Report: 85% of Ontario players are on regulated sites

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Just one year since the launch of Ontario’s open internet gaming market, new research shows the considerable success the province has had shifting players from gambling on unregulated sites to regulated sites that comply with Ontario’s high standards of game integrity and player protections.

According to an Ipsos survey conducted in March 2023, 85.3 percent of respondents who gambled online in Ontario over the past three months gambled on regulated sites. This is a significant shift from the estimated 70 per cent of online gambling that occurred on unregulated sites before the launch of the market.

The Government of Ontario worked with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario, its internet gaming subsidiary, to establish an open igaming market that allows eligible private gaming operators, registered with the AGCO and under contract with iGO, to participate in Ontario’s legal gaming market. This first of its kind framework in Canada was launched on April 4, 2022, and has offered Ontarians more choice, while protecting consumers and capturing an important new revenue stream for the province.

Today, 45 operators are live in Ontario and the AGCO has approved over 5,000 certified games for use in the province.