OLG online gaming website coming to Ontario

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is betting its customers will flock to its new gambling website.

The OLG has issued an invitation to 53,000 of its casino customers to sign on to play games that include the slots, blackjack, roulette, single-player poker and baccarat on PlayOLG.ca before it opens to the general public.

They will also be able to buy Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and Encore tickets online.

"Eligible members of OLG's Winner's Circle Rewards program will participate in a short-term, soft launch of the new site before it becomes available to legal-aged Ontarians in the coming weeks," the OLG said in a news release on Tuesday.

Provincially regulated online gambling is already available in B.C., Manitoba, Quebec and all of the Atlantic provinces.

As a new line of business, PlayOLG will provide more money to the government of Ontario for hospitals and other government priorities, the OLG said in its release.

However, there will be strict measures in place to prevent excessive gaming.

Players will have to register to verify their identity and age, and they'll use credit cards to pay for the tickets and games. There will also be mandatory weekly deposit limits, with a seven-day cooling off period before increasing limits.Other guidelines include:

• Time limits for casino game play.
• Tips for parents about password protection, how to use tools to restrict access to websites, and how to monitor their children's internet access and usage.
• Lottery ticket purchase limits.
• Casino loss limits
• Player self-assessments and risk profiles.
• An option for self-exclusion from gaming.