Ontario iGaming Keeps Growing, Market Records Over $6 Billion in Q2 Handle
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When April 4 was approaching, Martha Otton admitted she had some doubts about the pending Ontario iGaming launch. The Executive Director of iGaming Ontario would tell others they would be ready for the go-live date, but she had her own concerns.
“We really thought success on Day 1 would be having one operator live,” she said. “And the fact that we had 12 on the first day, so we were thrilled and we’re thrilled with the way the Ontario market is going.”
Ontario Handle Thus Far Has Been Good
iGaming Ontario was tasked with working with the Government of Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to establish a new gaming market that would protect players and provide more gaming options. Before the launch, a large portion of Ontario’s gaming activity took place on websites not conducted or managed by the province.
According to the Canadian Gaming Association, sports bettors wagered nearly $10 billion through illegal operations throughout the country. Another $4 billion is bet through gray-market offshore sites.
But with the new Ontario iGaming market, those gray sites could apply and become approved to operate in Ontario. Other popular gaming brands such as FanDuel, BetMGM, theScore, BetRivers and bet365 also went live on April 4, giving Ontario sports betting players the opportunity to wager with established sportsbooks.
From April 4 through June 30, Ontario’s iGaming market took in over $4.08 billion in wagers, producing $162 million in total gaming revenue. Eighteen operators went live in the province, consisting of 31 gaming websites. Ontario also saw 492,000 active player accounts that averaged a monthly spend of $113.
The market continued to grow over the second quarter from July 1 to September 30, with the province taking in $6.04 billion in wagers for $267 million in total gaming revenue. Ontario now has 25 operators making up 42 gaming websites. There are also now 628,000 active player accounts which are averaging a monthly spend of $142.
And according to Otton, the market is set to continue to grow.
“One of the questions we get is how large will the market bet?” she said. “We have had a tremendous amount of interest in the Ontario market. One of our concepts is it’s an open license model, so there are no restrictions. We’re not tethered to casinos, and the other thing I should mention is it’s a very broad range of products that’s offered … In Ontario, when we talk iGaming, we mean the whole thing, so that includes casino games, sports betting and Esports, so it’s a very broad market.”
Gray Markets Have a Chance to Become Legal
In addition to other sportsbooks looking to join, the gray market operators currently in the province have until Oct. 31 to apply and register to become authorized to legally operate in Ontario’s new market. The gray market operators must gain approval from the AGCO.
“The (AGCO) has a tremendous amount of resources for this,” Otton said. “There is a huge obligation on the operators to respond and provide the information that’s required on the registrations. It’s also not just the registration. A lot of that is we need to ensure that the anti-money laundering processes are in place. We need to actually do testing of our systems because we integrate our financial systems with them, and that takes time and is dependent on timely responses.”
Other Canada Provinces Could Launch Soon
Now that Ontario’s market has launched, the attention turns to other provinces in Canada and how they respond. Many provinces have limited or no legal online sports betting or online casino options.
“We would like to see regulated markets,” Paul Burns, President and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association said. “We’ve been talking about getting regulated iGaming markets for 15 years, and we hope that our British Columbians, one of the provinces, will start to engage in discussions.
“Hopefully we can begin a discussion about how each province tackles this. Will we see a replicate of Ontario? Probably not, but maybe. Every jurisdiction has got to find their own path, but take the lessons learned from Ontario, particularly the engagement.
“We’ve been trying to stress from the industry perspective, is governments come to talk, see the industry, learn and you will find a model that works for your jurisdiction. Political will is the key, and that is what we have in Ontario, and that is what we have to go find in the rest of the country.”
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