Ontario's Latest iGaming Revenue Surge Pushes Policy Questions in Canada

05 November 2026

The latest figures from Ontario underscore the province’s dominance in iGaming, with C$416.3 million in gross gaming revenue (non-adjusted) for September 2023. While this represents remarkable growth post-launch, even Ontario faces questions about market sustainability and potential unintended consequences for problem gambling rates.

Ontario’s Latest iGaming Figures

The Ontario iGaming market’s strong performance carried forward in September 2023. The province reported C$416.3 million in GGR, an increase of 26.2% from the same month last year and 5% from August 2023.

The top line was underpinned by 9.71 million Canadian wagers in September, a 13.6% year-on-year increase. The number of player accounts in Ontario's iGaming market reached 1,413,000 in September, the highest number since the market launched in April 2022.

Slots drove the largest portion of September’s revenue, with casino-gaming returns of C$340.8 million - nearly 82% of total GGR. Sport-betting revenue reached C$69.1 million, or 16.6% of the September total.

Compared to the same month in 2022, like-for-like iGaming revenue was up 18.4% on 5% higher wagering. The September 2022 report from iGaming Ontario showed C$351.9 million in GGR and 9.21 million in total wagers for Ontario iGaming.

Why Ontario Matters to Other Provinces

In Canada's iGaming market, Ontario is the elephant in the room. The province’s first year of regulated internet gaming alone generated over C$35.5 billion in wagers and just under $1.26 billion in GGR, according to its first annual report. That was an impressive pace that continued into 2023.

Last year, Ontario’s regulated online gambling handle reached C$37.9 billion, slightly more than double the C$18.2 billion in the previous year. Gross gaming revenue of C$2.9 billion was 32% higher than C$2.2 billion the year before, figures published in the regulator’s 2022-23 annual report. Net gaming revenue for the year was C$574 million.

Looking ahead, iGaming Ontario forecasts strong growth to the end of the current 2023-26 plan. Full-year Adjusted Gross Gaming Revenue of C$3.8 billion is estimated for 2025-26, which would represent a 33% increase on 2022-23’s C$2.9 billion in AGGR. Unadjusted Gross Gaming Revenue is expected to hit C$4.6 billion, based on current growth trends.

On a margin basis, iGO’s annual report for 2022-23 showed A-GGR to be 46% of total holds, with the balance, or 54% of the return, allocated as Net Gaming Revenue to gaming providers.

There is an additional aspect to Ontario’s success. The market is designed to encourage growth in the domestic sector.

IGO Operating Agreement (IGOA) providers operate in a distinct but co-existing environment alongside the licensed online games and sports betting provider set up by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. OLG services are explicitly excluded from the calculation of AGGR.

Nova Scotia’s Policy Review

Elsewhere, Nova Scotia’s iGaming stance is a flashpoint in a broader debate around how provinces manage internet gambling in the region.

For now, the province has one government-run source of internet gambling through the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, an agency of the Nova Scotia government.

“I am definitively looking at additional offerings for the future,” Nova Scotia finance minister John Lohr told iGaming News, clarifying that discussions are ongoing to expand the currently regulated market to ensure that residents are not exposed to offshore options.

In a statement to local news, Lohr said “We don’t want to put Nova Scotians at risk” and that the province was closely monitoring what was happening in Ontario as well as Alberta.

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The province opened its first regulated online gaming site in 2022. It has one offering - the Atlantic Lottery’s PlayNow - compared to the multiple competing platforms in Ontario and Alberta. New foundations for private sector involvement and expanded product offering appear to be on the cards.

Political and Public Health Cautions

Nova Scotia’s Opposition politicians have signaled that they are alive to the dangers posed by unregulated online gambling. The province’s official opposition New Democratic Party’s deputy leader Iain Rankin warned about the risk to residents, urging an approach that doesn’t prioritize revenue.

“Internet gambling is not just a revenue tool, it's a public health issue, dealing with gambling addiction, dealing with the incidences of people being drawn into the legal gambling market and losing, having financial ruin in their lives and having health issues,” Rankin told CBC in November.

The New Democratic Party leader Claudia Chender called on the government to bring in tighter regulations and said the presence of “loose internet gambling laws means that people can either wind up with offshore operations or they can get into some really bad online gambling platforms that do not serve their best interests - a situation undermining the regulated model.”

This is not an idle threat for other jurisdictions. Figures published in November by iGaming Ontario show that 18.4% of players “problematic” or worse according to the CPGI-risk benchmark - suggesting that problem gambling rates could be elevated in comparison to other markets.

In human terms, that means Ontario’s online market currently puts around 257,000 players at risk. But this statistic doesn’t capture an important element - how many of the users considered to be at risk are also currently suffering from problematic or disordered gambling. Given the elevated rates, that number may be significantly higher.

There’s another concern behind this data. An analysis of youth gambling by the Ontario Institute for Clinical Evaluation highlighted an uptick in participation.

Ontario’s high-school student online gambling prevalence rate increased almost 9 times over six years, from 1.3% in 2019 to 9% in 2023. And the number of high-school students gambling on the internet sits at 176,000.

Wider Provincial Ripple Effects

Alberta, which has a tightly regulated iGaming market, confirmed in a November update to stakeholders that it achieved a 36% uplift in AGGR to C$308.9 million in the year to date.

Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis projections for the market were affirmed in the province’s latest update. Alberta projects, like Ontario, steady growth to C$500 million in gross online gaming revenue annually, based on robust growth comparable to other jurisdictions and its forecast for distribution of the GGR to 55% iGaming, 25% OLG and 20% sports betting.

The question of long-term adoption for other Canadian provinces informs how the domestic gambling jurisdictions evolve. Currently, regulatory regimes are diverse, with Nova Scotia and British Columbia in different camps of market accessibility compared to market-heavyweights Ontario and Alberta.

A decision on adopting or widening iGaming markets by another major Canadian province would inform how operators in the sector adapt their products, scale and partnerships. The lead taken to date by Ontario and now Alberta is a reference point many other Canadian provinces are watching closely. Where Nova Scotia proceeds after considering these factors will be resulting in a crucial piece of the public understanding of the global market.

As Ontario generates record-breaking revenue and welcomes more residents, questions around safety and sustainability are becoming more pressing. Its statistical footprint is starting to show in the broader economic narrative of the province. What happens in the next few quarters will not only raise the stakes for competitors but could also sharpen policy debates in provincial capitals.

Looking to the future, it seems that burden of proof is on the jurisdictions to illustrate they are moderating iGaming impacts rather than just letting it flourish.