Report shows 85% of Ontario players are on regulated sites

The study was commissioned by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

Canada.- A new report conducted by research company Ipsos, and commissioned by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and iGaming Ontario, has found that more than 85.3 per cent of players are playing on regulated sites in Ontario. 

The survey, conducted one year after the launch of Ontario’s open internet gaming market, shows “the considerable success the province has had shifting players from gambling on unregulated sites to regulated sites that comply with Ontario’s high standards of game integrity and player protections.”

To compile the report, Ipsos surveyed 1,850 Ontario residents aged 19 and over from February 28 to March 13. The study revealed that 85.3 per cent of respondents who had gambled online in the province over the last three months had wagered on a regulated website. Of this total, 19.5 per cent wagered on both legal and illegal sites, while 14.7 per cent had wagered on illegal sites.

Today, 45 operators are live in Ontario and the AGCO has approved over 5,000 certified games for use in the province.

Ontario igaming wagers hit $26.5bn in first year

In just one year, the new legal igaming market in Ontario has generated CAD$35.6bn ($26.5bn) in wagers and approximately $1.4bn in gaming revenue. That places the Canadian province among the top five igaming jurisdictions in North America, according to iGaming Ontario (iGO).

The most popular sport to bet on was basketball at 28 per cent of betting wagers, followed by soccer at 15 per cent, football at 14 per cent, then hockey at 9 per cent and baseball at 8 per cent.

Figures show that in the online casino category, nearly half (48 per cent) of all wagers were on slots, nearly a third (32 per cent) on table games with a live dealer and the remainder (19 per cent) on computer-based table games.