- Ontario is the only legitimately competitive sports betting and IGaming market in North America.
- From July 1 to September 30, 2023, Toronto betting operators took $14.2 billion CAD ($10.45 billion USD) and held $540 million CAD ($376.36 million USD).
- Ontario has 31 brands offering online sports betting with 75 total online gaming operators including casinos, bingo and poker.
For those of us who have watched the development of the cronyist and dysfunctional US sports betting market it’s hardly a surprise that the highest quality, most competitive market in North America is outside US borders. Simply put, Ontario is light years ahead of the best US jurisdictions. It’s the only legitimately competitive sports betting/iGaming market on the continent. The regulation is to foster an actual open market, not to protect the interests of financial benefactors. Ontario is so committed to maintaining a competitive environment that even the provincial lottery is required to compete in the open market with their Proline+ online brand.
A competitive environment is also the best case scenario for bettors. Official iGaming Ontario data indicates that there are a total of 31 brands offering online sports betting, a total that includes a newly launched betting exchange (STX) and the lottery’s Proline+ brand. The number is actually higher than that as I’m aware of at least one brand listed as offering ‘casino games’ also having sports betting (Europe’s ComeOn! brand) which makes the total 32 for sports betting. I’ll do a full audit this weekend and come up with a more precise number but whatever the total it’s significantly higher than New Jersey’s 25 ‘outs’ or Colorado’s 21 (20 regulated by the state’s Division of Gaming plus the Ute Mountain tribal property).
Ontario’s gaming industry is doing big business. Here’s some bullet points provided by iGaming Ontario:
- Total wagers in Q2 of $14.2 B, a 132% increase over Q2 last year, does not include promotional wagers (bonuses).
- Total gaming revenue of $540 M shows a 105% increase over Q2 last year. This figure represents total cash wagers, including rake fees, tournament fees, and other fees, across all Operators from July 1 to September 30, 2023 minus player winnings derived from cash wagers and does not take into account operating costs or other liabilities.
- The count of 47 Operators and 71 gaming websites includes all Operators and gaming websites with trades that occurred between July 1 and September 30, 2023. See the up-to-date list of Operators and gaming sites.
- About 943 K player accounts were active in Q2. Active player accounts are accounts with cash and/or promotional wagering activity during the time period and do not represent unique players as individuals may have accounts with multiple Operators.
- The average monthly spend per active player account in Q2 was $191.
- In Q2, casino games, including slots, live and computer-based table games and peer-to-peer bingo, accounted for nearly $11.9 B (84%) of total wagers and $407 M (75%) of gaming revenue.
- Betting, including on sports, esports, proposition and novelty bets, as well as exchange betting, accounted for nearly $1.9 B (13%) of total wagers and $118 M (22%) of gaming revenue.
- Peer to peer (P2P) poker accounted for $397 M (3%) of total wagers and $16 M (3%) of gaming revenue.
we’ll be talking more about Ontario in the weeks to come.
