Many online casino players in Canada were in for a big surprise this past week, when players began to receive emails from numerous online casinos regarding the termination of their casino-playing privileges moving forward.
The emails were sent to players located in Canada who held an online gambling account with the casinos that sent out the notices. The emails informed the recipients that due to new regulations, they would no longer be permitted to download the software needed to play the online casino games or play the games themselves. The websites that sent these notifications to their Canadian customers were Paddy Power, Bwin, and Casino Club.
The email that was sent by Casino Club to its members said the following: “We regret to inform you that due to the new regulations of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Loto-Québec and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, online gaming products in Canada are prohibited. Unfortunately we are required to add Canada to our list of excluded countries. Players from Canada will no longer be permitted to play at Casino Club starting September 24th, 2010.”
Although the email notification alludes to new regulations, no specific information was given to Canadian customers regarding what exactly these new regulations are, nor how the government-owned lottery services are related to the online gambling offered by these websites and their restriction of Canadians.
Though no concrete evidence is given explaining why these restrictions have suddenly been put in place, analysts believe that the software giant Boss Media is behind this. Boss Media casino software is carried and used by all three of the sites that have so far been reported to having sent their Canadian customers restriction notifications. Additionally, some of the restriction emails that were sent out state that players will still be able to access and play at the sites’ instant gambling platforms, even though they cannot use the online gambling products. The instant gaming platforms do not use Boss Media software.
Analysts are predicting that once the new laws that will further define online gambling and the legalities surrounding this issue come into effect in Canada, Boss Media will try to offer its services again. Boss Media may simply be protecting themselves for the time being, out of the belief that any group that offered its online gambling software services before the new laws come in to effect could be denied an operating license for the future.
