OLG  made a whopping $27 million in the Q4 from gaming revenue

By Julia Borg

May 16th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

The OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation) revealed in April that it made a whopping CA$27 million in the fourth and final quarter of the 24/25 financial year. This came from gaming revenue and will be paid out in installments to 29 different Ontario communities that host gaming facilities. The most came from Casino Woodbines municipality in Q4 as they returned just over CA$4 million back to the community.

These payments are paid back into community programmes and support local programs and infrastructure as part of the Canadian government’s scheme for returning money into the communities that it earns from land-based casinos. Winnings from online and offshore betting companies are not part of this scheme yet, but it could be worth checking out the best crypto casinos Canada list to see where’s best for your next online wager, regardless. These sites accept cryptocurrency as a payment method, which holds such benefits as anonymity, fast transaction speeds, and security.

For land-based casinos in Canada, however, the boom continues to be very much present for them. Whilst the return in Q4 is smaller than Q3’s massive CA$33.5 million return, there continues to be strong returns made to the community through the casino’s scheme. Indeed, since 1994, host communities have received more than CA$2.5 billion in non-tax gaming revenue. It seems Canada have found a good model that allows the casinos to work in tandem with the local communities to provide a source of entertainment and prizepots yet still allow for their chance to give back through this scheme and help out locals in the community with the total payouts to municipalities during the 24/25 financial year returning around CA$142 million.

The OLG advised that the host gaming communities are made a lot stronger through these payments and seems to be a good model of symbioticism in the community. Stan Cho, the Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming advised that ‘Gaming sites continue to provide good local jobs and other positive impacts across the province’ and was pleased to see the revenue being invested.

The revenue is based on a set percentile return of revenue made on slot machines, table games and sportsbooks and puts a positive spin on an often stigmatised section of society.

The news of these returns comes in tandem with the reports made in February that the iGaming industry in Ontario had seen continued year-on-year growth once again. February 2025 saw around CA$7 billion worth of bets made, which marks a 26.9% increase on the previous year. The market performance report seems to show that it is traditional online casino games that are thrusting the majority of this increase, generating around CA$6 billion of the reported increase and marking a 30% increase in this section of the industry from Februrary 2024, whilst sports betting markets were not reflecting quite as large a boom. It is believed that the implementation of Gigadat online transactions has really helped with this boost.

One thing is for sure, and clear to see. Ontario remains one of the most lucrative markets in North America for betting both with land-based casinos and in the iGaming industry. Competitive markets and strict regulations do not seem to have hampered the industry which continues to see huge growth.