Ontario legalised online casinos and sportsbooks in April 2022. Since then, the Ontario online casino market has grown into one of the top five biggest iGaming markets in North America. With other provinces considering opening up their igaming markets, let’s look at five reasons why online casinos have been so successful in Ontario.
5. Existing Player Base
One of the biggest reasons Ontario rushed to create a regulated online casino market is because lawmakers knew that online casinos were already very popular.
We do not have the exact numbers, but some estimates from 2021 claim that Canada’s online gambling industry was worth over $2.3 billion. The vast majority of those revenues were coming from Ontario, Canada’s most populated province.
By providing a safer, legal option in place of offshore betting sites, online casinos have been able to thrive on the existing player base that was already in Ontario and from new players just entering the market. In 2024, over 86% of Ontarian gamblers played at licensed betting sites.
4. A Diverse and Competitive Market for Online Operators
A market can only thrive if customers have lots of options and the sellers are forced to compete. That is exactly the kind of market that has developed in Ontario for online casinos.
At the end of quarter two of iGaming Ontario’s 2024-25 fiscal year in October 2024, there were over 51 iGaming operators. Ontario online casinos made up the vast majority of these operators and accounted for over 75% of total revenue.
Moreover, these many online casinos offer players a wide variety of games to enjoy. iGaming Ontario says these casinos have made available more than 5,000 unique games.
4. Clear Regulations for Online Casinos
As much as some people would prefer the online casino market to be a bit like the Wild West, it is clear that increased regulation has been a big boom for Ontario.
Pre-2022, if you wanted to play online casino games in Ontario, you would have to sign up for an off-shore based casino site. It was hard to know whether a site was safe or just a scam. Additionally, many of these sites only accepted cryptocurrency, which is still a complicated topic for a lot of people.
These things were not a problem for experienced online casino players who knew what they were doing. For the average player though, these were barriers that they simply were not willing to overcome.
When the market was clearly regulated in 2022 and brought under the iGaming Ontario umbrella, it made casual and low-stakes players much more likely to try their hand at online gambling.
Additionally, iGaming Ontario, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, and the government as a whole, have been really strong about advancing the interests of online casino players through smart legislation.
For example, Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, issued an order-in-council to federal courts, asking them to rule on whether Ontario online casinos could legally accept players from other countries under Canadian law. If yes, this would lead to better live casino games due to having more players to play against and bigger jackpots up for grabs.
2. The growth of iGaming across North America
While Ontario has out-paced many major North American online casino markets, it is not the only place in the continent where iGaming has taken off.
In Canada, every major province now offers comprehensive online sports betting through both the provincial lottery corporations and via private sector partnerships between the lotteries and regulated sportsbooks.
South of the border in the United States, iGaming has exploded similar to Ontario. Over 30 states now have legal sports betting and six states have made online casinos legal with more likely coming soon.
As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. So, as the North American iGaming market has boomed, so has Ontario’s.
1. Lucrative Bonus Offers for Ontarians
iGaming in Ontario has strict rules for how online casino bonuses can be advertised. For the bonuses themselves though, online gambling sites are free to compete with unique and comprehensive bonus offers.
Due to this, players have available to them literally thousands of dollars’ worth of casino bonuses that they can claim. With so much money on the line for new players, it is no wonder why so many have signed up.
My Opinion: Is the Ontario Casino Market the New Standard for Success?
The Ontario online casino market has grown leaps and bounds since it was formally regulated in April 2022. The reasons for this are varied, but ultimately come down to iGaming Ontario giving players a wide variety of safe, online casino options.
Before these options were available, the market was closed off to the vast majority of Ontario players. Now that it is open, the market has taken off and is expected to grow even bigger in the years to come.
