April 04, 2024, marked the second anniversary of Ontario’s regulated iGaming market and to highlight the milestone, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has commissioned a study. Conducted by Ipsos and released on April 03, 2024, Ontario iGaming Market Channelization, says 86.4% of Ontario’s gamblers use regulated sites to place bets.
The launch of the open gaming market in the province enabled operators to register with the AGCO and secure agreements with iGaming Ontario (iGO), effectively allowing them to offer their services legally, ensure integrity, and contribute to provincial revenues. Before this happened, the Government of Ontario estimated the level of channelization at a much lower rate, with 70% of online gaming taking place on unregulated sites.
As the study explained, the rate of channelization indicated the degree to which players “are shown to be shifting their online gambling activity from unregulated to regulated sites.”
In 2023, the AGCO and iGO commissioned Ipsos to conduct a similar study, with results indicating that 85.3% of online players register and play with authorized operators. Respondents were asked to name the operators they used “to codify users into groups depending on whether the gambling sites reported are legal/regulated or not”. The most recent study was conducted using the same methodology and for the same purpose – to evaluate if there is a shift in the channelization rate.
The current study was conducted from January 29 to February 15, 2024, and included a total of 2,016 Ontarians aged 19+. Of all respondents, 1,009 represented a general population sample and 1,007 – an extra sample boost of active players in the past three months.
Ontario’s Regulated iGaming Market Continues to Thrive
With the market channelization reaching 86.4% in 2024, the province’s iGaming model is quite successful in reducing the share of unregulated gaming operators. The remaining 13.6% of respondents confirmed they had placed wagers only at unauthorized online gambling venues over the past three months.
The Ipsos study further highlighted that out of the 86.4% Ontarians who placed legal wagers, 19.9% admitted to using unregulated sites and apps too.
Out of the representative sample of 1,009 respondents, 35.2% have placed bets in the past year, 29.5% have placed bets in the past three months, and 20.3% have placed bets in the past month.
According to AGCO’s press release, currently, there are 47 registered gaming operators, running a total of 77 sites, where Ontarians can place legal wagers in a safe and regulated environment. On the other hand, the survey participants named more than 350 unregulated sites, which suggested “how many illicit betting options can be accessed by Ontarians and the importance of continued efforts to shift players to Ontario’s safer and legal gaming options.”
Doug Downey, Attorney General of Ontario, has commented on the findings of the study, commending the province’s iGaming model: “This made-in-Ontario, regulated market will continue to inspire global innovation, while ensuring a safer landscape for players and businesses alike.”
