Online betting, whether it is on sporting events or casino gaming, has never been more popular. As a nation that loves both sports and casinos, it should come as little surprise that the industry is thriving in Canada. What might raise an eyebrow or two is just how rapidly it is growing.
It has been less than a year since Ontario launched its legalized online betting market, and the province has just announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2022, which is its second quarter of operation.
$6 billion of wagers in the last three months
The report shows that gamblers staked $6.04 billion in wagers between July and September, which generated $267 million in gambling revenue. The increase came about thanks to a combination of factors, including increases in the number of operators, the number of websites, the number of registered players and their average spend.
In the first quarter of operation, there were 492,000 registered iGamers, spending an average $113 per month, and they had a choice of 18 operators. In the most recent quarter, this has risen to 628,000 users spending $142 per month and with 24 licensed operators to choose from.
Rising to the challenge
These numbers are impressive, but they fall slightly short of market expectations. Part of the reason for this is that Canada’s online gambling landscape was already established and mature when Ontario launched its regulatory system. Nationwide, online gambling was generating as much as $17 billion each year. Gamers would simply visit GO Canada or a similar comparison site to find an offshore casino that was safe, and ideally one that was offering some generous promos and bonuses.
They can still do just that, the offshore providers have not gone anywhere. What’s more, casino players can be superstitious about making changes unless they have to. As such, plenty of gamblers in Ontario are continuing to use unlicensed sites. It is a situation that is not unique to Canada, however. In nations like Germany and the Netherlands, where new gambling regulations have recently launched, there are also certain players who choose to play at casinos that are domiciled out of country and hold licenses elsewhere.
Will others follow Ontario’s lead?
The important thing is that Ontario has taken action where other provinces, and other nations, have stood transfixed. Nova Scotia is so far the only other Canadian province to take similar action, although there are, unsurprisingly, increasingly loud voices suggesting that Quebec should consider following suit.
However, it is not just the rest of Canada that will be in a state of reflection after reviewing the latest report. So far, only six states in the USA have legalized online casinos, despite the almost indecent haste with which so many have embraced sports betting. Elsewhere, in faraway Australia, the situation is exactly as it was in Canada a year ago. The gambling industry there is worth $20 billion per year and the number of Australians gambling online rose by 67 percent in the last 12 months. Yet online casinos remain prohibited and all that revenue is going to offshore operators.
Change seems inevitable, and clearly, the Canadian province of Ontario is leading the way.