Ontario's AGCO Cracks Down on Payout Transparency — And More Changes Are Coming

31 October 2026

Ontario's Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) recently issued a $200,000 penalty against online sports-betting operator theScore for misleading players about cash-out offers. But that enforcement action is only the most recent sign that the AGCO is demanding greater clarity about the timing and certainty of payouts and wins for Ontario igaming players.

In Ontario, the AGCO's igaming standards require online operators to provide sufficient information to players before a bet is placed, to pay out accurately, without a delay, and to display information "for a length of time that is sufficient for the player to understand their bet and the result of the game". The standards kicked in on April 4, 2022 and the latest enforcement action against theScore shows how the AGCO interprets its own transparency obligations.

"There is a real cost to not having all the information," says Andrew Stade, a Toronto gambling lawyer. "It causes real, financial problems in a player's life."

For decades, public confidence in gambling has been built through an emphasis on the truth-telling that comes with regulatory disclosure rules, Stade says. These are familiar to anyone who has played a slot machine: the odds of a single cherry coming up on a reel, or the "payout percentage" outlined on a placard.

These disclosure requirements have been extended to the igaming space since the Canadian federal criminal code was amended in 2021 to allow single-province sports betting and igaming.

In Ontario, the landmark Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming — including the rule on timely and accurate payouts — have been in force since April 4, 2022. And last October 6, the AGCO took action: the regulator issued a $200,000 penalty against Score Media and Gaming, which operates The Score as an online sportsbook, over misleading cash-out offers.

The cash-out offers, the AGCO found, were "not achievable as presented" and violated Standard 4.07. That is the rule requiring that information provided to players not be misleading or misrepresent the rules or odds of the game being played, whether it's in-person or online. It prohibits a house edge.

The Score and other major sportsbook operators have been criticized for offering big odds on parlay bets — the kind where a player picks winning teams in multiple games, but the risk and return associated with parlays can be harder to grasp than single picks. However, offering a cash-out as an in-play betting option — where, say at halftime, a parlay that was given 30-1 odds might be "cashed out" to payout the player an "instant win" of 40-1 — is an increasingly concerning trend in the space.

Players Must Understand Bets and Be Able to Act on Them

The AGCO reminds operators that players must understand all aspects of a bet and an offer: the odds or potential payouts, plus information about how and when the payout can be expected.

That's why for players in Ontario, online casino operators must not take bets, for example, if the probability of winning and possible payouts are not clear.

Like other platforms, theScore has been working to address concerns around cash-out offers in in-game betting. theScore has settled a player dispute by awarding the player $20,000, the stakes of a parlay where the $18,000-or-bust potential of the cash-out was not delivered. Andrew Stade, a Toronto gambling lawyer involved, says these operators should not be avoiding responsibility for misleading offers.

"Version Control" - one possible solution to cover both the instant payout at cash-out, and the long-term transparency by an operator for automated, public-facing disclosures of player odds and payouts - could create a record of changes made to a house edge output. It would leave a history of decisions, or version control, that players could access before any bet.

Timely Payouts Already a Regulatory Precedent

"Regulation is moving very fast in igaming. It's changing to reflect how the market has developed these services," says Anthony Barcelo, CEO of theScore. He witnessed the penalty action related to that company.

Before the Registrar's Internet Gaming Standards, provinces required more physical 'brick-and-mortar' disclosures. In Ontario, the AGCO had to visit sportsbooks and casinos across the province and post age-restriction notices. It's "outdated," Barcelo said, compared to how these regulations have progressed online.

The addition of Standard 4.07 — on the requirement that disclosures be non-misleading — helps solve the problem of conflicting offerings in igaming. And makes the prospect of "customizable auto-generated disclosure" — what theScore was working on — more attractive.

The AGCO has guidance on how to best meet the payout accuracy and disclosure requirements: a framework prepared to help an operator establish new, customized settlement and reporting system. AGCO points to these examples in order to facilitate the industry adoption of pre-bet and cash-out transparency.

It suggests that an operator could link each payment to an algorithm that applies the rule correctly, to an arrangement of tables or outputs for each player of the winnings possible.

It's a broad framework for the sports betting industry, not a development of the casino betting space.