Ontario’s legalized online gambling market continues to show steady growth.iGaming Ontario reported total bets of $7.84 billion across sports betting, online casinos and online poker in January, marking a 0.24% increase from the previous record-setting month. The figures also represent an impressive 31% year-on-year improvement. Gross gaming revenue also saw a record month and it was online sports betting that drove the month’s performance.
Canada’s federal government lets provinces decide their own online gambling laws. Ontario was the first province to legalize online betting, which it did in April 2022. When looking at how the Canadian gambling industry is evolving, gambling expert Vlad Grindu highlights the fact that online casinos are now legal in all provinces apart from Newfoundland and Labrador. (source: https://www.techopedia.com/ca/casino)
He also notes that Ontario is a special case and generally only allows players to visit sites that have been regulated by the provincial body–the Alcohol and Gaming Commission.
Ontario’s continued growth in the online gambling industry means that other provinces, likely led by Alberta, will make a similar move to regulate online gambling at a provincial level in the future.
This growth has been driven primarily by online casinos. However, in January, it was sports betting that played a key role in boosting gambling revenue. Ontario posted the biggest ever online sportsbook revenue figures, with sports wagering handle increasing 9% to reach $1.1 billion, despite gross gaming revenue falling 28% to $39 million. Handle was $1.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20.7%.
February saw Super Bowl LIX, which drew 8.5 million viewers in Canada, likely contributing to a significant increase in sports betting activity that month.
However, despite there being more than 50 licensed online gambling operators in the province, there are still many unlicensed operators running. Ontario said that its primary target when establishing a regulated gambling market was to channel as much gambling through licensed providers as possible.
The goal was to reach 90% channelization within five years. However, the latest figures suggest that this target may have already been reached partway through last year.
Figures show that in the 2024 fiscal year, $2.96 billion of $3.17 billion total online gambling went through officially licensed and regulated online sites. This represents 93% of all gambling, with this figure expected to rise to 95% in the 2025 fiscal year. In other provinces, this rate of channelization is much lower.
Meanwhile, there have been questions about whether Canada could follow the UK’s lead in implementing affordability checks on gamblers. Affordability checks were introduced in the UK in August 2024. Under the new rules, any bettor that placed an average of £500 per month in bets would have to undergo light affordability checks.
Light checks do not leave an imprint on credit files but they enable the gambling operator to look at factors like income and outgoings to ensure they aren’t gambling more than they can afford.
Starting in February, the criteria changed, requiring players who deposit and bet more than £150 per month to undergo affordability checks. Some other countries in Europe have similar regulations in place.
Germany has a € 1,000-a-month loss limit on players. Belgium has attempted to implement a €500 a week loss limit across all operators but because it’s difficult to combine data from all the different operators, it has implemented a €200 a week limit per operator.
Outside of Europe, Tasmania has a player card system that is used at physical gambling terminals that restricts player spending on a monthly and annual basis.
Currently, there are no such affordability or other regulations in place in the US, while countries like Ireland have refused to introduce them.
One likely reason for the refusal is the belief that players should have the freedom to spend their money how they choose, while financial affordability checks–though light and not affecting financial records–can infringe on players’ rights to data and privacy.
Following Ontario's growth in online gambling, many expect other provinces to follow suit, with Alberta likely to be next. Last year, Alberta's legislature passed Bill 16, seen as an initial step toward iGaming regulation.
In July, Alberta Minister of Service and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said that the province would use Ontario’s success as a blueprint for its own path to regulation. However, there has been little progress since then, with no indication of when new laws might be introduced.
Currently, most provinces only allow online gambling on provincial lotteries but the revenue generated in Ontario and the subsequent provincial taxes generated have led to further discussions regarding the hot topic. In January this year, it was announced that Ontario had raised a total of $1.2 billion in tax since introducing regulations.
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