Sports betting sites and online casinos did brisk business in Ontario in its first fiscal quarter of the year even without any NFL football or March Madness on the docket.
Government agency iGaming Ontario (iGO) reported Wednesday $14 billion (CAD) in total wagering from April 1 to June 30 in the province's competitive market for online sports betting and internet casino gambling. That wagering does not include free bets or other promotional credits.
The 46 operators and 71 private-sector gaming sites present in Canada's most populous province generated $545 million in revenue from that handle, which flowed from approximately 920,000 active player accounts. On average, players spent around $197 a month with Ontario sports betting sites, internet casinos, and online poker rooms during the quarter, iGO's figures showed.
New figures for Ontario's competitive market for online sports betting and internet casino gambling are out and are arguably better than ever, as they are broken down by gaming category. iGO says CAD$14B was wagered from Apr 1 to June 30, $11.6B of which was casino and $2B of… pic.twitter.com/oVFDfQFBhh
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) July 19, 2023
Most of the figures for the province's first fiscal quarter were up compared to the fourth, wherein $13.9 billion in total iGaming wagering took place and $526 million in revenue was generated from January 1 to March 31.
Notably, though, active player accounts and the number of sites were higher in the previous quarter, with around 1.01 million accounts and 75 sites. That suggests some players have thrown in the towel and that some operators have dropped some of their offerings.
The figures are also way up from the very first quarter of the competitive market for Ontario sports betting and other iGaming. From the market's launch on Apr. 4, 2022, to June 30 of the same year, there was just short of $4.1 billion in wagering and $162 million in revenue.
Let's get granular
There was, however, a significant change in reporting for the most recent quarter, as iGO provided a breakdown on Wednesday of which gaming types were responsible for what amount of wagering and revenue. That was something the agency had not done previously.
For instance, online casinos accounted for $11.6 billion in handle and $392 million in revenue, iGO said, or 83% and 72% of the totals for the first quarter. Meanwhile, legal sports betting attracted $2 billion in wagering (or 14% of all handle) and generated $138 million in receipts (or 25% of gross revenue, and a hold of approximately 6.9%) from April to the end of June. The remaining $350 million in handle and $15 million in revenue flowed from online poker, which was 3% of the quarterly totals.
Going a step further, iGO also disclosed the breakdown by gaming type for the first year of Ontario's competitive iGaming market, which began on April 4 of 2022 and ended March 31 of this year. Online casinos accounted for $27.6 billion in wagering and $940 million in revenue, sports betting was responsible for $7 billion in handle and $433 million in income (a hold of around 6.2%), and poker was good for another $992 million in wagering and $40 million in receipts.
“As part of its commitment to sharing aggregate revenue and market insight reports, iGO intends to continue releasing, at minimum, a market report on a quarterly basis,” the agency said Wednesday.
None of the above figures include wagering done with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) either.
The government-owned operator has yet to disclose its financials for the past year, when it first began facing legal competition from a host of other bookmakers. Prior to Ontario opening its competitive iGaming market in April 2022, OLG had been the sole authorized operator in the province.
