BY JILL R . DORSON
Online in Ontario Stakeholders deem Ontario a success , but also a work in progress
BY JILL R . DORSON
When sports betting and online casino went live in a legal environment in Ontario April 4 , 2022 , it was a bit of an experiment . In the U . S ., legal sports wagering and online gambling had been launching across the country since 2018 . And in every state , those launches happened against a clean background .
But not in Ontario , where gray-market wagering and gambling had been happening for many years . The idea behind allowing single-event wagering and regulating both sports betting and online gambling wasn ’ t as much about bringing a new form of recreation to those in the province as it was about creating a safer environment for people to do what they ’ d already been doing .
During that first year , 2022-2023 , iGaming Ontario ( iGO ) reported total online gambling handle of CA $ 35.5 billion ( US $ 25.94 billion ) and
CA $ 1.26 billion ( US $ 92 million ) in total gaming revenue . Of total gaming revenue , CA $ 368 million ( US $ 268.87 million ) was from sports betting . Those totals nearly doubled in the second year to CA $ 63 billion ( US $ 46.03 billion ) in handle and CA $ 2.4 billion ( US $ 1.75 billion ) in total online gaming revenue , iGO reported in April . Sports betting accounted for CA $ 9.7 billion ( US $ 7.09 billion ) in handle and CA $ 588 million ( US $ 429.61 million ) in revenue . iGO reports that there are now 47 online gambling companies operating 77 platforms . Among those operators are familiar names like Bet- MGM , Caesars , DraftKings and FanDuel , and some unfamiliar — at least to Americans — including Bwin , Party Casino and Royal Panda . Some of those companies were operating in Ontario and other parts of Canada before legalization .
“ When talking about Ontario ’ s iGaming market , the numbers tell us a lot . But what I ’ m most proud of are the countless ways that our government partners , operators , responsible gambling experts , players and employees have worked together to help us create a world-class market that is Ontario-made for Ontarians .”
— Heidi Reinhart , Chair , iGaming Ontario
24 Global Gaming Business JUNE 2024