Regulatory body iGaming Ontario has released its latest performance report, covering the Ontario market for Q1 of the 2023/24 fiscal year (three months ended 30 June 2023).

Rapid growth begins to slow

Rapid growth begins to slow

The report showed licensed operators in the province handled C$14bn in wagers during the quarter, a massive 243% increase compared to the C$4.08bn wagered in the prior-year comparative period.

Since launching its regulated market in April 2022, Ontario has seen a fairly rapid quarter-on-quarter increase in online gambling handle, which now appears to be slowing down as the market begins to mature.

For example, between Q2 and Q3 of FY22/23, total handle leapt over 90% from C$6.04bn to C$11.5bn.

Between Q4 of that year and Q1 of this year, however, sequential growth in handle was just 0.7%, from C$13.9bn to C$14bn.

Q1 results breakdown

Of the total C$14bn wagered in Q1, C$11.6bn or 82.9% of the total was wagered on online casino.

A further C$2bn, representing 14.3% of the total, was wagered on sports betting, while the remaining C$350m was wagered on peer-to-peer poker.

From the total reported handle, operators in the market were able to generate C$545m in gaming revenue.

Of that revenue, C$392m came from online casino, C$138m from betting and C$15m from poker.

The number of active player accounts recorded during the period was around 920,000, up from 492,000 in Q1 of the previous year.

The average monthly spend per player account also increased precipitously compared to Q1 of FY22/23, as it jumped from C$113 to C$197.