Ontario iGaming Market Nears CAD 100 Billion in Total Wagers During 2025

Ontario’s regulated iGaming market has reached a milestone that few observers predicted when the province first opened its doors to private operators in April 2022. Performance figures compiled by iGaming Ontario (iGO) for the fiscal period ending in 2025 show the market recorded nearly CAD 100 billion in total wagers, alongside a Net Adjusted Gross Gaming Revenue (NAGGRR) figure of just over CAD 4 billion. The numbers confirm that Ontario has cemented its position as one of the largest regulated online gambling markets in the world outside of the United States and the United Kingdom.

What Happened

iGaming Ontario, the subsidiary of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) that administers operator agreements in the province, released aggregated market performance data showing total wagers approaching the CAD 100 billion threshold. NAGGRR — the metric used to capture actual revenue after prizes are returned to players but before deductions for taxes and operator expenses — came in at just over CAD 4 billion for the period.

The operator count in Ontario’s registered marketplace has grown steadily since launch. By mid-2025, the province was host to more than 50 active registered gaming sites operating under the iGO framework, spanning a range of business models including standalone sportsbooks, dedicated online casinos, and combined platforms offering both verticals under a single licence agreement.

Total wagers are a broad metric that captures the full value of every bet placed before winnings are deducted, which explains the large headline figure relative to revenue. NAGGRR offers a more precise picture of the economic footprint: it reflects what operators retained after paying out player winnings, and it is the figure on which revenue-sharing obligations to iGO — and ultimately to the province — are calculated.

Why It Matters

The scale of these numbers has several implications for how policymakers, industry participants, and consumer advocates understand the Ontario market.

Market maturity is becoming visible. When iGO launched regulated iGaming in April 2022, the initial quarters were characterised by rapid operator onboarding, heavy promotional spending, and strong year-over-year growth rates in both wagers and revenue. Three years on, the market is showing signs of normalisation. Growth continues, but the rate of acceleration has moderated compared with the early quarters, which is a pattern consistent with other established regulated markets globally.

The sports betting and casino split tells a story about consumer behaviour. While iGO does not always publish a granular breakdown by vertical in its top-line releases, available data and operator reporting suggest that online casino products — including slot games, live dealer tables, and virtual table games — continue to account for the majority of NAGGRR. Sports betting, by contrast, commands a larger share of total wager volume, owing to the high turnover and relatively thin margins characteristic of competitive sports wagering. This distinction matters for regulatory discussions: casino products generate more revenue per dollar wagered, which has implications for harm reduction policy, since higher-margin games tend to carry different risk profiles than single-game sports bets.

The revenue-sharing model is generating meaningful public funds. Under the iGO framework, operators pay a share of their NAGGRR back to the Crown through iGO’s agreements. With NAGGRR exceeding CAD 4 billion, the amounts flowing back to the province are material, even after accounting for operating costs, marketing expenditure, and the payments that iGO itself requires to administer the market. The province has positioned these revenues as a contribution to public programs, though the precise allocation of funds involves broader provincial budget processes rather than a dedicated gaming revenue fund.

Channelisation remains a policy objective. One of the stated rationales for opening the Ontario market to private operators was to draw players away from unregulated, grey-market websites that had long served Canadians without provincial oversight. Evidence on channelisation — the share of total online gambling activity occurring within the regulated market versus outside it — is difficult to gather with precision, but iGO and affiliated researchers have pointed to the growing operator count and rising registered-player figures as indicators that more players are choosing regulated options. The nearly CAD 100 billion wager figure, if it reflects genuine migration from grey-market to registered platforms, would represent a significant public policy achievement.

Responsible gambling obligations scale with the market. Every operator registered with iGO is required to adhere to iGO’s Operator Standards, which include commitments to responsible gambling tools such as deposit limits, self-exclusion integration with OLG’s self-exclusion program, and player activity statements. As the market grows, so does the absolute number of registered players engaging with these tools — and the scrutiny applied to whether those tools are genuinely effective or merely procedural.

What’s Next

Several developments are expected to shape the Ontario iGaming landscape in the near term.

The governance of iGaming Ontario itself is in transition. The province has moved to establish iGO as an independent Crown agency, separate from OLG’s direct oversight. That structural change, which was in progress during the period covered by the 2025 data, is expected to give iGO greater administrative autonomy to negotiate operator agreements and set market standards without routing decisions through OLG’s broader corporate governance framework. The practical effects of that independence will become clearer as iGO publishes its first annual report as a standalone agency.

Regulatory refinements from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) continue to evolve. The AGCO is responsible for registering operators, enforcing compliance, and setting the Registrar’s Standards that govern how games are offered and how marketing is conducted. Updates to advertising standards, inducement restrictions, and requirements around display of responsible gambling messaging have been issued in recent years and further amendments are anticipated as the AGCO responds to market developments and public feedback.

The federal dimension also bears watching. While gambling regulation in Canada is primarily a provincial matter under the Constitution Act, federal Criminal Code provisions set the outer boundaries of what provinces can permit. The 2021 amendment that enabled single-event sports betting — previously prohibited at the federal level — was the legislative catalyst for Ontario’s market launch. Further federal engagement with online gambling regulation, including questions about payment processing, consumer protection, and the role of Indigenous gaming interests, could influence how provincial frameworks develop.

For industry participants, the near-CAD 100 billion wager figure is both an achievement and a benchmark. Operators and iGO alike will be watching whether market growth continues to moderate or whether new product categories, new operator entrants, or demographic shifts push the numbers higher in the 2026 fiscal year.

Sources

• iGaming Ontario — Market Performance Data and Quarterly Reports: https://igamingontario.ca/en/operators/market-data
• iGaming Ontario — Operator Standards: https://igamingontario.ca/en/operators/standards
• Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario — iGaming Registration: https://www.agco.ca/igaming
• Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation — Corporate Overview: https://about.olg.ca
• Department of Justice Canada — Criminal Code, Part VII (Disorderly Houses, Gaming and Betting): https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/