Recent years have seen huge growth in the American gambling industry. Canada are slowly following suit and the first quarter results for Ontario are in. They have reported total revenue of $162 million for the first three months of gaming operations.
April saw Ontario allow private companies to be able to open up in the Canadian province and many have done so. 18 operators have been given licenses with 31 gaming websites launched.
It’s been a big success and an iGaming Ontario public report shows total wagers of $4.076 billion being placed. That excludes promotion wagers that have been made since the April launch. The figure does include rake, tournament and other fees.
The financial period ending June 30 saw a total of 492,000 active accounts being created in Ontario. On average, players are spending $113 per month.
David Forestell is the chair of the iGaming Ontario board. He’s delighted with the figures that have been released. Commenting on them he said that: “Our aim is to be the best gaming jurisdiction in the world and these positive results are an early sign that we’re on our way.”
He added that Ontario is an “attractive igaming market” to join. That’s due to the strong customer base, a competitive revenue share rate and low barriers to entry.”
Companies need to follow the regulations though. Recently Unibet were fined after breaching advertising rules. The province only allows companies to send out details about promotions and bonuses to customers who sign up to receive such information.
The first quarter results seem to back up claims made by Bonusfiender in 2021. When learning that private companies would finally be able to open in Ontario, they said that the region would become “the most attractive igaming market in North America.”
Their forecast was based on the fact the population of Ontario is 15 million. A “highly competitive market” would be created and that is what is happening in the province. The combination of the number of potential customers, a large number of companies launching sites and high bonus offers being made is an obvious recipe for success.
Figures are likely to increase as the months go by. September sees the new NFL season begin and then in November and December, the World Cup takes place and Canada have qualified for the finals for the first time since 1986.
More companies are likely to want to open in Ontario so the success of the launch looks like carrying on for the foreseeable future.
