Ontario igaming regulator names new chief legal officer
Ex-HSBC Bank SVP Josée Turcotte links up with Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has confirmed the appointment of Josée Turcotte as its new chief legal officer.
Turcotte, who will link up with AGCO on July 18, has extensive executive management experience and most recently served on the executive and risk committees of HSBC Bank Canada, as well as functioning as a senior VP, corporate secretary and head of governance for the multinational banking group.
She also served in similar roles with the Ontario Securities Commission, including secretary, deputy secretary and independent adjudicative counsel for the financial regulatory entity for more than a decade.
Turcotte also spent six years as a senior legal advisor to the Canadian Competition Tribunal and has also worked as a competitions law officer for the Canadian Competition Bureau.
In her new role as chief legal officer, Turcotte will be responsible for AGCO’s approach to legal issues, developing policies and practices to be used in the regulation of online operators.
She will also represent the regulator at the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), which functions as an adjudicative entity independent of AGCO and part of Tribunals Ontario.
In addition to her main duties, she will also be responsible for legal matters relating to the performance of AGCO’s conduct and management entity for online gambling, iGaming Ontario.
Turcotte replaces former AGCO chief legal officer Bruce Caughill, who left the regulator to become the first managing director of Rush Street Interactive’s Canadian operations in March.
Following the launch of regulated igaming and sports betting operations on April 4, AGCO has taken a tough line on operators breaching the province’s regulations, issuing fines to three operators – BetMGM, PointsBet and most recently DraftKings.
In all three cases, fines were issued after the operators breached regulations surrounding the usage of advertising, specifically the offer of inducements to players within ads, something which is expressly prohibited by AGCO.