While sports betting numbers have dropped a little in Ontario this year, online casinos are breaking all sorts of records. The province reported record handles, gross gaming revenue, and tax revenue for online casinos in the second quarter of 2024.
Quarterly Records
Online casino operators in the Canadian province reported $18.7 billion in wagers for the second quarter of 2024, which is the period spanning from July 1st to September 30th. A gross gaming revenue totalling $738 million was also reported. Both of these quarterly records show that the iGaming industry in Ontario is healthier than ever.
While online sports betting did not show the same record-breaking increases quarterly, there are still plenty of positive signs of growth. Overall, iGaming, sports betting and online poker were up 1.6% from the previous quarter, being up 31.7% year-on-year. There was also an increased number of active player accounts in the province, sitting at 1.3 million, up 40% from 943,000 in 2023.
This also leads to record tax revenue for the province. Ontario’s tax rate for online gambling is currently 20%, which means that the province was able to claim $147.6 million in tax revenue during the quarter. This now takes the total tax collected since the opening of the market to over $1 billion.
Online Casino Dominates
The data was published by iGaming Ontario (iGO), and it paints a very clear picture of how Ontarians like to gamble online. Online casino games accounted for 86% of the total wagers placed in the province, while online sports betting handles fell for the third consecutive quarter.
These figures will no doubt be of interest to Alberta. The Canadian province is set to launch its own regulated online casino and sports betting markets in the next few years, and it will no doubt be looking at Ontario’s success as it attempts to piece together its approach to regulation.
