Ontario Sports Betting Industry Hits Record Levels in Quarter 3

To nobody's surprise, the sports betting and other gambling sectors in Canada's only legal jurisdiction showed healthy growth for iGaming Ontario and our best sports betting apps.

Ontario has seen healthy quarter-over-quarter growth since iGaming legalization in the province in April 2022, according to the iGaming Ontario (IGO) 3rd quarter revenue report released Wednesday.

The report covered the three months from  October 1 to December 31, 2023. According to the figures, there were healthy quarter-over-quarter increases in total wagers accepted, revenues for operators in the province, gaming websites taking wagers in the Ontario market, and active player accounts. Only average monthly spending for customers of Ontario sports betting apps was down.

iGaming totals

Ontario's iGaming market totaled $17.2 billion in wagers for the three-month period that ended on December 31, easily a record for the Ontario sports betting scene. It is a 21% increase from $14.2 billion in Q2 of the 2023 fiscal year. Bets were also up 49.2% from Q3 of 2022.

Total gaming revenues came in at $658 million for Q3, another record for the Ontario market. That figure represents a 22% quarter-over-quarter increase from the reporting period that ended September 30 and is 44% higher than reported during Q3 of 2022. 

The $658 million includes "rake fees, tournament fees, and other fees, across all Operators, player winnings derived from cash wagers and does not take into account operating costs or other liabilities."

Forty-nine operators and 72 gaming websites were active in the Ontario market at the end of 2023, including many of our best sportsbooks, which speaks to the health and competitiveness of the province's market. In Q2, 47 operators and 71 gaming websites were operational in the province.

One million and two hundred thousand player accounts were revealed in the IGO's quarter 3 report, a 31% jump from Q2's 943,000 accounts. Active player accounts are defined as "accounts with cash and promotional wagering activity during the time period and do not represent unique players as individuals may have accounts with multiple Operators."

The average monthly spend per active player account in Q3 was $186. That number is down from $191 in Q2 to $197 in Q1.

Further breakdown

Casino games in Ontario, including slots, live and computer-based table games, and peer-to-peer bingo wagering opportunities, dominated Q3 betting activity and revenue totals. 

Ontario online casino gaming made up $13.7 billion, or 79% of the total legal wagers in the Ontario market during Quarter 3. Such gaming opportunities reported a total of $471 million or 71% of total revenues for the Ontario iGaming industry.

Betting, encompassing Ontario sports betting apps wagering, prop bets, novelty bets, and exchange betting, was responsible for about 18%, or $3.1 billion, of the province's total wagering activity. It is a predictable 63.2% quarter-over-quarter increase. Q3's sports betting menu dramatically increased with NFL betting and the start of the NHL and NBA seasons. 

Revenues from the "Betting" category comprised 25% of the province's total Q3 revenues, with $171 million in profits.

The last IGO category, Peer-to-peer (P2P) poker, took in $431 million in wagers in the third quarter, or about 2.5% of all wagers taken in by iGaming Ontario. Revenues from the category in Q3 were $17 million, or about 2.5% of the total iGaming revenues in the province.