Friday, April 4, 2025 is the third anniversary of Ontario launching its regulated online gaming and betting market. It’s safe to say the province has come a long way.

When Ontario opened its doors to commercial gaming companies three years ago, it was the culmination of a years-long effort from the industry to bring online gaming under close oversight. The core goals were to stamp out as much of the unregulated market as possible, increase both choice and protection for consumers and drive innovation in the sector, all while generating tax revenue for the province.

Green shoots quickly blossomed into full bloom.

Ontario is now home to 83 regulated online gaming or betting sites run by 49 licensed private-sector operators, in addition to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) platform. Some operators have thrived, some have struggled to make an impact and some, like Unibet and Fitzdares, have left altogether.

But when it comes to those goals, it’s hard to say it hasn’t been a success.

$7 billion in regulated online gaming every month

In just under three years (April 4, 2022 to February 29, 2025), Ontario gamblers have placed a total of $173.6 billion in online casino, sports or poker wagers across all the licensed commercial platforms available to them, per the latest numbers reported by iGaming Ontario (iGO).

That in itself is a huge number, and diving a little deeper illustrates how things have grown year by year.

Beginning at $1.1 billion in the market’s first month, private-sector online gaming had broken the $4 billion monthly handle barrier by December 2022 as more operators joined the fray, more casino game suppliers added their offerings to licensed platforms and consumers got used to the regulated market. By December 2023, it was over $6 billion. It first exceeded $7 billion last October and has been above that threshold in every month since.

What’s become clear is that, while Ontarians love to bet on sports, this is an overwhelmingly online casino-first market. Casino gaming, which includes slots, live dealer and table games and peer-to-peer bingo under iGO’s definition, comprises 85% of handle and 76% of revenue as of February 2025. That vertical alone has seen more than $6 billion in gambling spend and more than $200 million in operator revenues every month since last October. Online sports betting handle, by contrast, has only been over $1 billion in six months out of the three years.

Aross all regulated online gaming, all-time gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated by operators is at $6.8 billion through the end of February 2025, and broke $300 million in a month for the first time in January 2025. With Ontario’s competitive online gaming tax rate is set at 20%, the provincial government has made close to $1.5 billion in tax revenue from regulating online gaming.

Market still growing amid strong channelization

While it may not be booming at the same rate as it did in earlier years, the market is still growing. At last count, a new record of 1.13 million player accounts were active in the province across all regulated platforms. Handle, GGR and active player accounts are up 26.9%, 32.5% and 23% year-over-year, respectively.

An iGO spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business on Friday that the growth is down to “a strong roster of operators and a robust list of games.” Those comments were echoed by Canadian Gaming Association President and CEO Paul Burns.

“Ontario’s iGaming market is a rising star in the gaming industry, showing impressive growth as it steps into its third year,” Burns told CGB this week. “This success boils down to effective regulatory measures, diverse market adoption and strong consumer protection.”

It’s all resulted in better-than-expected conversion from the unregulated market to regulated gaming. An estimated 70% of Ontario online gambling was done in the grey market rather than on OLG’s platforms pre-regulation; as of April 2024, iGO boasted an 86% channelization rate. It has outlined a goal to achieve 90% within five years. Data provided to CGB by H2 Gambling Capital last fall suggests that, when you include OLG in the mix, 93% of Ontario online gaming is now on regulated platforms.

The province is not resting on its laurels, though. The provincial regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), said in January that it is working on “a comprehensive strategy” to further limit access to the unregulated market “by delivering a second generation of high-impact, coordinated and relevant regulatory activities.”

Change is (still) gonna come

As for what year four of the market may bring, there are several developments to watch.

The iGaming Ontario Act, which officially establishes iGO as a standalone agency fully independent of the AGCO, is expected to be enacted soon. Meanwhile, the conversation around establishing a national framework on sports betting advertising is likely to continue in some form no matter who wins this month’s federal election.

And, while peer-to-peer poker is currently a drop in the Ontario ocean, at around 2% of both handle and GGR, there’s potential for that to change if international liquidity pooling is determined to be legal by the Court of Appeal. CGB understands a verdict in that reference question could arrive as soon as June.