New numbers from iGaming Ontario confirm that the second full year of expanded online gaming in the province far exceeded the performance of Year 1.

From April 1, 2023-March 31,2024, Ontario online gambling sites generated $2.4 billion in revenue off $63 billion in wagers. That is a year-over-year jump of 71.4% for revenue and 78% for wagers.

In addition to providing the latest numbers for Q1, iGO has also gone back and retroactively filled in some blanks on revenue categories that were missing from previous reports.

Q1 2024 sets record for Ontario online gaming wagers

The period from January-March 2024 generated the highest amount of wagers so far in the province at $14.6 billion. Revenue for the period was down slightly from October-December, 2023 at $2.7 billion compared to $3.1 billion.

When broken down by vertical, it was clear that online casinos are fueling the growth in the market. Here is a look at the past year, per iGO:

 

Online casino fueling growth in Year 2

Over the course of the year, online casino revenue grew by nearly 30% and outperformed Year 1 by 88%. By comparison, poker grew 26.7% over the course of the year and was up 64% over Year 1. Given the seasonality of sports betting, it is problematic to use quarter-by-quarter growth. Per iGO, the sports betting industry was up 39% year-over-year.

“With $63 billion in wagering and $2.4 billion in gaming revenue, the second year of Ontario’s igaming market is more than 70% bigger than the first,” says iGaming Ontario Executive Director Martha Otton. “As the market matures into its third year, I look forward to building on this foundation of success with operators and other partners as they invest in Ontario so that Ontarians can continue to play with confidence.”

The total number of active players continued to tick up as well, with 1.3 million active player accounts during Q1 compared to 1.2 million in Q4 2023. With so many more accounts, it more than made up for the decline in average monthly spend, which declined for the second quarter in a row. After peaking at $300 in Q3, spending dropped to $276 in Q4 and then to $263 for the first quarter of 2024.

Growth extends beyond revenue and handle

Per data from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), there are currently 47 operators operating 77 sites in the market. By comparison, the Year 1 revenue report listed 49 operators and 72 different sites.

With the substantial growth in the market, Ontario online gaming continues to outpace tax revenue projections for the province. As iGO Ontario Board Chair Heidi Reinhart noted when celebrating the anniversary earlier this month, the numbers are only part of the story when discussing the growth of the market.

“When talking about Ontario’s iGaming market, the numbers tell us a lot, but what I’m most proud of are the countless ways that our government partners, operators, responsible gambling experts, players and employees have worked together to help us create a world-class market that is Ontario-made for Ontarians.”