Ontario Emerges as Top 5 iGaming Jurisdiction in North America in First Year
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The internet gaming industry in Ontario celebrated its one-year anniversary on April 4 with the news that, according to new data, it has fast emerged as a Top 5 jurisdiction in North America.
According to iGaming Ontario, over the first year, the new iGaming market in the province delivered about $35.6 billion in total wagers and approximately $1.4 billion in total gaming revenue.
“As Canada’s first province to establish a legal market for private operators, Ontario has distinguished itself while proving the widespread benefits that derive from a consumer-friendly and commercially minded framework,” said Benjie Levy, president and COO, theScore and head of PENN Interactive.
Ontario Market has Grown Quickly
There are more than 40 operators (after starting with 12 when the market opened on April 4, 2022), and over 70 gaming sites are live. According to iGO, there are more than 1.6 million active player accounts, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has approved over 5,000 certified games for use in the province.
The average monthly spend per active player account is $69. Somewhat surprisingly, according to data released by iGO, over the first year, the most popular sport to bet on was basketball, at 28%, followed by soccer (15%), football (14%), then hockey (9%) and baseball (8%).
Within the online casino category, nearly half (48%) of all casino wagers were on slots, nearly a third (32%) on table games with a live dealer, and the remainder (19%) on computer-based table games.
Regulated Sites the Choice for Canadians
In Ontario, iGO works collaboratively with AGCO, a government agency. Operators that have been successfully registered with the AGCO must then execute an operating agreement with iGO before going live.
Later in the morning, the AGCO released the results of an IPSOS study showing that 85% of players in the province are playing on regulated sites, a big achievement since a big objective for the province out of the gate was to tackle the challenge of unregulated iGaming sites in the province and the billions of dollars that was flowing into them.
Before the launch of the new iGaming market, 70% of online gambling was occurring on unregulated sites.
“A key objective in this first year has been to move Ontario players from playing on unregulated sites to the regulated market, so that they would benefit from high standards of operator and game integrity, fairness and player protections, including responsible gambling safeguards,” said Tom Mungham, registrar and CEO of the AGCO. “Although there’s still much work to be done, we’re pleased to see such a substantial shift towards gaming on regulated sites so far, and everything that it represents for players and for the province.”
IPSOS surveyed 1,100 Ontario online gamblers in March, asking them where they had gambled over the previous three months.
“Those numbers speak for themselves,” said Dave Phillips, chief operating officer, AGCO. “For so many years, there were so many voices out there who said this couldn’t be done, that Canada’s gaming laws pose too many barriers to permit the creation of a truly competitive marketplace, that the unregulated market had become too entrenched, too beyond reach, and that it would be impossible to create a strong, effective system of regulatory oversight.”
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