British Columbia is one of Canada’s provinces leading the way towards a nationally regulated online gambling environment. BC’s Gaming, Policy, and Enforcement Branch recently endorsed NMi Gaming, one of the world’s leading gambling compliance and auditing companies, to manage an approval system for land-based and digital casinos across the province.
NMi Gaming has over 30 years of experience in the industry with offices based in nations around the world. The company recently opened its first North American base of operations in Vancouver to begin approving regulated Canadian offline and online casinos.
However, the GPEB authorization only allows NMi to approve licenses for BC gambling facilities. The auditor is expected to expedite approval of online gambling destinations to follow in the footsteps of PlayNow.com, the province’s own regulated casino that managed by the BCLC.
Andrew Rosewarne, Director of NMi, believes the endorsement from GPEB will help British Columbians and eventually all Canadians establish comfort with nationally regulated online casinos. Rosewarne hopes that over time, the NMi regulatory process will help reform Canadian gambling laws to reduce the threat of unregulated online gambling sites.
“The accreditation follows an extensive audit by GPEB spanning several months to establish the suitability of our people and systems, and we are pleased to be one of the few gaming labs able to operate at this level.”
Canadian regulated online casinos are growing across the country. The BCLC’s PlayNow.com was licensed to the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Association earlier this year. Lotto Quebec also created its own regulated site called EspaceJeux, and the OLG intends to go live with PlayOLG.ca later this year.
