Ontario regulated gambling market now captures overwhelming majority of online players

Suswati Basu

 

More Ontarians are sticking with legal online gambling websites, according to a new Ipsos survey commissioned by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario.

The study found that 91.1% of people in Ontario who gamble online now use regulated gaming platforms licensed in the province. This is a jump of 7.4 percentage points from the previous year. Meanwhile, the share of players using only unregulated gambling websites dropped to 8.9%, compared with 16.3% a year earlier.

The findings arrive four years after Ontario launched its competitive online gaming market in April 2022. Before the province created the regulated system, officials estimated that roughly 70% of online gambling activity happened on offshore or unlicensed sites.

Ontario’s market requires operators to meet standards tied to responsible gambling, information security, game integrity, and player protections. Regulators have repeatedly warned that unregulated platforms may expose players to fraud, money laundering risks, and weak consumer safeguards.

“This increase in Ontarians choosing regulated igaming sites proves that we’ve taken the right approach to responsibly expanding the online gaming market,” said Stan Cho, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. “By prioritizing player protections and embedding responsible gaming tools into the market, our government is committed to providing a safer experience for players across the province.”

Ontario regulators continue tightening oversight despite pushing regulated gambling market

Officials say the province is continuing to build out consumer protection tools as the market grows. Ontario has been developing a centralized self-exclusion system that would allow players to block themselves across multiple gambling operators through a single process instead of opting out site by site.

At the same time, several court rulings have reinforced Ontario’s authority over online gambling activity connected to the province. Recent decisions involving Loto-Québec and offshore operators examined how gambling services offered across provincial and international borders should be regulated. Another Ontario Court of Appeal ruling found that online gambling businesses serving customers outside Canada could still face legal scrutiny in Ontario.

“It’s encouraging to see more and more Ontarians choosing regulated sites when they gamble online,” said Karin Schnarr, chief executive officer and registrar at the AGCO. “This continued shift reflects the strength of Ontario’s model and its focus on protecting players. The AGCO remains committed to addressing the residual illegal market and ensuring regulated operators meet Ontario’s strong regulatory standards.”

The latest numbers also show improvement from earlier surveys. An Ipsos report released in 2024 found that 86.4% of Ontarians who gambled online had used regulated sites, while a 2025 study showed that figure had slipped to 83.7%.

Ontario’s online gaming sector has expanded quickly since legalization, with dozens of licensed operators now active across the province. Regulators still acknowledge that some players continue using both legal and unregulated platforms.

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