By Gabriela Pelayes
November 15th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
iGaming Ontario, a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Corporation of Ontario that advances the province’s plans to create an open and competitive internet gaming (igaming) market.
Ontario’s online gaming scene has hit a remarkable high, with iGaming Ontario (iGO) revealing that online casinos now account for 86% of the province’s total wagers. This trend is part of a larger wave of digital transformation that seems to be sweeping across the province, and it’s not just in the big city centers.
Aside from a wealth of locally licensed sites, large offshore operators are growing popular among Canadian players too. Many of those, like the very popular Mega Dice platform, accept crypto as a payment method. This enables them to provide a host of features that traditional online casinos simply can’t compete with. Between instant withdrawals, more attractive bonuses, and far fewer restrictions on betting limits, crypto casinos are capturing a large part of the market these days.
However, the local iGaming industry has still been doing wonders for local services as its massive profits have resulted in huge tax revenues for the province. As a result of the success of the industry, Ontario’s communities are exploring how technology can open new doors for local businesses. In places like Burlington, the commercial sector is embracing this digital shift in a way that’s connecting people and driving local growth.
Burlington – Best mid-sized city in Canada.
Burlington’s road to the digital age has been both accidental and unplanned. Indeed, over the past few years, Burlington has tried to bridge the digital gaps and make all of its residents, from teenagers to seniors, feel at ease with technology. For instance, these days, local community centers and libraries are filled with workshops and programs aimed at helping everyone get comfortable with online platforms and devices.
This content reads as if it is human-written. From that perspective, it is fantastic how small-business owners have learned to create a presence in the online world after always relying on foot traffic and using digital tools to keep their businesses alive.
This boom in online gaming also reflects more than entertainment; it underlines a broader trend toward tech-driven lifestyles in which innovation is not just a nicety but a necessity. For example, online gaming platforms in general have been made more accessible, entertaining, and safe.
Interestingly, Burlington has taken a similar tack, prioritizing privacy, data protection, and digital literacy. That is not about mere technological capability but rather about developing confidence in those taken-for-granted technologies upon which actual lives are based, from paying bills online and connecting with family to launching an e-commerce business.
ith each new tech project, Burlington is building a current and prepared community for what’s next.
This section outlines this approach for how the digital transformation is occurring locally in Burlington, keeping everyone safe and benefiting. Just as iGO collaborates with industry leaders like Integrity Compliance 360 and IXUP to create safe gaming environments, Burlington has partnered with local organizations to bring new technology to the community.
Through public-private partnerships, digital resources are increasingly available for those who may have needed more easy access. In many ways, these collaborations are a perfect example of what’s possible when public interest meets private innovation.
As iGO raises the bar in digital gaming, Burlington’s efforts show the power of embracing change while keeping community values front and center. This isn’t just about keeping up with trends but building a solid foundation for a future-ready city.
With each new tech project, Burlington is building a current and prepared community for what’s next.
“Through public-private partnerships, digital resources are increasingly available for those who may have needed more easy access. In many ways, these collaborations are a perfect example of what’s possible when public interest meets private innovation.
As iGO raises the bar in digital gaming, Burlington’s efforts show the power of embracing change while keeping community values front and center. This isn’t just about keeping up with trends but building a solid foundation for a future-ready city.
With each new tech project, Burlington is building a current and prepared community for what’s next.”
If you have never worked in information technology or for an I&IT vendor, then you will have missed the steady diet of word salad that permeates those enterprises – meaningless, somewhat vacuous, lofty pronouncements such as the above. If you wanted to sell a project to a client, then it had better be “transformational” and promote “positive business change”. But it also needs to be stable and proven, the old “n-1” approach.
The problem with Gabriela Pelayes’ connections and assertions above is that, they are unproven and largely unprovable. Indeed, they come from the ‘wrong end of the bull’. What concerns me most, however, is that they echo the budget process promises and proselytizing of Burlington’s Chief Digital Officer and his complicit/compliant sponsor, Mr. Basit. This language has no place in a forum where serious business and financial decisions need to be made.