Reviewing the Ontario Legal Sports Betting Landscape: Early Trends and OLG Making Noise

We are approaching the three-month mark of the launch of Ontario's expanded legal sports betting platform. Despite a frustrating lack of actual handle and revenue figures coming from the province’s regulators, by all accounts, things have been going smoothly for Ontario's sports betting providers.

Although in relative infancy, there has been no shortage of news coming out of the Ontario sports betting scene. New partnerships have been formed, new sportsbooks are rumored to be coming to market and even a surprise favorite betting sport has emerged. There has even been a pair of sportsbooks fined for their advertising practices in the province.

Let's take a peek at some of the recent newsworthy stories from a fast 3 months of Ontario sports betting.

First, A Look At Some Early Trends

Ipsos research data has shown just how popular that sports betting was in the Ontario legal mobile sports wagering market in the first two months of operation. According to the research firm, 33% of eligible Ontarians have admitted to being registered with at least one legal gambling website in the province. That is a big and impressive number.

Interestingly, there is almost an equal split between the government-run OLG platform and private operators in the province. Government-run OLG.ca holds a 43% market share according to the research, while private operators account for 44% of the gambling dollars spent in Ontario.

Sportsbook data for the first 3 weeks of mobile sports betting revealed a surprising top-2 in terms of downloads. The top-6 break down this way:

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DraftKings and NorthStar Bets have launched in the last 30 days, but no data has yet been made available for their showing in the province so far.

Check out the latest comprehensive and most trusted Sportsbook Reviews by SBR here.

When Will We See Some Actual Handle And Revenue Figures?

Regulators, lawmakers, industry analysts and the Ontario public have been waiting on the release of the province’s sports betting revenue figures. In top U.S. markets, we generally expect to see such numbers on a monthly basis but coming up on three months, it has been crickets from the Ontario scene.

We have heard a number of excuses as to why we haven’t seen any revenue figures come out of Ontario, the latest being the provincial election. With that in the books Mitchell Davidson, the chief of staff for iGaming Ontario explained at the end of May that something should be released shortly after the people of Ontario complete their voting process.

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Two weeks later however and we are still waiting for that report.

It is anyone's guess when Ontarians will see just how successful their legal mobile sports platform has been... and how much that industry has contributed in the form of taxes paid.

OLG Has Been Making Some Noise

Official partnership deals between teams/leagues and participating sportsbooks continues to grab headlines in almost every legal sports betting jurisdiction in the world... Ontario included.

The big surprise is The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. and their sports betting brand OLG, which has been on a roll cozying up with some of the biggest sports leagues in the world.

PROLINE and PROLINE+ sportsbooks on Wednesday became the newest official sports betting partner of the NBA in a multi-year deal. The usual distribution/data rights package and cross-marketing opportunities will come along with the deal.

That deal comes in addition to the partnership pact the OLG, PROLINE and PROLINE+ signed with Major League Baseball (MLB) last week. OLG and their sports betting brands become MLB's first official sports betting partner in the Ontario market.

OLG had existing partnerships, signed earlier this year with the National Football League (NFL) and the National Hockey League (NHL).

Basketball Ontario's Betting Sport Of Choice?

The Toronto Maple Leafs early exit from the NHL playoff and the Ottawa Senators ending their miserable season around the time of Ontario's mobile sports betting launch has had an unforeseen effect on the Ontario market.

Basketball, yes basketball has been the most popular sport to bet on in the province since launch of its mobile sports betting platform April 4. The NBA, in a recent survey, came out as the sport that most respondents were betting on. Could basketball and the Toronto Raptors really be outpacing the betting momentum of hockey lovers in Ontario?

28% of those surveyed picked hoops as their #1 betting choice followed by #2, the NHL, and #3 the NFL, despite seeing no game action since launch. 8% of respondents picked MLB as their betting sport of choice "other" was 4% and English Premier Soccer (EPL) was at 3%.

It will be interesting to see where the CFL ranks with the season now in full swing.

Bet99 Makes Major Move Before Its Ontario Launch

Bet99 is the next name that is rumored to be coming to bettors in the Ontario market. The homegrown product is waiting on regulatory approval but isn't waiting around to gain a little exposure in the not-quite 3-month-old Ontario scene.

Bet99 announced this week that it had struck a deal with Kings Entertainment, which runs LottoKings and WinTrillions to team up in the delivery of the Bet99 Sportsbook brand in the Ontario market.

The merger between Vancouver-based Kings Entertainment and Bet99, which has a presence in the Canadian market only, should give bettors a uniquely Canadian sports betting experience.

With the backing of sportsbook ambassador Georges St. Pierre, Bet99, with the added exposure is now even more of a name to watch in the Ontario market.

Fines For A Pair Of Sportsbooks

Sports viewers in Ontario can’t help but see the glut of sportsbook advertising flooding the airwaves. Starting with BetRivers during the Winter Olympics and continuing with more than enough appearances by Wayne Gretzky on our TV screens, the province’s sportsbooks have been everywhere Ontarians turn.

The flood of advertising has already caught up to two sportsbooks operating in Ontario. Both BetMGM and PointsBet were fined a combined $78,000 by The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for breaking advertising rules in the province in May.

Eyes will be on the Ontario scene to see if those “slaps on the wrist” will have any effect on the inundation of sportsbook advertising in the province. Most agree that sportsbook ads won’t slow, and that gambling is becoming a baked-in part of our sports viewing experience.

Make sure to keep an eye on our Live Odds page throughout the week to get the best lines possible and connect with others in the SBR community on our popular sports betting forum.