The sports-betting industry continues to thrive in Ontario but not nearly as well as online casinos in the province.
On Wednesday, iGaming Ontario (iGO) released its report for the first full quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal year (April 1-June 30). It revealed a record total gaming revenue of $545 million, compared to $162 million over the same period last year.
The $545 million is also up from the $526 million in total revenue generated in the final quarter of 2022.
According to the report, total sports-betting wagers for the first three months of 2023 totalled $2 billion, with gaming revenues of $138 million. And that’s significant given $162 million was generated in total gaming revenues over the same time last year.
In April 2022, Ontario became the first Canadian province to launch an open, regulated igaming market.
iGaming Ontario (iGO) is a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). It conducts and manages internet gaming in the province.
The iGO report doesn’t include revenue from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.’s online operations.
However, for the first time the province provided a complete breakdown of total igaming revenues Wednesday. And the numbers — especially those involving online casinos — are staggering.
The report stated online casinos were responsible for $11.6 billion of the $14 billion in total bets and generated $392 million of the overall gaming revenue. That works out to 83 per cent of the handle and 72 per cent of revenues, respectively.
By comparison, the sports-betting handle accounted for just 14 per cent of total bets and 25 per cent of revenues. The report listed poker bets of $350 million (2.5 per cent of handle) and $15 million in gaming revenue (2.8 per cent).
For the first three months of 2022, iGO stated Ontario online gambling platforms took in $4.076 billion in total wagers. That $162 million in total revenue was generated from 492,000 active-player accounts.
The 2023 total wagers and revenue figures are more than triple those of 2022.
And through the first three months of 2022, there was a total of 18 operators and 31 igaming websites active. The report Wednesday stated there were 46 operators and 71 gaming sites.
The report also stated there were about 920,000 active player accounts in the first quarter. The average monthly spend per account was $197, up from $113 from the same time last year.
Since the launch of an open, regulated market in Ontario, $35.6 billion has been wagered with total gaming revenue of $1.4 billion. Casinos have accounted for an overwhelming majority of that — $27.6 billion in wagers (78 per cent) and $940 million in revenue (67 per cent).
Sports-betting has accumulated $7 billion in wagers (20 per cent) and $433 in revenue (31 per cent). Poker has generated $992 million in wagers (three per cent) and $40 million in revenue (three per cent).