Fitzdares Shuts Down Ontario Operations

Posted on: March 4, 2025, 09:12h. 

Last updated on: March 5, 2025, 10:56h.

Mark Keast Read More
Expertise: Canadian Gaming, iGaming, Las Vegas, Sports Betting, NFL, Boxing, UFC.
  • Fitzdares looked to bring its premium, luxury brand to Ontario
  • Ontario was the first international market Fitzdares expanded to outside the UK
  • H2 Gambling Capital estimates Fitzdares had a market share of 0.2%

British operator Fitzdares has announced it’s shutting down its Ontario operations, effective March 31.

Fitzdares announces it is shutting down its Ontario operations on March 31. (Image: Fitzdares)

No New Bets After March 24

The story was first published in Covers. On its Ontario website, the company said:

After serving our customers in Ontario for the past two years we have taken the difficult decision to exit the Ontario market. Fitzdares Ontario will be ceasing operations effective midnight on March 31, 2025. Thank you for being a Fitzdares customer and for trusting us with your business.”

The company added that March 3 was the last day for bonuses to be issued. After March 10 at 11:59 p.m., account deposits will no longer be possible. The site will continue to accept CA$5 deposits for those people needing to top up their account for withdrawing balances below their minimum thresholds.

After March 24 at 11:59 p.m., no new bets will be taken. The last day to withdraw funds from a player’s account is March 31.

The sportsbook and casino operator came into the Ontario market after getting its license in 2023 with the promise of building on its reputation as a premium brand. 

Fitzdares: UK-Based Luxury Gaming Operator

“The world’s most high-end bookmaker,” is how the operator was branded in the Financial Times. In the United Kingdom, Balthazar Fabricius founded Fitzdares on the old-fashioned traditions of bookmaking and customer service that the company believed were fading in an impersonal industry. 

The company, with a history dating back to 1882, gambled that Canada’s fast-growing economy, and an engaged wealthy audience — especially in the Greater Toronto Area — would meld with its premium, luxury branding when it launched in Ontario. Fitzdares opened with a pop-up Super Bowl party in 2023.

With its ties to horse racing, the Fitzdares Club concept in the UK is a private club environment where people hook up to bet on sports and horse racing and play live casino games. That too was the hope for Toronto, the first market outside the UK the operator had expanded into.

CEO Left in January

According to a spokesperson from H2 Gambling Capital, the global specialist gambling sector market data provider, while it’s difficult to put an exact revenue number on what the company generated in the Ontario market, it’s estimated Fitzdares’ market share is less than 0.2%.

H2 utilizes sources like web traffic, affiliate traffic, and search volume data to estimate market size and growth rates in regulated markets where there is no official data.

Looking at iGaming Ontario’s site on Tuesday morning, Ontario currently has 50 licensed operators and 84 gaming websites.

Record Month for Sports Betting in January

Sports betting in Ontario saw a big boost in revenue in January. According to data from iGaming Ontario, the market did CA$1.182 billion in wagers (a 4% increase from December), and CA$91.9 million in gross gaming revenue (a 134% month-over-month increase). 

William Woodhams, the former CEO of Fitzdares, who stepped down from the position in January, led Fitzdares into Ontario and had previously been bullish about the Ontario market.

At the Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto in 2023, Woodhams talked about the lessons learned coming into the Ontario market, the early “gold rush” mentality, and how some operators were feeling the pain of over-investing early, but those who took their time would be rewarded.

Short Sporting Season, Low Margins Proved Problematic

“To be fair, the first mover advantage happened 10 years ago, with all the gray market operators,” Woodhams said then. “Like bet365, they have the advantage over us. It’s been a slower build than everyone thought it would be. That land grab was a bit messy in the beginning.”

Woodhams added that Fitzdares’ “existential problem” in Ontario was that there weren’t enough sports to bet on because of short seasons and low margins.

A European punter will be betting on 36 races during the day in the UK, or in Ireland, France, all that racing product, with all the soccer happening all the time, tennis being a top 5 sport, in-play there is insane, but it’s not happening here yet because it’s a newly regulated market. The opportunity here is to lessen the reliance on casino and get day-to-day sport up because that will help the margin of the business as a whole.” 

CoolBet and Unibet are two other operators that have also left the Ontario market since it went live in April 2022.