Ontario’s Online Gambling Market Continues to Grow Amid Calls for Stronger Oversight

By Sadie Smith

June 12th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

Ontario’s online gambling market has grown a lot in the past four years. In 2025 operator revenues were C$4 billion, which was up 34% on the previous year. From that the province received around C$800 million in revenue sharing and other funding agreements. Yet that massive growth hasn’t come without some criticism, some of which has translated to new rules and limits for operators. 

So how is the provincial government balancing this influx of tax dollars and a clear demand from the market, with social responsibilities and listening to sometimes influential groups on both sides of the discussion? This article will look at the facts behind what is actually going on, and the latest updates for 2026.

Well, Ontario’s online gambling market now has an estimated 1.24 million monthly players between the 70 or so regulated and licensed operators.

March 2026 was the biggest month on record with C$9 billion wagered across sports betting, poker and online casinos, with operators keeping C$388 million as revenue. The previous record was from January 2026, so it’s clear there is still growth in the market even four years in.

There are also businesses in other digital niches that benefit from consumer and operator spend in the gambling niche, and employ locals in Ontario and further afield. Canadian digital infrastructure and marketing firms are benefiting from the boom in online gambling in North America, including GeoComply, based in Vancouver, BC, and many others.

For example, there are now so many regulated sites that casino gamblers often turn to independent lists of Ontario online casinos to find out exactly what each site offers. Platforms like Casino.org let players compare bonuses, game selections and other factors, put together by experts in the business.

All of this shows that even though Ontario now has strict rules about advertising and promotion of gambling, the business is still going strong.

One measure of success Ontario’s legislators like to point out is not only tax but the market capture. This is how much gambling activity now occurs at regulated sites and not at offshore gambling operations. Before the open market launched in 2022, research consensus was around 75% of Ontario’s online gambling activity occurred at offshore sites. The OLG.ca official sports betting and casino site only accounted for around 25% of bets, after launching years earlier in 2015.

Now in 2026, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario estimates around 85% of the province’s online gambling activity is at regulated sites. With such sites having more consumer protections and oversight, by most people’s measures that is a success. Add into the equation billions of dollars in revenue sharing agreement deals and you can see why it is seen as a success story by many.

So much so that Alberta is soon following suit. It is set to open its own provincially regulated but open online gambling market on July 13.

So that’s the growth part of the equation. But what has been going on in reaction to all this money flooding around the province’s gambling sector?

Who Has Been Calling for More Regulation and What Moves Have Been Made 

Tinkering with the model has been part of Ontario’s legal market since launch. In fact, within the first year of opening the market the AGCO had launched public consultations on plans to cut back on gambling advertising in the province.

By late 2023 it had decided. From February 2024, operators could no longer use athletes or former athletes in gambling advertisements. It also specifically banned operators from advertising bonuses in physical locations, such as billboards or in print media.

In 2024 and 2025 regulators mostly focused on enforcement action against offshore casinos that continued to advertise to Ontarians, as well as responsible gambling messaging. On top of day-to-day duties such as collecting financial information and dealing with disputes or operator concerns.

In 2025 iGaming Ontario also launched something that many campaigners expected to be available much earlier – a province-wide self exclusion system for problem gamblers. This lets players block themselves from all online gambling in the province at once. It is apparently even looking into using face-scanning biometric systems to let people block themselves from land-based casino gaming properties too.

When Alberta launches its market in July 2026, politicians there made clear they would have an online self exclusion system available from day one.

Recently in 2026, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s online offerings made it mandatory for people under the age of 25 to set a deposit limit for themselves. This can be daily, weekly or monthly.

This is among the measures that have been mooted by politicians and discussed by regulators, but have yet to be borne out into the wider market. Another is putting more pressure on social media companies like Meta, who many allege (including through leaked reports) consistently lets gambling companies advertise illegally on their platforms.

This kind of thing doesn’t help when Canadians consider actually licensed and regulated gambling ads, and the majority poll as not being in favour of them. So expect more regulation on this issue to come, even as profits and tax dollars roll in.