Well Played Media hit with $54k penalty for welcome offer

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has cracked down on Well Played Media, issuing a substantive penalty.

The gambling regulator, based in Canada, took the action after it found that the high-risk welcome offer on the company’s Casino Days website was found to be deceptive.

Well Played media has been a staple of the Canadian betting scene since 2022, and the AGCO approved the gambling entity’s right to operate in Ontario. The company is one part of the Rhino Entertainment group of companies.

Casino Days is one of many sites run by the entertainment giant, and according to the betting operator’s site, it is a “safe, provably fair and regulated space in which to enjoy award-winning online gaming entertainment from the world’s most popular game studios.”

The AGCO has a different take on Casino Days’ operation, namely the welcome offer that the regulator “alleged to have encouraged high-risk behaviour and failed to properly disclose key terms.”

The AGCO learned of the welcome offer as it was flagged in a complaint by a player who had $8,500 in winnings “confiscated” by Casino Days.

This offer was also deemed misleading by the AGCO as it promised $2,000 in free bets, but to qualify for the full bonus amount, players had to deposit $2,000 of their own money, wager $70,000 (35 times the deposit), and also keep each wager at or under $5.

Players hoping to snap up the bonus had to meet all these requirements within seven days of accepting the offer.

According to the Ontario gambling legislation, “registered operators must not offer bonus promotions that encourage harmful gambling behaviour and fail to disclose key conditions appropriately. Further, operators are not permitted to entice players with bonuses that cannot reasonably be attained without significant gambling losses.”

Featured Image: Pexels.

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