The Responsible Gambling Council, working alongside iGaming Ontario, expanded its gambling harm prevention initiative to 40 publicly funded college and university campuses across Ontario for the academic year. Announced on September 24, 2026, the campus tour builds on previous provincial funding from Ontario’s Ministry of Health and targets approximately 10,000 in-person student interactions through peer-led education and interactive programming.
Expanding Campus Outreach Across Ontario
The expanded tour reaches twice as many institutions as the previous iteration, which covered 20 campuses. According to Sarah McCarthy, chief executive officer of the Responsible Gambling Council, the initiative meets students in environments where sports betting and gambling discussions are common. Statistics from the campaign indicate that roughly 70 percent of individuals aged 18 to 24 attend college, establishing this demographic as a primary focus for harm reduction efforts.
Trained peer ambassadors deliver the program directly to students, distributing 10,000 Student Education Kits over the course of the academic year. These kits provide resources and digital tools, including a QR code, designed to help students understand risk factors and manage their gambling habits safely.
Interactive Education Through The Random Tower
To engage students directly, the tour features an interactive display called The Random Tower. Modelled after a giant block-stacking game of Jenga, the installation prints harm reduction questions, safety messages, and risk prompts on individual wooden blocks.
Participants pull blocks featuring prompts such as “What are signs that gambling is becoming harmful?” while attempting to keep the tower upright. The activity demonstrates how sports outcomes depend on external variables—such as injuries or random gameplay moments—rather than individual control. When the structure collapses, it serves as a physical metaphor for the inherent randomness of betting outcomes.
Promoting Self-Exclusion via BetGuard
Alongside campus displays, ambassadors introduce students to BetGuard, a province-wide self-exclusion system launched in the spring. Created by iGaming Ontario on behalf of the provincial government, BetGuard gives users a centralized tool to restrict access across all regulated online gambling platforms in Ontario.
Joseph Hillier, president and CEO of iGaming Ontario, stated that the self-exclusion tool forms one component of a broader responsible gaming framework that pairs risk education with accessible support options. Concurrently, iGaming Ontario issued warnings regarding unlicensed gambling websites attempting to misuse the BetGuard name to mislead consumers, urging players to verify platform legitimacy.
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