Ontario Sports Betting Revenue Plunges 30% in August as Casino Sets Record
Sports betting revenue in Ontario’s regulated iGaming market plunged 30% month over month in August, even as casino wagering reached an all-time high in market share, helping push overall wagering to CA$9.740 billion, according to new data from iGaming Ontario. That overall wagering figure was down…
Sports betting revenue in Ontario’s regulated iGaming market plunged 30% month over month in August, even as casino wagering reached an all-time high in market share, helping push overall wagering to CA$9.740 billion, according to new data from iGaming Ontario. Brett Bateman and Kazuma Okamoto of the Toronto Blue Jays take the field against the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre in Toronto in August. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images) That overall wagering figure was down just 1% from July’s CA$9.884 billion, while total non-adjusted gross gaming revenue (NAGGR) fell 4% to CA$396.3 million. NAGGR is the amount operators retain from gambling activity before deducting bonuses, promotional credits, taxes, fees, and operating costs. Sports Betting Revenue Tumbles Active player accounts fell to 1.208 million, down 11% from July. Average revenue per active player account was CA$328, up 8% month over month. Casino handle was CA$8.776 billion, roughly the same as July, for a 90% market share. That’s an all-time high for the casino segment in the regulated market, which launched in April 2022. Sports betting handle came in at CA$843 million, a 15% decrease from July, for a 9% market share. That number wasn’t surprising, since the World Cup had long finished, and most sports leagues shut down for the month. Casino Wagering Market Share Sets Record Peer-to-peer (P2P) poker came in at CA$122 million in cash wagers, up 5% month over month, for a 1% market share. On the NAGGR front, casino was CA$336.3 million, up 2% month over month, for an 85% market share. Sports betting came in at CA$54.4 million for the month, down a whopping 30% month over month, with a 14% market share. P2P poker NAGGR was CA$5.6 million, a 6% increase from July, for a 1% market share. Player Accounts Drop Sharply The Ontario-regulated iGaming market currently has 49 licensed operators, with 84 gaming websites live and accepting wagers. The news across the Ontario-regulated iGaming market front for August, though, was on the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) penalty front, hitting three companies with penalties totaling CA$290,000. Betty Gaming was fined CA$120,000 on Aug. 6 after failures in its age-verification and eligibility systems allowed 23 people under 19 to create accounts on Betty.ca. AGCO Sets Up Enforcement On Aug. 20, Booming Games was fined CA$70,000 after prohibited auto-play functionality was available on several Ontario slot games for months. On Aug. 27, NorthStar Gaming was fined CA$100,000 over alleged anti-money laundering (AML) failures involving one high-risk player’s account. Fanatics also secured regulatory approval in August, clearing the way for it to launch in Ontario. Fanatics still needs to finalize an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario before going live. The post Ontario Sports Betting Revenue Plunges 30% in August as Casino Sets Record appeared first on Casino.org.