Ontario just launched an online casino: https://www.playolg.ca/content/olg/en.html. This unimaginative step is a wasted opportunity to create a gigantic global gambling company powered by Bitcoin.

The province's new site looks like it was designed in 2005 but it's a giant leap forward for the province's gambling industry because there was previously no way to gamble online (legally).

"PlayOLG" is unfortunately only accessible to people in Ontario. The province is (curiously) not pursuing the $30+ billion online gambling market [KPMG Report]. (PlayOLG restricts access to people who live in Ontario and enforces that rule using credit bureau data.)

The province doesn't seem to want to go global (although that would make a big dent in the deficit and reduce the harm to Ontarians of gambling [The Star]) but if it did, it's current offering likely wouldn't be that compelling because it's a globally competitive market (not a captive provincial one). But if the province did want to expand, Bitcoin would be the way forward and a way to make a behemoth in online gambling.

A Bitcoin-powered casino run by the Ontario government could dominate the gambling industry. Ontario is a trustworthy brand that isn't going to disappear with the Bitcoins and it can afford the necessary investment in software development/games (Ontario/Quebec are host to many gambling and video game companies).

Bitcoin would bring the transactions costs involved down to near zero and fraud would be almost non-existent. A Bitcoin casino can just as easily serve customers in Hong Kong, South Africa or Argentina. Players could have high-quality games with low house odds/margins (because the transaction costs are much lower than credit cards). Sports bettors could bet using their mobile phones from anywhere in the world and know that they'll receive their wins within minutes of the game finishing. There's a long list of benefits to Bitcoin gaming, which is why the traditional gambling industry has been so interested in it and why gambling is a popular use for Bitcoin [Bitcoin.IT].

If only our province would think bigger.