iGaming Ontario has released its most recent financial report for the second quarter of the 2023-2024 fiscal year. This report shows a slight decline in total igaming revenue compared to quarter one revenue numbers. The iGaming Ontario report also reveals that FY 23-24 Q2 raked in a record amount of total wagers and a significant increase in the number of Ontario online casinos, sports betting sites, and other igaming operators.
In addition to total wagers increasing, the number of active player accounts, casino revenue, and peer to peer poker revenue also increased. The average monthly spend per active account decreased.
Article Highlights:
- In FY 2023-24 Q2, Ontario igaming operators brought in $540 million CAD in total iGaming revenue.
- iGaming operators brought in $545 million CAD in total igaming revenue in FY 2023-24 Q1.
- This quarter is the first quarter-over-quarter revenue decrease in iGaming Ontario history.
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First revenue decrease in iGaming Ontario history
FY 2023-24 Q2 covers July 1 – September 30, 2023. In that period, Ontario online casinos, sports betting sites, and other igaming operators brought in $540 million CAD in total igaming revenue. This is a slight decrease compared to the previous three-month period, FY 2023-24 Q1, which saw those operators bring in $545 million CAD in total igaming revenue.
iGaming Ontario was founded in July, 2021 in the wake of the legalisation of sports betting in Canada and parliament’s other reworkings of online gambling laws in Canada. The agency was created specifically to regulate online gambling in Ontario as a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). This was necessary because Ontario chose to open its igaming market to private sector companies.
Ontario officially opened its igaming market in April 2022. iGaming Ontario has provided financial reports each quarter since that date. According to those reports, total igaming revenue and total amount wagered have increased every quarter. This quarter is the first quarter on quarter revenue decrease in iGaming Ontario history.
While quarter-over-quarter revenue is down, year-on-year revenue remains strong. FY 2023-24 Q2 revenue represents a 105% increase in total igaming revenue compared to FY 2022-23 Q2 revenue.
Lack of Ontario sports betting blamed for decrease
The FY 2023-24 Q2 iGaming Ontario financial report was just released on Wednesday, but agency executives were speaking about its contents even earlier than that.
Martha Otton, Executive Director of iGO, told Global Gaming Expo attendees earlier this week about the FY 2023-24 Q2 financial report. “The Q2 results are very consistent and stable with what we saw in Q1,” said Otton.
Otton did not address the decrease in revenue directly. However, she did give some insight into why the Ontario igaming market has finally cooled. “When you take into consideration the months we just covered, which you know is slow sports (period), we’re very pleased,” said the iGaming Ontario CEO.
If Otton’s assessment of the Ontario igaming market is correct, FY 2023-24 Q3 could see a big increase in total igaming revenues. Revenue from sports betting sites in Ontario generally makes up 20-25% of total iGaming revenue in Ontario, so if their revenue picks up, so should the revenue for the entire market.
The rest of the revenue is largely made up of casino gaming, something that is much less seasonal than sports betting.
Collecting data “a challenge” for iGaming Ontario
In addition to revealing early information and possible explanations about Ontario’s decrease in igaming revenue, Martha Otton also told Global Gaming Expo attendees about some of the unique challenges iGaming Ontario is currently facing.
“One of our challenges is just the quality of data that we’ve been getting from operators,” said Otton. Part of the reason this is such a challenge is because of just how new the Ontario igaming market is. Otton said of this, “When you deal with 47 operators, a number of them who have never operated in Canada or in Ontario…I’ll be honest, that’s been a challenge for us.”
As challenging as this is, according to Otton, the information is always accurate. iGaming Ontario takes extra time to “ensure the data is accurate before we go public on it.”
Julian Miller is a Canadian writer and an avid sports fan. He has years of experience in the iGaming industry, having started writing while completing his university studies in Montreal, Quebec. In 2022, he graduated, and has since been working full-time in the iGaming space. He has a particular fondness for the English Premier League — though he also has plenty of experience covering football, basketball, and other sports.