The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) is expanding its gambling harm prevention efforts across Ontario’s post-secondary institutions through a partnership with iGaming Ontario.

The initiative will visit 40 publicly funded college and university campuses during the current academic year, increasing the reach of the council’s existing educational program. Previously operating across 20 campuses, the expanded tour aims to engage students through approximately 10,000 in-person interactions.

The Post-Secondary Campus Tour builds on prevention initiatives funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Health and focuses on helping young adults understand the risks associated with gambling and sports betting.

Program Targets 10,000 Student Interactions

The expanded initiative comes as sports betting becomes increasingly integrated into how younger audiences follow and discuss sporting events.

“Young adults are growing up in a world where betting is woven into how they watch and talk about sports,” said Sarah McCarthy, chief executive officer of the Responsible Gambling Council.

“Meeting students on campus, in the moments that matter, is how we help them understand the risks and know their options. With iGaming Ontario’s support, we can now do that on almost all publicly funded campuses in the province.”

The program will introduce several additional educational components, including the distribution of at least 10,000 Student Education Kits throughout the academic year.

Students will also be able to participate in an interactive learning activity called The Random Tower, facilitated by ambassadors trained by the RGC.

The Random Tower Demonstrates the Risks of Gambling

The Random Tower is an oversized version of the popular Jenga block-stacking game, designed to introduce gambling safety and harm prevention concepts in an engaging, hands-on format.

Individual wooden blocks feature questions and prompts that encourage participants to think critically about gambling-related risks. Students might, for example, pull a block asking, “What are signs that gambling is becoming harmful?” while attempting to keep the tower from collapsing.

The activity also highlights how sports betting outcomes can be influenced by unpredictable circumstances, such as player injuries, unexpected plays, or simple randomness.

When the tower eventually falls, the result reinforces the program’s central educational message: gambling outcomes are not entirely within a player's control, regardless of their confidence or knowledge of a sport.

Through this interactive approach, the RGC aims to help students recognize uncertainty in gambling and understand the potential consequences of betting-related decisions.

BetGuard Promoted as a Responsible Gambling Resource

Another central component of the campus tour is education about BetGuard, Ontario’s province-wide self-exclusion system for regulated online gambling.

Launched in spring 2025, the system provides Ontarians with a way to exclude themselves from all regulated online gambling platforms covered by the program. iGaming Ontario developed BetGuard on behalf of the provincial government.

Peer-aged educational ambassadors will introduce students to the service and explain how it can help people take a break from online gambling when needed.

“We’re proud to have recently launched BetGuard, which gives Ontarians a simple option to take a break from all regulated online gambling,” said Joseph Hillier, president and CEO of iGaming Ontario.

“This is just one part of our comprehensive responsible gaming approach that includes ongoing education on risks and knowing where to get support when you need it.”

The expanded campus initiative combines interactive education, printed resources, and information about self-exclusion to reach students in their everyday environments. By extending its presence to 40 campuses, the RGC aims to increase awareness of gambling-related harm and make responsible gambling information more accessible to Ontario’s post-secondary population.