding the government’s overall priorities. Some of those decisions will be driven by them, but iGO is uniquely positioned to engage with jurisdictions and understand how their markets work and what kind of opportunities there could be to come together.
“It’s pretty intricate. I’m continuing to learn more about it myself.”
Just poker and DFS, or more?
The court reference decision mentioned poker and DFS by name as the type of products that are viable cross-border iGaming options, and it’s certainly those that have been the most talked about.
But is that where the limits to the potential lie, or ultimately could we see an expansion of more typical online casino-style products?
“I think the opportunities could be significant,” suggested Hillier. “There’s definitely an eagerness to move things along as quickly as possible. But at the same time, it’s understanding where the true opportunities are. Peer-to-peer poker is something that people have spoken about, daily fantasy, maybe even super progressive jackpots on the casino side.
“What could this mean two or three years from now, in terms of the maturity of our market and other possibilities that we haven’t even contemplated? And how do we make sure that whatever approach we take maintains that flexibility so we can continue to pivot and adapt?”
Can international liquidity mean inter-provincial?
The court’s decision pointed to the Criminal Code’s language, which states that it is lawful for a province, “either alone or in conjunction with another province, to conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province, or in that and the other province, in accordance with any law enacted by the legislature of that province.”
The court found that a pooled-liquidity model for DFS and online poker would clearly qualify as a lottery scheme if multiple provinces agreed to it.
For now, Ontario is the only open regulated iGaming market in Canada. But Alberta is in the process of following. Whenever that province opens its doors to commercial operators, could its own iGaming management agency work with Ontario on pooled play?
“That’s another key opportunity that has been on my mind,” Hillier mused. “Everybody’s eagerly watching to see how Alberta’s plans progress, including us. Once they’re in a position to explore those possibilities, we are also.
“As we see other provinces progress on their own plans, I anticipate that will be very much a topic of conversation at the table. As soon as we’re able to share more concrete plans with our operators and other stakeholders, you’ll know what those plans are and what the opportunities are.”
