Ontario Sports Betting Revenue Plunges 30% in August as Casino Sets Record

Sports betting revenue in Ontario’s regulated iGaming market plunged 30% month over month in August, even as casino wagering reached an all-time high in market share, helping push overall wagering to CA$9.740 billion ($6.881 billion), according to new data from iGaming Ontario.

That overall wagering figure was down just 1% from July’s CA$9.884 billion, while total non-adjusted gross gaming revenue (NAGGR) fell 4% to CA$396.3 million ($279.93 million). 

NAGGR is the amount operators retain from gambling activity before deducting bonuses, promotional credits, taxes, fees, and operating costs.

Sports Betting Revenue Tumbles

Active player accounts fell to 1.208 million, down 11% from July. Average revenue per active player account was CA$328 ($232), up 8% month over month.

Casino handle was CA$8.776 billion ($6.20 billion), roughly the same as July, for a 90% market share. That’s an all-time high for the casino segment in the regulated market, which launched in April 2022.

Sports betting handle came in at CA$843 million ($595.49 million), a 15% decrease from July, for a 9% market share. That number wasn’t surprising, with the World Cup finished and the NFL season yet to commence.

Casino Wagering Market Share Sets Record

Peer-to-peer (P2P) poker came in at CA$122 million ($86.18 million) in cash wagers, up 5% month over month, for a 1% market share.

On the NAGGR front, casino was CA$336.3 million ($237.56 million), up 2% month over month, for an 85% market share. 

Sports betting came in at CA$54.4 million ($38.43 million) for the month, down a whopping 30% month over month, with a 14% market share. P2P poker NAGGR was CA$5.6 million, a 6% increase from July, for a 1% market share.

Enforcement in focus

The Ontario-regulated iGaming market currently has 49 licensed operators, with 84 gaming websites live and accepting wagers.

Elsewhere in Ontario’s regulated iGaming market, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) issued a series of penalties in August totaling close to CA$300,000.

Betty Gaming was fined CA$120,000 ($85,000) on Aug. 6 after failures in its age-verification and eligibility systems allowed 23 people under 19 to create accounts on Betty.ca.

On Aug. 20, Booming Games was fined CA$70,000 ($49,000) after prohibited auto-play functionality was available on several Ontario slot games for months.

Meanwhile, NorthStar Gaming was initially hit with a CA$100,000 ($71,000) penalty over alleged anti-money laundering failures involving one high-risk player’s account, before agreeing to settle the matter for CA$80,000 ($57,000).

Fanatics also secured regulatory approval in August, clearing the way for it to launch in Ontario. Fanatics still needs to finalize an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario before going live.