Ontario had a record quarter in both online gambling bets and revenue in figures released today by iGaming Ontario.
For the third quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal year covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 of 2023, total online bets were some $17.2 billion. That’s a 21% increase over the Q2 (July 1 through Sept. 30) handle of $14.2 billion that was the previous best quarter.
Total Ontario online gambling revenue in Q3 was $658 million. That’s a 22% increase over the Q2 revenue of $540 million. The most recent figures were up 21% from the previous best quarter revenue of $545 million reached in Q1 (April 1 through June 30).
Ontario opened its legal, regulated online gambling sector in April of 2022.
In the third quarter, total bets were up 49% compared to the third quarter of the 2022-23 fiscal year ($11.53 billion). Gambling revenue is up 44% from the same quarter a year ago ($457 million).
Online casinos dominated the market
As expected, Ontario online casinos dominated the Q3 revenue figures.
Online casino games — including slots, live and computer-based table games and peer-to-peer bingo — accounted for 79% of the total wagers ($13.7 billion) and 71.6% of the revenue ($471 million).
Ontario online sports betting was responsible for 18% of the bets ($3.1 billion) and 26% of the revenue ($171 million).
Peer-to-peer online poker accounted for 2.6% of both the total bets ($431 million) and revenue ($17 million).
At a 20% tax rate, the Ontario government received $131.6 million from the online gambling sector in Q3.
Other interesting numbers:
- The number of active player accounts in Q3 was 1.2 million, up 27% from 943,000 in Q2.
- The average monthly spend per active player account declined for the third straight quarter to $186. It was down from $191 in Q2 and $197 in Q1.
Ontario revenue and handle already surpassed previous year
Through the first three quarters of the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Ontario online gambling sector has already produced total bets of $45.4 billion and revenue of $17.43 billion.
Both figures already surpass what the sector produced in all four quarters of its first fiscal year — handle of $35.65 billion and revenue of $14 billion.
The Q3 results are also double what Ontario’s online gambling sector produced through three quarters of the 2022-23 fiscal year — total bets of $21.646 billion and revenue of $886 million.
Lifetime, Ontario has taken in over $81 billion in bets, revenue over $3 billion
Lifetime, the Ontario online gambling market has had handle of $81.05 billion and revenue of $3.143 billion.
Since the market opened in April of 2022, the Ontario government has received $628.6 million in tax revenue from the online gambling sector in Q3.
The government’s cut through just the first three quarters of FY 2023-24 is $348.6 million.
What’s not included in Ontario’s numbers
There are some important caveats about Ontario’s numbers:
- The revenue numbers do not include figures from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp’s online operations. Though, PlayCanada did add the OLG figures to the iGO ones for the first full fiscal year.
- The combined numbers do not include revenue from a few well-established grey-market operators that were still doing business in the non-legal market in Ontario through the end of October.
- Ontario’s market is still relatively young at the 21-month mark.
Also, unlike comparable US jurisdictions, Ontario’s regulator also does not allow the advertisement of bonuses, inducements and credits. One could make an argument that this has a negative impact on customer acquisition and thus, handle and revenue. But since operators are otherwise freely permitted to advertise — and there has been a glut of advertising in Ontario — the jury is still out how much this really impacts the total bottom line. And operators can — and do — offer bonuses, credits and inducements to their customers. They just can’t advertise them. Customers must seek out the operators to find out what they are.
