How Ontario's online gambling industry is faring 3 years into legalization

Tyler Cheese · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 22, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Three years aft legalization, Ontario's online gambling and sports betting manufacture is booming, but immoderate experts accidental there's origin for interest astir however gaming is marketed.

PowerPlay, an planetary gambling website licensed nether the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), has expanded precise successfully into the state implicit the past 3 years, Bill O'Brien, a sports publication manager astatine PowerPlay, told CBC Toronto.  

"Everyone ever knew Ontario … was a marketplace with immense potential," O'Brien said. "But it has surpassed what anyone benignant of expected it to be."

He pointed to iGaming Ontario's 2023-2024 yearly report, which showed Ontario residents wagered astir $63.3 cardinal and generated $2.2 cardinal successful full gaming gross successful the 2nd twelvemonth since the marketplace has been successful operation. Those figures correspond 78 per cent and 75 per cent increases respectively implicit the archetypal year. iGaming Ontario is expected to people its 2024-2025 findings aft its fiscal twelvemonth ends astatine the extremity of March. 

The manufacture has besides had a affirmative interaction connected the provincial economy, O'Brien said. 

"The 2nd afloat twelvemonth of legalized sports betting contributed thing similar 15,000 jobs and … $2.7 cardinal to Ontario's GDP," helium said. 

Those figures travel from a Deloitte report, commissioned by iGaming Ontario.

"That was lone the 2nd year. Like, that's conscionable going to get bigger and bigger," O'Brien said. 

But portion the assemblage grows, advocates similar Bruce Kidd interest astir the antagonistic impacts it tin person connected the public. 

WATCH | Has sports betting gone excessively far? 

Advertising restrictions aren't enough, advocator says

Kidd is the co-chair of the Ban Ads for Gambling campaign.

"There has been an detonation of … successful our view, unregulated ads, which person led to a immense summation successful gambling, sports betting and related addictions," helium told CBC Toronto.

The AGCO does person a fig of restrictions connected however net gaming is marketed, astir geared toward protecting minors.

Last year, the AGCO besides banned the usage of nonrecreational athletes and restricted the usage of celebrities that entreaty to minors successful online gambling advertising. 

Kidd, however, wants to spot the ads banned entirely. 

"There is simply a nationalist wellness statement for reducing the ads," helium said. "The manufacture could surely bash good without the ads and we mention the planetary probe that indicates that advertizing is straight related to accrued information and accrued addiction."

Nigel Turner, a idiosyncratic with the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research astatine the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), agreed there's excessively overmuch advertising. 

When it comes to the sector's nonstop interaction connected the public, helium looked astatine the magnitude of calls CAMH has received related to occupation gambling. 

Following legalization, "there was a accelerated escalation successful … however galore radical were calling the helpline regarding online gambling," helium said. 

Support disposable for those struggling with occupation gambling

In April 2024, Turner said the magnitude of calls seemed to level out, but helium noted that calls often spike astatine definite times of year, including erstwhile sports playoff seasons begin.  

He recommended anyone who thinks they mightiness person a occupation with gambling telephone the CAMH helpline oregon look into betterment programs.

"They are free, they are disposable to everyone," Turner said. "And it is simply a work that does work. … Sometimes it takes respective tries earlier you really get off, but yet radical bash get their gambling nether control."

For online gambling specifically, helium besides recommends that radical usage limit-setting and self-exclusion features. The AGCO requires online gambling platforms to see these features successful a mode that is casual and evident to users.

"Use those tools, acceptable them, and instrumentality to it," Turner said. "Don't get impulsively sucked into the thought of gambling much due to the fact that determination is nary specified happening arsenic being owed to triumph and that is 1 of the astir communal erroneous beliefs that radical have."