Online sports betting in Ontario looks to be gaining traction with more and more consumers — and the return of NFL football probably isn’t hurting the cause.
Government agency iGaming Ontario (iGO) reported on Wednesday that total wagering in Ontario's fledgling internet-gambling market — which launched in April and includes operators offering online sports betting, casino gambling, and poker — drew approximately $6 billion in total wagers for the three months ended September 30. That figure does not include free bets or other promotional wagers.
Yet wagering for the iGaming market's first quarter had been just shy of $4.1 billion, meaning the handle has grown by about 48.2% from quarter to quarter.
Total gaming revenue for the second quarter of the iGaming market was $267 million, iGO reported, up from $162 million in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the number of operators and gaming websites likewise rose in the second quarter to 24 and 42, respectively, from 18 and 31.
Active player accounts stood at around 628,000 as of the end of September, iGO said, compared to 492,000 for the previous period. The average monthly spend by players increased to $142 from $113.
On the left, first-quarter figures for Ontario's fledgling iGaming market, which includes online sports betting, casino gambling, and poker.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) October 12, 2022
On the right, recently released results for the second quarter. pic.twitter.com/XVx4xTyhU0
The figures from iGaming Ontario do not include the gambling done on the website of the government-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).
That is because Ontario debuted a new iGaming market in April, becoming the first province in Canada to launch a framework in which private-sector operators of online sportsbooks and casinos could legally take bets from residents.
Before then, all legal iGaming in the province was the property of OLG. Other provinces continue to allow government-owned gaming and lottery corporations to have a monopoly on legal internet gambling within their borders.
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Ontario's bold experiment is being closely watched by its fellow provinces and by the gaming industry, which was keen to enter a market whose population is equal to the fifth-largest U.S. state.
However, the early numbers haven’t wowed observers, although the second-quarter results (helped by the return of the National Football League’s regular season) are a marked improvement.
Moreover, it has been a bumpy ride at times for companies that have sometimes struggled with the province’s advertising rules — no widespread promotion of free bets or other inducements is allowed — and that have been frustrated by the ongoing operations of some “grey market” bookmakers.
Those “grey” sites may be licensed abroad or outside the province and may even plan to come under Ontario-based oversight. Still, some operators keep taking bets from Ontarians and have yet to enter the province’s regulated market, irking others that have.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has set October 31 as the deadline for operators that are active in the unregulated market to knock it off — or face the consequences.
Going grey
Ontario has long had a robust grey market for online gambling, in which the provincial government has said residents were spending an estimated $700 million a year.
The move by the AGCO to end the “transition period” for operators could even drive up the figures reported by iGO even further, as it will likely prod operators to join the regulated market. To join Ontario's iGaming market, operators must obtain a registration from the AGCO and sign a contract with iGO.
“As with any instance of non-compliance, the AGCO will take appropriate regulatory action against any registrant that does not meet this Standard (once it comes into force),” the regulator warned. “For those registered operators that have yet to transition from the unregulated market to the regulated market once the Standard comes into force, the registrant will be required to end its unregulated operations within Ontario pending the registrant’s entry into the regulated market.”
