AGCO Lets Ontario Charities Run Media Bingo on Livestreams Starting June 23

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has updated its charitable lottery licensing policy to allow eligible charitable organizations to broadcast media bingo on a livestream instead of only on a local cable television station. The change is effective June 23, 2026, and was issued in response to stakeholder feedback as part of the AGCO's ongoing modernization work in the charitable gaming sector.

The update affects how a licensed charity broadcasts a media bingo event — not the underlying rules of the game. Eligible organizations still must sell paper bingo cards (either directly or through local merchants acting on the charity's behalf), and players still must call a local telephone number to claim a "BINGO" win. The change is specifically about the broadcast medium.

What Is Changing

Effective June 23, 2026, a licensed media bingo event in Ontario can be broadcast on a livestream on a webpage as an alternative to the long-standing requirement that the broadcast be aired on a local cable television station. The change is a single-line addition to the eligibility criteria for how a charity gets its broadcast in front of players; the rest of the licence structure is preserved.

The AGCO framed the update as a modernization step that reduces administrative burden, gives eligible charities more flexibility, and supports additional fundraising opportunities. It also signals a continued commitment to industry sustainability and innovation within the charitable gaming sector — a sector that funds a meaningful share of community programming across Ontario each year through licensed events.

This is the same regulatory philosophy that has driven recent iGaming Ontario updates — modernization of the broadcast and player-facing surfaces, with the underlying conduct standards held constant. The two regulatory tracks (charitable lottery licensing and the iGaming Ontario regulated market) are governed by separate policy manuals, but the direction of travel is consistent: keep the rules of the game tight, but modernize the medium through which players and donors reach the event.

What Is Not Changing

The AGCO was explicit that livestream media bingo must continue to operate in the same way as the television format it replaces. All existing requirements that apply to a media bingo event also apply to its livestream counterpart. In particular:

• Paper bingo cards. Charities must sell paper bingo cards through the licensed organization, or through local merchants selling on the charity's behalf. Online card purchase or digital card distribution is not part of this change.
• Local telephone "BINGO" claim. Players are still required to call a local telephone number to claim a "BINGO" win. Features that allow players to call "BINGO" electronically — whether through a website button, a mobile app, or any other digital channel — remain prohibited.
• Card tracking. Media bingo cards must still carry a clearly visible, consecutively numbered serial number, and the licence number must appear on every card. This is the tracking mechanism that lets the AGCO and the charity reconcile sales through local merchants.

The structural requirements — licensed event structure, eligibility of charitable organizations, conduct rules for the broadcast, and the prohibition on electronic BINGO claims — are explicitly preserved.

The Policy Documents That Were Updated

Two AGCO policy documents were updated to reflect the livestream option:

1. Lottery Licensing Policy Manual (LLPM), §9.3.2(F) — Media Bingo. The definition of media bingo now reads: "Media Bingo is operated through the public media including radio, newspaper, television, or livestream." The definition of a "Television or Livestream Bingo" event now includes the livestream variant as a peer to the existing television broadcast.
2. Media Bingo Licence Terms and Conditions, §3.3.(a). Updated to explicitly reference livestream broadcasts alongside the existing television broadcast format.

These are targeted edits — the rest of the LLPM and the rest of the Media Bingo Licence Terms and Conditions are unchanged. Charitable organizations applying for or renewing a media bingo licence do not face any new structural requirements; the licence application process is the same, and the addition of "livestream" as an eligible broadcast medium is the only meaningful change.

Why It Matters for Ontario Charitable Fundraising

Ontario's charitable gaming sector raises significant funds each year through licensed lottery events, including bingo. Media bingo has historically been a cable-TV-first product, which limits reach to households with an active cable subscription. The livestream option opens the event to any viewer with a web browser, including mobile-first audiences and cord-cutters — a structural shift in the audience the licensed event can reach.

For a charity running a media bingo event, the practical effect is that the same licensed event can now be carried on the charity's own webpage, on a dedicated livestream landing page, or through any web-based broadcast channel the charity controls — without requiring the audience to subscribe to a cable package. That widens the donor and player pool without changing the licensed event structure or the rules of the game.

It also keeps the AGCO's regulatory footprint consistent with how Ontario audiences already consume live content. The shift from cable to livestream is a player-facing modernization, not a change in the AGCO's standards posture.

Why It Matters for the Broader Ontario Gambling Landscape

The AGCO governs three distinct product tracks in Ontario: charitable lottery licensing (media bingo, raffles, bingo halls), the regulated iGaming Ontario market (online casino and sportsbooks operated by AGCO-licensed and iGO-approved operators), and land-based lottery and gaming (OLG-operated). The livestream media bingo change applies only to the first track — charitable lottery licensing — and does not affect the iGaming Ontario market or any AGCO-licensed online operator.

That distinction matters for readers following Ontario gambling news closely. A media bingo livestream is a charitable fundraising event, governed by the Lottery Licensing Policy Manual and the Media Bingo Licence Terms and Conditions. It is not a regulated iGaming Ontario product, and it is not part of the online casino or sportsbook market that AGCO-licensed operators run under iGO operating agreements. The June 23 update is a charitable-sector modernization, not an iGaming Ontario market change.

For readers tracking the parallel iGaming Ontario news cycle — the most recent coverage on this site has touched on the $98.3B 2025 wagering record, the 91.1% channelization figure, and the recent Bill 97 second-reading vote on gambling advertising — the charitable bingo change sits in a separate but adjacent regulatory lane. Both lanes run through the AGCO, but the policy manuals and the licensing structures are distinct.

What Eligible Charities Should Do Next

For an eligible charitable organization that currently runs a media bingo event on cable television, the June 23 update is a permission, not a requirement. A charity can continue to broadcast on cable as before, can switch to a livestream broadcast, or can run both formats in parallel under the same licence (subject to LLPM and Media Bingo Licence Terms and Conditions compliance).

The AGCO's guidance for charities is to direct any questions about eligibility or licence structure to the AGCO's Eligibility Officers at lotterylicensing@agco.ca, or via the iAGCO online portal. Customer Service is also reachable Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 416-326-8700 or 1-800-522-2876.

For any new eligible charity applying for a media bingo licence after June 23, the LLPM update is automatic — the licence application reflects the livestream option as a peer to the cable broadcast. No separate application is required to access the livestream format.

How the Update Compares to Other Recent AGCO Modernization Steps

The June 23 update is the latest in a series of AGCO modernization actions that have run through 2026. The pattern is consistent: modernize the surface where players and audiences interact with the regulated event, keep the conduct rules and the licence conditions unchanged. Recent comparable updates include:

• The AGCO's 2026 advertising standards update, which modernized the rules for how AGCO-licensed operators present player-facing marketing while preserving the underlying conduct rules.
• The BetGuard centralized self-exclusion platform, which modernized the opt-out layer for Ontario online gambling while preserving the AGCO's player-protection standards.
• The Bill 97 second-reading vote on gambling advertising, which is moving through the legislative process alongside the AGCO's standards work.

Each of these actions targets a different part of the Ontario gambling stack — operator advertising, player self-exclusion, legislative framework, and now charitable-sector broadcast medium. The shared regulatory philosophy is the same: hold the conduct standards constant, modernize how players and audiences reach the regulated event.

About the AGCO's Charitable Gaming Authority

The AGCO regulates charitable lottery licensing in Ontario under the Lottery Licensing Policy Manual, which sets out the rules for bingo events (including media bingo), raffles, and break-open tickets sold by eligible charitable organizations. The AGCO's authority covers the licence application process, the conduct of the licensed event, the eligibility of the charitable organization, and the use of proceeds from the event. The Media Bingo Licence Terms and Conditions are the binding conditions attached to a specific media bingo licence.

Charitable gaming in Ontario is distinct from the regulated iGaming Ontario market, which is run by AGCO-licensed operators under iGO operating agreements. The two sectors share the AGCO as their regulator but operate under different policy manuals and different licence structures.

For more on the broader Ontario regulatory framework, our channelization 91% explainer covers how the iGaming Ontario market is performing against the AGCO's player-protection mandate, and our AGCO standards division profile covers the regulator's enforcement posture in 2026.

What to Watch Over the Next 30 Days

Three signals will tell us how the livestream media bingo update is being adopted.

1. First charity to broadcast under the new option. The Lottery Licensing Policy Manual §9.3.2(F) update is in force as of June 23, 2026. The first charitable organization to broadcast a media bingo event on a livestream under the updated licence structure will mark the practical adoption of the change.

2. AGCO guidance updates. The AGCO has indicated that further modernization of the charitable gaming sector is part of its 2026 work plan. Watch for follow-up guidance documents, particularly around livestream production standards, eligibility verification for online audiences, and the reconciliation of paper card sales with livestream audience metrics.

3. Charitable fundraising impact. The AGCO's framing of the update explicitly references "additional fundraising opportunities." If media bingo revenues from livestream broadcasts track higher than the cable-only baseline in the first quarter under the new policy, that will be the clearest evidence that the modernization step is delivering on its stated objective.

The change is a structural modernization of a long-standing Ontario charitable fundraising format. The rules of the game are unchanged; the medium is new.