Canadians in the country’s most populous province can’t get enough of regulated gambling.
Government agency iGaming Ontario announced on Wednesday that $18.4 billion was wagered in the first quarter of the 2024-2025 fiscal year, a 31% increase from the previous year’s Q1.
Coming off a fiscal year in which $63 billion was wagered in the province, the first quarter got off to a solid start as the handle for land-based and online casinos, sports betting, and poker rose 3.4% from last quarter.
Ontario’s Q1 revenue from April 1 through June 30 spiked even higher as $726 million in total gaming profits for a combined 50 operators with 80 gaming sites jumped 34% year-over-year and 5.2% from the previous quarter.
“With 50 regulated operators and a one-third increase in wagering and revenue figures over the first quarter of last year, Ontarians who choose to gamble are finding many enjoyable options in our open regulated iGaming market,” Martha Otton, executive director of iGO said. “The revenue generated by Ontario’s competitive iGaming market contributes directly to provincial priorities such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education.”
Casinos up, poker down
Total active player accounts across all Ontario gaming reached nearly 1.9 million during Q1 and the average monthly spend per account reached $284.
Slots, live and online table games, and peer-to-peer bingo combined to generate 84% of the overall handle for the first quarter and $529 million of the revenue, up from the $510 million generated in the previous quarter and nearly $120 million more than 2023-2024’s Q1.
Peer-to-peer poker was responsible for 2.2% of both the handle and profits. Wagering was down nearly 10% quarter-over-quarter with revenue following with a 15.8% decline while increasing by just $1 million year-over-year.
Making a run
Sports, esports, prop, and novelty betting accounted for 14% of the wagers and 25% of the province’s operator revenue, but an impressive run by a Canadian hockey team didn’t lead to figures produced during the previous quarter.
Despite the Edmonton Oilers making it all the way to Game 7 of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Final, wagers fell from $2.7 billion in the final quarter of last fiscal year to $2.5 billion in Q1.
However, Q1 revenue of $181 million rose 12.4% from the previous quarter and 52.1% year-over-year.
