TORONTO — Ontario's sports-betting industry continues to thrive, according to a report released Wednesday.
The report by IGaming Ontario states the province's regulated market generated a record total gaming revenue of $658 million over the third quarter. That's a 22 per cent increase over second-quarter figures.
The report covers activity from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023 and doesn't include information on all operators with gaming websites that had trading activity during that period.
In the third quarter, total bets were up a whopping 49 per cent compared to the 2022-23 third quarter ($11.53 billion). Gambling revenue increased 44 per cent from the same time a year ago ($457 million).
The report also stated there were 49 operators and 72 gaming websites doing business in the province during the third quarter. That's up slightly from 47 and 71, respectively, during the second quarter.
Total wagers in the third quarter were at a record $17.2 billion, up 21 per cent from the second-quarter figure of $14.2 billion that was the previous best quarter. The third-quarter figure didn't include promotional wagers (bonuses).
There were about 1.2-million player accounts active during the third quarter, up from 943,000. Active player accounts are those with cash and/or promotional wagering activity during the time period.
They don't represent unique players as individuals may have accounts with multiple operators.
The average monthly spend per active player account was $186, which is down from $191 in the second quarter.
Casino games -- including slots, live and computer-based table games and peer-to-peer bingo -- accounted for nearly $13.7 billion (or 79 per cent) of total wagers and $471 million (71 per cent) of gaming revenue.
Betting on sports, esports, proposition, and novelty bets, as well as exchange betting, accounted for nearly $3.1 billion (18 per cent) of total wagers. It also accounted for $171 million (25 per cent) of gaming revenue.
Poker accounted for $431 million (2.5 per cent) of total wagers and $17 million (2.5 per cent) of gaming revenue.
The industry opened up fully in Ontario on April 4, 2022.
Through the first three quarters of 2023-24, Ontario's online gambling industry has generated total bets of $45.4 billion and revenue of $17.43 billion. Both figures are more than it produced in its first fiscal year ($35.65 billion handle, $14 billion in revenue).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press
