To follow in the footsteps of BC, the Atlantic provinces, and Quebec, Ontario will now enter the online gambling foray. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced today that Ontario will spent the next 18 months looking at how to implement the program, which will launch sometime in 2012. From the looks of things this will also include Ontario online poker.

Canadians wager over a billion dollars annually through online gaming sites and the Ontario government believe that opening up an online casino will bring in over $100 million annually. The OLG will be taking the reigns on this project and hopefully they won’t act as slow as they have been known for.

“Across Canada and around the world, online commerce is part of our everyday lives and OLG is excited to start the consultation process for online gambling and growing its marketplace in the future,” OLG chairman Paul Godfrey said.

One thing is for sure, online poker in ontario will surely be easier to win at than the $50 million lotto max that has teased Canadians in 2010.