Introduction
Canadian gambling has entered a new world over the last decade. In conjunction with our neighbors with whom we share a vast land border, many individual states and provinces have slowly started to repeal gambling legislation that has existed for decades.
Ontario is home to 13.5 million Canadians. It is the most populous province in the country, and many gambling lobbyists have tried and failed over the years to have regulations revised within the province. That was until 4th April 2022, of course, when digital gambling became legal and legislated, opening the floodgates to millions of potential customers overnight.
Following the blueprint
Ontario wasn’t the first large and economically vibrant jurisdiction to allow digital gambling in North America. States like New Jersey have been regulating online gambling since 2013 and it was one of the first states to ratify legislation with a strict framework and properly legislated laws. Many experts in the field cited the success of these state-wide changes as a prerequisite to the potential success in Ontario.
Although Ontario is on a grander scale, the point remains the same. Even looking ‘across the pond’ at countries like the United Kingdom, which has allowed digital gambling to remain freely available but regulated since 2005, the blueprint on which Ontario could base its new legislative landscape was there.
So, in many ways, many of the industry experts who were examining the situation and making their predictions could use these past examples as a potential timeline for Ontario’s last two years in the legal gambling world.
Giuseppe Faraone, a Senior Team Lead from CasinoTopsOnline, was one of the most prominent names who predicted how the early boom in Ontario would take off exponentially within the first few months, before plateauing to the current levels we’re witnessing.
Speaking to us, Faraone stated “…we’ve seen this kind of legal gambling in the U.S take off with absolute gusto. The Canadian market has had a long history of grey-market gambling – in some measures exceeding many U.S states – and a number of us in the industry have been pushing for regulation for years. Regulation is key to stopping the exploitation of vulnerable players and protecting the market from unscrupulous characters. An active grey market often indicates a willingness to play, particularly when players know they are better protected and backed by their government and authorities.”
While Faraone wasn’t the only one to predict that there’d be a substantial initial uptake in gambling before it leveled out, there are other examples of gambling having a much smaller impact in other states and provinces.
Digital gambling in Canada – a brief overview
The North American continent sprawls across a vast, populated area. As Canada and the US both start to find their feet in this competitive landscape, the potential profit for companies and the tax base for regulatory bodies are enormous.
All Canadian provinces have enacted recent laws allowing adult citizens to play a host of casino games. One of the many predictions that have come true has been that once one state wrote it into its state-level legislation, many would quickly follow suit. Most of the experts who were of this opinion stated it was simply down to each province not wanting to fall behind those that had enacted legalized gambling. Each province is now raking in tens of millions annually in tax dollars due to taxing digital casino platforms operating within their states.
Economists predict that by 2030, the online gambling industry will be worth close to $1.5 trillion – and given that Canada is one of the top eight world economies, many of the predictions that it’d quickly become a billion-dollar Ontario industry have been proven accurate. However, with the greatest respect, it’s also not the most outlandish prediction either – especially if we look at the success of newer digital gambling jurisdictions, particularly in the US.
A cleaner market – legal and licensed
Although people in Ontario gambled long before this legislation came into place in 2022, they gambled on “grey market” sites – and while they were not technically legal, they were so widespread and easy to access that many gamblers could use them.
However, it also resulted in gamblers not being protected by law – if they lost money on a site that wasn’t legislated or had any issues with deposits or withdrawals, they had to say goodbye to their dollars. In 2024, all of the digital casinos that operate in Ontario have to be licensed and overseen. So, if bettors run into difficulty, they have a much better pathway to raising their concerns and potentially getting their money back.
Granted, this isn’t a problem that many bettors encounter, especially given how competitive the market is. Gambling operators that facilitate sports and casino betting in Ontario are challenging each other to take the lead, so the last thing they need is to create issues among their Canadian customers.
Wiping out the grey market
Estimates have put the figure at close to $1 billion in online bets on these grey market sites – from Ontarians alone,. So, while it certainly wasn’t encouraged, legislators have factored in that it’s better the devil you know – they may as well regulate gambling and tax it, rather than continually drive it underground and struggle to monitor it, anyway. Ultimately, people are going to gamble, and with many provinces and states having a change of heart, it made sense for Ontario legislators to follow suit.
The grey market has been practically wiped out, which was more or less guaranteed to happen due to this legislative change. You could argue that this is a natural progression of a legislative market rather than a bold prediction. Still, as the unlicensed cryptocurrency casino industry in the UK has proved, even if there are ample sports betting markets, some people will gamble via grey market platforms.
Mobile betting leading the way
Again, this is not the most groundbreaking prediction that economists and analysts had in mind for Ontarians following the emergence of regulated digital gambling. It’s not just us Canadians who need our mobile phones for our everyday activities; it’s a global phenomenon that has developed over the last 20 years. With most of the top online sportsbooks and casinos, the quality and latency of their mobile apps have driven a lot of their growth.
Economists and business analysts didn’t need a crystal ball to predict this outcome, once the legislation rolled out across the province. However, the continued development of sophisticated mobile technology and widespread internet access has meant that digital casinos are increasingly targeting the mobile app market rather than the PC, desktop or laptop field.
Technology has come such a long way that any casino game developed from 2015 onwards is compatible with all of these devices, anyway. With so many of us using our mobiles as the one-stop shop for everything we do, whether taking photos, banking or playing casino games, this is one section of the industry that could be its own standalone, successful enterprise.
It means Canadians can now watch their favorite sports from the comfort of their home and place their wagers accordingly. With such a range of diverse sports and sporting news on offer to Canadians, there’s no shortage of material and research to utilize when placing a sports bet. Considering you can use your mobile device – whether it be an iPad or smartphone – to conduct your research and place your bets, it’s no surprise that mobile betting is now leading the way in Ontario’s new gambling landscape.
The growth in responsible gambling practices
One major issue with a gambling grey market or an unlicensed practice is that it becomes taboo for many of those with gambling issues to seek help. In any society where gambling is driven underground, it can quickly end up in the hands of criminal enterprises and other forms of unlicensed betting.
If bettors develop issues, whether financial, emotional or mental, as a result of these markets, many of the services that can be found in countries with licensed gambling markets don’t have the funding or visibility to help on anywhere near the same scale. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is the regulatory body in charge of monitoring and effectively legislating gambling within the province.
A percentage of the tax revenue generated by digital casino companies goes into responsible gambling companies. These bodies and charities ensure that advertising, website design, and company ethics are all above board. Not only must they adhere to the new legislation, but they should also encourage an environment in which people who are developing a problem can seek help without any stigma attached.
Identifying problem gambling
Problem gambling can look different depending on the person it impacts. For some who have chronic issues, it may not become noticeable until they start having trouble paying their bills or looking physically disheveled and emotionally distressed.
The danger with problem gambling is that it doesn’t have an obvious physical form in the way drinking or other vices do, so people can spend thousands and hide it more easily. Should you spend too much money gambling or too much time on sites, viewing gambling as a form of income, you should seek out assistance immediately, as these are all signs of problem gambling.
Summary
Many of the predictions for Ontario-based gambling have mirrored those of many other states and countries that have followed similar processes over the last 20 years. While there might be small nuances, such as more mobile betting or gambling on specific Canadian sports like ice hockey, general practices, and trends have followed a lot of other legalized gambling areas in the West.
