A weekend at Playtime Casino Hanover and an online casino account are two separate things, governed by separate rules. This page sets out Ontario's rules for online play plainly, without the casino floor mixed in.
By the Sideroad deskChecked October 9, 2026
The rules
How Ontario runs online casinos
Regulated online gambling in Ontario began on April 4, 2022. The AGCO regulates it, while iGaming Ontario conducts and manages it. Two conditions make a private online casino legal in Ontario. It must hold AGCO registration, and it must have signed an iGaming Ontario operating agreement. The list of regulated sites sits at igamingontario.ca.
OLG.ca is different from the private sites. It belongs to OLG, the provincial agency, as its online casino.
Meeting the age rule is only part of it. Online play requires being 19 or older and being inside Ontario in person while playing. Someone driving in for the weekend from Kincardine or Guelph faces the same two conditions as a Hanover resident.
Opting out
Stepping away from online sites
With a single BetGuard (betguard.ca) request, someone can bar their own access to every Ontario-regulated online gambling site together, OLG.ca included. Since May 14, 2026, the program has been in the hands of iGaming Ontario. Terms on offer: a 6-month break, a 1-year or 5-year one, or a custom length the person chooses.
It stops at the screen. The casino door on 5th Street is out of BetGuard's range, because the tool leaves land-based casinos alone. For every casino in Ontario, the tool is OLG's My PlayBreak, which bars a person for 3 months, 6 months, or anywhere between 1 and 5 years. Once it begins, a casino break cannot be cut short.
This guide
Where the guide's money comes from
The Sideroad takes no wagers; it is an independent guide. Its paid spots, each labelled Ad, stay on the home page: one in the menu, one beneath the opening screen, one toward the end. Whichever is clicked, the same privately run online casino opens, and the guide gets a commission from it. That partner is not named and may change.
The links are for adults physically inside Ontario. OLG.ca is not the partner. It has no connection to Playtime Casino Hanover, Gateway Casinos or Hanover Raceway, nor to the AGCO, iGaming Ontario or OLG. No paid links appear on this page or on the other inner pages.
Questions
Short answers
Does a player have to be in Ontario to play online?
Yes, the player has to be present. Only people aged 19 or over, and physically inside the province at that moment, may play online in Ontario.
Will a BetGuard sign-up stop entry at the door in Hanover?
BetGuard will not do that. Only regulated online gambling in Ontario falls under it, and land-based casinos are left out. OLG's My PlayBreak is the program that covers Ontario casinos, and staff at a casino can sign a person up.
Where can a regulated online site be checked?
The list of regulated sites is at igamingontario.ca, run by iGaming Ontario.
Does the paid partner have any tie to the casino in Hanover?
The partner has no tie to Playtime Casino Hanover, Gateway Casinos or Hanover Raceway. It is not OLG.ca either, and none of them pays this guide.
Further along
- Limits and helpSetting Limits at Playtime Casino HanoverHelp near Hanover: ConnexOntario at any hour, My PlayBreak for casinos, BetGuard for online sites, PlaySmart, and how the desk checks facts.
- At the doorGetting Into Playtime Casino HanoverEntry at the Hanover casino for a weekend group: 19 and older, photo ID for everyone, a second ID with your name if you are 21 or younger.
- Friday to SundayPlaytime Casino Hanover on a WeekendHours at the Hanover casino across a weekend: the floor open from Thursday 9 a.m. to Saturday midnight, the bar, breakfast and simulcast theatre.