Ontario iGaming Revenue Climbs Despite Sports Betting Growth Slowing Down

According to iGaming Ontario, second quarter results showed that Ontario iGaming revenue increased by 35% year-over-year, despite a decline in sports betting. Gamblers wagered CA$18.7 billion, the highest amount recorded during any quarter since online gambling went live in April 2022.

Ontario Online Casinos Compensate for Slow Betting Quarter

Ontario’s regulated gaming market for commercial operators took CA$18.7 billion in wagers in the second quarter of the year, from 1 July to 30 September. That handle along with the gross gaming revenue figure of CA$738 million, are both records and up more than 30% from the second quarter last year.

The latest report by iGaming Ontario shows that the regulated online gaming market continues to take big steps on a yearly basis, even though quarterly gains seem to be flattening.

Online gambling in Ontario, which includes online gaming, online sports betting and online poker, saw the overall handle up 31.7% year-over-year and 1.6% quarter-over-quarter, while Ontario gaming sites made a total of $730.7 million in gross revenue, up 35.2% year-over-year and 1.7% quarter-over-quarter.

Last quarter also noted a new tax record. Ontario’s tax rate for online gambling is 20% and the province took $147.6 million in tax revenue last year. Ontario has now reached more than the $1 billion mark in online gambling taxes alone since the market opened in 2022.

Sports Betting Handle Slightly Up from 2023

According to iGaming Ontario, there are 51 operators, and 83 gaming platforms accounted for at the end of Q2, 2024. This is in comparison to this time last year where there were 47 operators and 71 sites live.

This shows an interesting comparison between Ontario sports betting and online casinos, where it is clear that iGaming remains king.

Ontario online casinos clearly lead the way. This includes casino games such as slots, table games and peer-to-peer bingo accounting for 86% of the total wagers, equating to CA$16 billion.

In contrast to casino games, sports betting in Ontario fell for the third quarter in a row, to CA$2.2 billion. This is likely due largely to the seasonality of sport and was up 15.8% from Q2 in 2023. iGaming Ontario pointed out that betting, which is made up of sports, esports, proposition, and novelty bets and exchange betting, accounted for 12% of the total handle last quarter.

Participating Operators

The above figures all come from all eligible games offered by operators pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s iGaming and pari-mutual wagering are not included. 

Conclusion

Ontario is the most populated province in Canada and the country’s only province that is regulated. Single-game Ontario sports betting launched in August 2021, with iGaming then following in April 2022.

Overall, if we combinine OLG and iGO reporting, it shows that regulated online gambling in the province has yielded fractionally less than CA$5 billion in GGR across the first two years of Ontario’s open market from April 4, 2022 to March 31, 2024.