Money Wagered Up by $27 Billion in Second Year of Internet Gaming in Ontario

The second year of Ontario’s internet gaming market is over. IGaming Ontario released data on the second full year this month. The market grew in some areas, and not so much in other areas. But overall, the internet gaming market in Ontario continues to get bigger with over $2 billion in wagered last year as betting sites continue to enter and leave the Ontario market.

2023-2024 FY market performance released

Numbers for the second fiscal year, from April 2023 to March 2024, of iGaming Ontario’s internet gaming market revealed big gains from year one to year two. With the second fiscal year over, there is now some data to compare year one and year two, the goal being to understand the differences and improvements made. “With $63 billion in wagering and $2.4 billion in gaming revenue, the second year of Ontario’s igaming market is more than 70% bigger than the first. As the market matures into its third year, I look forward to building on this foundation of success with operators and other partners as they invest in Ontario so that Ontarians can continue to play with confidence,” iGaming Ontario executive director Martha Otton said. The market reports from the first and second year provide insight into the market as Ontario enters its third year.

The data for year one and two

As many probably expect, year one and year two had huge differences, with big increases in money wagered and average monthly spend from Q4 2022-2023 to Q4 2023-2024. One of the biggest wins for the market was the increase in money wagered from year one to year two. For Q4 2022-2023, January to March, there were $13.9 billion in wagers. That number rose to $17.8 billion a year later in Q4 2023-2024.

Roughly $35.5 billion was wagered for the whole 2022-2023 fiscal year. For 2023-2024, $63 billion was wagered, a difference of about $27.5 billion. The numbers reported may not be completely accurate because the numbers in the report “are unaudited and subject to adjustment. Due to rounding, numbers presented in this report may not add up precisely to the totals provided.” Overall, total gaming revenue rose by about $1 billion from year one to year two, from $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion. “Q4 total gaming revenue in Q4 was $690 million, with the 2023-24 ending at $2.4 billion, a 72% increase over 2022-23. This figure represents total cash wagers, including rake fees, tournament fees, and other fees, across all operators, player winnings derived from cash wagers and does not take into account operating costs or other liabilities.” 

More interesting findings from the reports

IGaming Ontario has posted a market performance report for each quarter of the fiscal year since the internet gaming market in Ontario launched on April 4, 2022. “As part of its commitment to sharing aggregate revenue and market insight reports, iGaming Ontario intends to continue releasing, at minimum, a market report on a quarterly basis.” The iGaming market report “includes all eligible games offered by operators pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.”

Another huge leap from Q4 year one to year two was in average monthly spend. Year one the average monthly spend for Q4 was $174. For year two, the average monthly spend was $263, almost a $100 increase. The average monthly spend is for each active player account, according to the report. For operators, gaming websites, and active player accounts the numbers haven’t changed a ton since Q4 2022-2023. There were two more gaming websites and one more operator at the end of Q4 year two compared to the first year. “Over 1.3 million player accounts were active during Q4. Active player accounts are accounts with cash and/or promotional wagering activity during the time period and do not represent unique players as individuals may have accounts with multiple Operators.”