BCLC's latest 2-year Service Plan shows how the BC Government refuses pragmatism and fails its residents 13352w

March 18, 2025 3y3q4j

The BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) recently published its 2025/26 – 2027/28 Service Plan, outlining "ambitious" financial targets, player health initiatives, and strategic goals. However, upon closer analysis, significant flaws emerge, particularly in BCLC's overly optimistic projections regarding their ability to mitigate the impacts of offshore "grey market" operators, which has been bolstered by widespread marketing from the regulated Ontario market.

Firstly, while BCLC emphasizes that its PlayNow platform is British Columbia's only "legal" and provincially regulated online gambling option, the Service Plan offers little concrete strategy on how it intends to effectively counter the appeal of offshore operators. Despite noting intense competition from "illegal" online operators, the document inadequately addresses the reality that British Columbians currently have unrestricted access to thousands of offshore sites. Simply claiming an intention to "enhance" PlayNow with incremental updates, such as new apps or streamlined payments, fails to tackle the fundamental reason why players choose offshore options: better odds, better platforms, higher promotions, broader gaming selections, and fewer limitations.  In other words, BCLC refuses to acknowledge the fact that when consumers enjoy the option of choice, be they "grey market" or "legal" options in nature, people will select the operators with the most compelling product as suited to their preferences. Trying to position PlayNow as the only "legal" option is not only incorrect, it misses the point entirely. 

Moreover, BCLC acknowledges that the Ontario iGaming market, which legalized and regulated private operators in 2022, is indirectly siphoning players away from British Columbia. Several legal Ontario online casinos and sportsbook brands also operate offshore. These "legal" Ontario brands are creating brand awareness for their "grey market" efforts outside Ontario, which serve BC and other Canadian provinces. So BCLC's solution of merely "raising awareness" through coalitions is strikingly insufficient. Awareness alone will not change consumer behavior, especially when British Columbians are inundated with advertising from Ontario-licensed brands that also operate offshore sites, which are freely accessible in BC.

The Service Plan states that PlayNow's iGaming revenue grew only modestly in recent years and BCLC attributes the slowing growth to aggressive competition from these offshore platforms. Rather than benefiting from game-changing regulation of the BC market or a partnership to the iGaming Ontario ecosystem, BCLC must primarily rely on incremental enhancements of their existing platforms and player verification systems. While verification and responsible gambling measures are crucial, from a consumer perspective, they are not compelling enough on their own to attract players who prioritize competitive pricing and broader options available offshore.

Additionally, the Plan repeatedly emphasizes the introduction of mandatory -based play in physical casinos to bolster player safety. Yet it completely overlooks the broader challenge: the limited effectiveness of provincial harm reduction measures due to the continued accessibility of unregulated offshore options. British Columbia's self-exclusion program, robust harm reduction appear disconnected from reality.

Despite explicitly acknowledging "intensifying competition from illegal operators," the Plan's financial projections appear overly optimistic, assuming sustained revenue growth despite economic uncertainties and competition pressures. Acknowledging risks such as high living costs or potential tariff impacts without presenting credible solutions beyond traditional marketing and incremental digital upgrades paints a picture of complacency, rather than proactivity.

BCLC fails to offer any recommendation regarding its challenges with the "grey market", nor does it highlight the potential benefits that BCLC and the province at large might see through regulation and the creation of a market of BC betting sites and online casinos, in the mould of iGaming Ontario. 

Why are they so reluctant to address this">Saskatchewan showed humility in asking for access to PlayNow?

While BCLC's 2025/26 – 2027/28 Service Plan outlines "ambitious" goals, it reveals significant blind spots in addressing the entrenched appeal of offshore grey market gambling operators and the complication introduced by the regulated Ontario market. Without pragmatic, strategic shifts towards a more competitive, consumer-focused offering or genuine cross-provincial cooperation (particularly with Ontario), BCLC risks seeing its financial targets undermined and harm reduction goals remain symbolic rather than impactful.

Minister of Finance provides evidence of how far the BC Government has strayed from the basics 6a2w2q

Why is BC so lacking in pragmatism over iGaming regulation? It starts from the top - that being the BC Government leadership itself. Let's start from first principles. What are the basic things that a gaming regulator should look to implement? They want to maximize revenues from iGaming, while robustly protecting the vulnerable, including minors from harm. Currently, the protections in BC are largely symbolic in nature, not robust. With regard to this, the online portion of their gaming regulation remit, British Columbia continues to fail in spectacular fashion. The BC "grey market" continues to explode in growth compared to their "legal" PlayNow platform, with the broad advertising from the legal Ontario market acting as fuel for the fire.

Let's examine how the BC Government actually views gaming regulation. What does it see as most important? How do they hope to ensure the best outcomes for BC as a whole and each of its individual citizens? Included as an appendix to the BCLC Service Plan is a letter of thanks to BCLC's Chair of the Board of Directors, Greg Moore, from the Honourable BC Minister of Finance, Katrine Conroy. It is absolutely telling on the matter of the priorities at hand. , the words from these excerpts are the words from the Head of BC Government Finance to the Chair of BC's provincial gaming organization.

On behalf of Premier Eby and the Executive Council, I would like to extend my thanks to you, your board and your organization's leadership for your dedication, expertise, and service to the people of British Columbia...

You are serving British Columbians at a time when people in our province continue to recover from and respond to the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, an ongoing toxic drug crisis, climate-related natural disasters, and while global inflation is driving up costs. Now more than ever, we need to focus on building a prosperous, low-carbon, sustainable economy, and a province that provides opportunities for everyone in rural areas, in urban centres, and in Indigenous communities....

As required by the Climate Change ability Act, please ensure your organization implements targets and strategies for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and managing climate risk, including achieving carbon neutrality each year and aligning with the CleanBC target of a 50% reduction in public sector building emissions and a 40% reduction in public sector fleet emissions by 2030. Your organization is expected to work with government to report out on these plans and activities as required by legislation....

Our province's history, identity and strength are rooted in its diverse population. Yet racialized and marginalized people face historic and present-day barriers that limit their full participation in their communities, workplaces, government and their lives. The public sector has a moral and ethical responsibility to tackle systemic discrimination in all its forms—and every public sector organization has a role in this work. As part of this work, your organization is expected to adopt the Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) lens to ensure gender equity is reflected in your operations and programs...

Is it any wonder that British Columbia as a province is so broken with regard to online gaming regulation? Where in this letter, laden with "values", is the Minister indicating that the province will soon be adopting a proactive, pragmatic approach to iGaming in the province, to help BCLC in the battle against the grey market, which would in turn increase revenues and help with a proper and robust harm reduction solution?

Nowhere. There are none. In the letter, the Minister makes this request of the BCLC Chair: 

In addition to continuing to make progress on your 2021 mandate letter, I expect you to ensure the important priorities and areas of focus listed in this letter are incorporated into the practices of your organization and develop plans to address the following continuing priority within your approved budget:

• Working with government to operationalize the new Gaming Control Act.

The new Gaming Control Act document has over 20,000 words. None of them make an explicit reference to the issue of online gaming. However, if we want to be optimistic about the possible opportunity for BCLC to strike a partnership to bring the iGaming Ontario ecosystem to the good people of BC, there is hope in this provision:

Lottery corporation's mandate
7   (1)The lottery corporation is responsible for the conduct and management of gaming on behalf of the government and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
     (a)may develop, undertake, organize, conduct, manage and operate provincial gaming on behalf of the government, either alone or in conjunction with the government of another province

While this provision seemingly leaves room for a potential tie-up between BCLC and iGaming Ontario, there have been no formal calls for it that we have seen from within the BC Government, and nothing to that end within the 2-year Service Plan document itself.

However, the Minister did ask the Chair to ensure that he is doing his part to fight climate change and to ensure gender and racial diversity among his workforce. Are BCLC's buildings and operations major contributors to climate change? Is the BC Government's greatest potential impact in gaming policy best aimed at ensuring BCLC's workforce is balanced in of gender and race?

We would argue that these areas are not where the BC Government and Mr. Moore should be looking to make their foremost contributions to gaming policy advancements. BC is leaving over $200 million on the table each year from not ing iGaming Ontario, or finding a way to replicate that iGaming environment in its own province.

Yet these climate and diversity mandates seem to take greater priority than robust regulatory action. Effective regulation could minimize gaming harms while maximizing provincial revenue, helping to address BC's broader challenges outlined in the letter. But according to BC policy and communications, it's more important that BCLC approaches a 50-50 male/female ratio. That's where the Minister put her energy.

Will anything shake Premier Eby and his Government out of their current, wholly ineffective mindset? Nearly three years of watching the rip-roaring success out of iGaming Ontario has not been enough for him to adopt a pragmatic perspective on the grey market, and say "if you can't beat'em, 'em." Maybe the shock of U.S. President Trump's tariff threats will be the motivation that he needs to make this shift. There's over $200 million a year on the table for BC and 120,000 people waiting for a proper, robust harm reduction solution. According to BCLC, despite seemingly now having written permission to partner with iGaming Ontario, it has essentially itted there's nothing to be done to combat the grey market. So is the decision really up to them?

The latest BCLC Service Plan could simply have been titled: "Waiting for Eby."

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