Latest news with #AlcoholandGamingCommissionofOntario
Ottawa Citizen
23-05-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Night mayor makes it easier for Ottawa bars to stay open until 5 a.m.
Article content Ottawa nightlife commissioner Matthieu Grondin is making it easier for the city's bars to temporarily extend their liquor sales until 5 a.m. Article content In the review of Ottawa's special events bylaw, which goes before council on May 28, Grondin recommends lifting the city's requirement for an additional license for venues seeking a temporary extension of hours — when they are already properly licensed. Article content Article content The move will streamline the process of extending alcohol-service hours beyond Ontario's regular closing time of 2 a.m., reducing paperwork and avoiding duplicate inspections. Article content Article content The existing bylaw, enacted in 2002, requires events where 'the principal activities include listening and dancing to music,' to obtain an All Night Dance Event license when applying to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario for an extension. Article content According to city staff's review of the special-event bylaws, the license was originally designed to counter the popularity of 'underground dance events commonly referred to as 'raves.'' Article content The All Night Dance Event license calls for an extra round of inspections at the applicant's expense, a detail that Dagher said is unnecessary for a licensed venue. Article content Article content 'It's like you're having to get a license over an existing license to do the same thing but at a different hour,' Dagher explained, adding that he's had some amusing encounters with inspectors while applying for the All Night Dance Event license. Article content 'They would come in and be like, 'Well, this is going to be quick because we were here not too long ago.' So we would laugh about it because it's just the process, but we always thought that somebody should challenge that,' he said. Article content Article content 'The letter typically indicates that the City agrees the proposed event is of municipal significance, as it benefits the greater good of the city,' wrote Valérie Bietlot, the city's manager of public policy development, in response to an email inquiry. Final approval from the AGCO is still required for the extension.
Toronto Sun
12-05-2025
- Toronto Sun
Loved ones pay tribute to man who died after alleged 17-beer visit to bar
WOODSTOCK – The siblings of the man who died following a fall outside a Woodstock bar where provincial investigators allege he was served 17 beers are remembering him as a gentle soul who loved his children. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account They also believe the circumstances around the death of Mike Goss at age 59 were more complex than what's been suggested in the attention-grabbing allegations from officials with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The AGCO issued a statement in April noting it was seeking to suspend for 60 days the liquor licence of My Friends Place, a small bar at 19 Burtch St. in Woodstock, after a probe that alleges a patron was served 17 beers over four hours on Sunday Oct. 6, 2024. After leaving the bar, the man fell backwards and struck his head, later dying in hospital, the statement noted. Mike Goss wasn't named in the statement. But after being contacted by The Free Press, his older siblings – Sharon Ormston and Stan Goss – agreed to speak about the brother, father and expectant grandfather whose death they're still mourning. Mike Goss is shown in his days as a powerlifter. (OPA newsletter) 'To me, the true love of Michael's — (his) number one love — was his three kids,' Stan Goss said of his younger brother, who was a powerlifter in his youth and a motorcycle enthusiast. Sharon, seated with her brother at the kitchen table of her Woodstock home, quickly echoed Stan's sentiment: 'He loved his children.' The conversation harkened back to past years in their hometown, London, where Stan fondly remembered spending time with his brother. Stan said he acted as a father figure to Mike in their younger years after their father's early death at age 44, recollecting the pair's inseparable bond. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Michael and I had something from the start, when Michael was two (and) I was 14,' Stan said. Stan remembered a time when he had saved up money to buy a high-handled bicycle with a banana seat and Mike would ride on the back. Where Stan went, Mike went. Years later, when that bicycle transitioned to a car, Mike was still a passenger, often along for the ride while his older brother drove. Stan remembered: 'I lost a lot of high school friends because, where I went, Michael went. Then when I got a car . . . we'd go down to the beach with buddies, and they'd say, 'Are we taking him?' Where I went, he went. For years, it was like that.' When the brothers got older, Stan said they would go on road trips together, including a 2019 trek when he helped Mike move out west. Mike had retired from manufacturing plant Leggett and Platt in London, where Sharon noted he was well-respected by his colleagues, before moving in 2019 to Spruce Grove, a city about 10 kilometres west of Edmonton. He moved there to work for a fibreoptic cable installation company owned by his other sister and her husband. Mike also spent time with his mother, who lived in Alberta. After spending about four years out west, Sharon said Mike returned from Alberta because 'he missed his children.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Then, just after he got home, he found out his daughter was expecting,' Sharon said. '(He was) over the moon.' Rosemary Goss, Sharon Ormston, and Stan Goss hold pictures of their sibling and brother-in-law, Mike Goss. Photograph taken on Tuesday May 6, 2025. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press) When Mike returned to Ontario in 2023, Sharon said he moved into her Woodstock home, where she was still healing after the untimely death of her husband Drew in 2022. Sharon said she was 'grateful' for the time she spent with Mike as an adult. 'He just was good natured,' she said. 'We'd have campfires and we'd talk and just remember things and talk about what we wanted in the future, and then I would cry.' In what she called a testament to his work ethic, Sharon said Mike found employment at the Home Hardware in Woodstock just days after returning from Alberta. She also remembered Mike enjoying the time he spent with her young grandchildren 'who just adored him' while he lived with her. Mike had lived with Sharon for about a year when she was notified by Woodstock police some time after 11 p.m. on Oct. 6, 2024, that he was in Woodstock Hospital. Sharon arrived at the hospital and, soon after, was joined by Stan, who drove from London. They were told by hospital staff that Mike was already 'brain dead,' but despite Mike's condition, he was taken by ambulance to University Hospital in London for some final tests. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We were there until the end,' Sharon said. 'And that was the underlying thing, that we were told that 'Michael, yes had been drinking at the bar, and yes had fallen but that he had an accumulated thing.' Stan and Sharon said they were told Mike's death may have been the result of a brain aneurysm. Sharon noted she and Stan were 'supported in those thoughts by the doctors because there was no visible signs of head trauma from a fall. We based our healing on the fact that what happened to Michael was going to happen to Michael.' Stan added: 'It just happened to be at that bar.' Mike died on Oct. 7, 2024, at University Hospital. My Friends Place bar at 19 Burtch St. in Woodstock. Photo taken on April 11, 2025. (Brian Williams/The London Free Press) The AGCO alleges a patron was served 17 beers in a four-hour period on Oct. 6, 2024, at My Friends Place and they continued being served after appearing visibly intoxicated, the agency's statement said. After leaving the bar, the man fell backwards outside the bar and struck his head, and he was transported to hospital and later died. The agency issued a notice of proposal to suspend the bar's licence to serve alcohol for 60 days after the probe into the alleged 17-beer incident. The bar is owned by 80-year-old Mary Beattie. She had previously told The Free Press she wouldn't appeal the agency's decision, citing the legal costs. But AGCO officials say the bar has challenged the matter to the Licence Appeal Tribunal, an adjudicative body independent of the provincial agency. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. When Beattie spoke with The Free Press, she disputed several allegations, including that a patron drank 17 beers – arguing he was buying drinks for others, too. Stan and Sharon both acknowledged their brother would binge from time to time, but they believe his 17-beer tab would've included drinks for other patrons at the bar. 'I believe he paid for 17, but I don't think he drank 17,' Sharon said as she detailed the pain of losing her younger brother. 'I had him (residing) for about a year with me, so that made this whole trauma very difficult,' Sharon said, noting Mike died just three weeks before the granddaughter he'd been excited to meet was born. bwilliams@ @BrianWatLFPress The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
Hamilton Spectator
08-05-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
AGCO issues penalties of $151,000 against Great Canadian Entertainment for alleged age verification failures
TORONTO, May 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has issued $151,000 in penalties to Great Canadian Entertainment for allegedly failing to prevent minors from accessing gambling on multiple occasions at three Toronto-area casinos. As part of its investigation, the AGCO reviewed four separate incidents in which minors allegedly gained access to the casino floors and in which some of these minors participated in gambling activities – two cases at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, and one at each of Casino Ajax and Pickering Casino Resort . The AGCO is committed to ensuring casinos meet Ontario's high standards of harm reduction and responsible gambling. The AGCO's Standards require operators to ensure only eligible individuals are permitted into a gambling site and strictly prohibit access to anyone under 19 years of age (except in the course of employment). The Standards also mandate that casino employees have the necessary competence, skills, experience and training to effectively carry out their duties, including age verification. This enforcement action underscores the AGCO's dedication to protecting youth and other vulnerable individuals. A casino operator served with an Order of Monetary Penalty by the AGCO Registrar has the right to appeal the Registrar's decision to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) , an adjudicative tribunal that is part of Tribunals Ontario and independent of the AGCO. Quote 'Ontario casino operators have an obligation to ensure minors are not able to access casino floors or activities such as slot machines or table games. The AGCO will continue to monitor and hold all casino operators accountable for fulfilling this important role.' Dr. Karin Schnarr, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar, AGCO Media Contact AGCO Media media@ Additional Resources Casino Ajax Pickering Casino Resort Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto About the AGCO The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is an Ontario provincial regulatory agency reporting to the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG). It is a corporation under the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario Act, 2019 .
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Fraud charges laid over GTA casino payouts with counterfeit tickets: OPP
Two people from Thornhill have been charged in connection with alleged fraudulent activity at a GTA casino. On Feb. 24, members of the Ontario Provincial Police Investigation and Enforcement Bureau who are attached to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario started to investigate 'allegations of fraud involving payouts using counterfeit tickets,' OPP said in Thursday in a news release. As a result, Ilie Ioncila, 52, and Nicoleta Georgescu, 41, have each been charged with uttering forged documents, theft over $5,000, and fraud over $5,000 under the Criminal Code. They have been released from custody and are to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto on June 25. The casino involved was not identified. The investigation is ongoing, and OPP ask anyone with information that could assist to call 1-888-310-1122. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or
CBC
26-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
BetMGM Canada fined $110K for allegedly offering cash to new customers
Ontario's gaming watchdog has issued a $110,000 fine to online sports betting platform BetMGM Canada after the company allegedly offered cash to new customers who set up an account on the platform. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario said in a news release on Wednesday that the activities occurred in public forums, such as a major national trade conference. In January 2024, representatives from the company attended a major national trade conference, identified by officials as the National Franchise Show, and offered $100 in cash to new players who opened an account and deposited $15, says the AGCO. The AGCO says that on March 11 of the same year, BetMGM Canada's marketing affiliate, Above the Street, engaged in "prohibited inducement marketing," which resulted in 377 player sign-ups and $127,180 in commissions. Then, on April 13, 2024, the AGCO says another BetMGM marketing affiliate, Maple Leaf Marketing, engaged in "prohibited inducements and marketing" to induce on-site activations, which resulted in 94 player sign-ups and about $34,000 in commissions. Canada made single-event sports betting legal in 2021, but Ontario was the first to move ahead with a regulated sports betting program — allowing multiple operators to provide legal, online sports gambling services. However, registered iGaming platforms in Ontario are prohibited from offering gambling inducements, bonuses, and credits as part of their "broad public advertising and marketing activities," says the AGCO. "These Standards exist to protect Ontarians from predatory advertising and promotional marketing practices in order to limit the risk of gambling-related harm," said the AGCO.
