TLDR National gambling participation in Canada dropped from 76% in 2002 to 64.5% in 2018, yet the industry keeps expanding Ontario’s regulated online gambling market revenue surged from CAD 1.3 billion in 2022–23 to CAD 2.9 billion in 2024–25 Online casino games, not sports betting, drive roughly 75% of Ontario’s regulated online revenue Growth is fueled by deeper engagement from existing players rather than new players joining Sports betting partnerships with leagues like the NHL, CFL, and CEBL have made gambling far more visible in Canadian culture
Fewer Canadians are gambling today than two decades ago. But the country’s gambling industry is bigger than ever.
In 2002, 76 percent of Canadians aged 15 and older said they had gambled in the past year, according to Statistics Canada. By 2018, that number had dropped to 64.5 percent.
Despite that decline, the money flowing through Canada’s online gambling market has been rising fast. The growth is concentrated in Ontario, which launched a regulated online gambling market in April 2022.
In its first full year, Ontario’s market brought in about CAD 1.3 billion in gaming revenue, according to iGaming Ontario. That jumped to CAD 2.2 billion the following year.
By 2024–25, it reached CAD 2.9 billion. Total wagers climbed from roughly CAD 63.2 billion in 2023–24 to CAD 82.7 billion in 2024–25.
The province recorded about 2.6 million active player accounts in 2024–25. Ontario has a population of roughly 15 million.
So how does the market grow when fewer people are participating? The answer is that existing players are spending more time and money on gambling platforms.
Online Casino Is the Real Revenue Driver
Sports betting gets most of the attention. Single-event sports betting became legal in Canada in 2021 after Bill C-218 passed. But it is online casino games