After months of operation, Ontario’s new online gaming and sports betting market is starting to gain momentum. The state’s attorney general, Doug Downey, recently discussed the topic and explained in more detail why local governments pushed for it and rolled the dice in the private game market for the first time in Canada.
The introduction of the online game market was made possible by the legalization of single event betting in August 2021, which later opened Ontario’s iGaming framework, and the private enterprise market in the province began operations on April 4, 2022, attracting the attention of the industry’s largest betting companies.
Mr Downey said there was already an online gaming market in the province, but it was a black market, and there were no safeguards for people. According to him, many operators called for a regulated framework to have a good sector that protects gamblers. He promoted the market when he became attorney general and oversaw Ontario’s alcohol and gaming commission.
The province hired experts to help with the iGaming model to boost the market, Mr Downey explained, although the province saw European and U.S. markets as inspiration, there were no similar cases. However, the province has succeeded in turning the market around and is now earning millions of dollars in betting revenue.
During the market’s second quarter, Mr Downey said the region reported a total of over C$6.04 billion in handling bets, resulting in over C$267 million in revenue for the region. Currently, the sector has 24 online operators, 42 betting websites and 628,000 active player accounts, which occupy a huge industry.
However, there are experts who disagree that the province should be involved in sports betting, and the attorney general disagrees, saying that there is already a huge sports betting wave in the province, but there is no protection, adding the most important thing: responsible gambling.
Mitch Dobney was one of the market’s supporters and ran a business in the market. He mentioned that the open market structure is the best for everyone. He noted that it’s a good thing if people can benefit financially but responsibly from the market, and that it’s a bigger win for the region if the state can do a good job with the money.
Currently, private operators cannot offer horse racing bets, but this could soon change the shared Woodbine Entertainment. The state’s largest horse racing operator said it would need approval from the Paris-Mutuel Agency in Canada to provide racing to sportsbooks that can be offered to betters. This is expected to become a reality before the end of the year.
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