Fewer Canadians gamble than 20 years ago. So why is Canada’s market still growing?

By CasinoCanada.com

In 2002, 76 percent of Canadians aged 15 and over reported gambling in the previous year, according to Statistics Canada’s report Fighting the Odds. By 2018, that figure had fallen to 64.5 percent, based on the agency’s Gambling Rapid Response module.

At first glance, that suggests gambling participation in Canada has declined over the past two decades.

Yet over the same period, gambling has become more visible, more digital and more embedded in sport and everyday life. Sports betting brands sponsor professional teams, betting segments are embedded in live broadcasts, and provincial regulators report billions of dollars in annual online wagering.

How can participation fall while the industry expands? The answer lies in how Canada’s gambling market has changed, and in who is driving its growth.

This analysis draws on national participation surveys and provincial financial reporting to compare long-term participation trends with recent regulated market performance.

Research highlights of this article

• National gambling participation declined from 76% in 2002 to 64.5% in 2018.
• Ontario’s regulated online market generated approximately CAD 1.3 billion in revenue in 2022–23, rising to CAD 2.9 billion in 2024–25.
• Total wagers in Ontario increased from approximately CAD 63.2 billion in 2023–24 to CAD 82.7 billion in 2024–25.
• Online casino accounted for roughly three quarters of Ontario’s regulated online revenue in 2024–25.
• Approximately 2.6 million active player accounts were recorded in Ontario in 2024–25.

Growth without more players

If fewer Canadians report gambling today than in the early 2000s, market growth cannot simply be explained by expanding participation. Since its launch in April 2022, Ontario’s regulated online gambling market has grown year over year. According to iGaming Ontario’s Annual Reports, in its first full fiscal year, the market generated approximately CAD 1.3 billion in gaming revenue. That rose to CAD 2.2 billion in 2023–24, before reaching CAD 2.9 billion in 2024–25. Total wagers also significantly increased from approximately CAD 63.2 billion in 2023–24 to CAD 82.7 billion in 2024-25.

The latest annual report also recorded approximately 2.6 million active player accounts in a province of roughly 15 million residents. Even allowing for multiple accounts per individual, the figures suggest a highly active digital environment concentrated among a defined segment of players.

The implication is clear: recent market growth appears to be driven less by an expanding audience and more by increased activity per active player.

Operators active in the market say the same shift is visible in player behaviour since Ontario introduced its regulated online framework. Dmitry Arabuli, CEO at Tonybet, said: “Since regulation launched in Ontario, the player landscape has changed significantly as many of the largest North American operators entered the market. Competition increased, with the focus shifting from chasing large volumes of casual participants to building stronger relationships with more informed and engaged players. These players tend to interact more frequently with betting products and show stronger loyalty to the platforms they trust.”

“Regulation also drew a clearer line between grey-market operators and licensed platforms. Many players who were previously using offshore sites have migrated towards regulated products. This did not necessarily expand the total number of gamblers, but it redirected an existing player base into the licensed ecosystem.”

Despite sports betting dominating headlines since the passage of Bill C-218 in 2021, online casino remains the commercial engine of Ontario’s regulated market. iGaming Ontario’s 2024–2025 annual report shows that online casino generated approximately CAD 2.2 billion of the CAD 2.9 billion in total gaming revenue.

In other words, casino accounts for roughly three quarters of the province’s regulated online revenue.

Sports betting reshaped visibility, but casino sustains the economics.

Modern growth appears to be driven less by player acquisition and more by retention and increased engagement within the existing customer base.

A provincial and digital transformation

One reason the national picture can appear contradictory is that Canada does not operate a single gambling model.

Ontario runs a competitive regulated online market with dozens of licensed operators. Other provinces continue to rely primarily on government-operated platforms. Alberta has signalled plans to introduce its own regulated framework.

Since 2018, most of the meaningful growth data has been provincial and digital, not national and survey-based. While participation surveys provide a broad snapshot, provincial market reports reveal how play is evolving in practice.

The shift from retail-based lottery and venue gambling to app-based multi-vertical platforms represents a structural transformation. Gambling is increasingly platform-based, integrated into smartphones and digital ecosystems rather than tied to specific locations.

That structural change helps explain how the industry can grow even without broader participation.

Visibility versus participation

Following the legalisation of single-event sports betting, sportsbook partnerships and advertising have expanded across professional sport. Major leagues, including the National Hockey League, have entered into official betting partnerships at the league level, while Canadian competitions such as the Canadian Football League and Canadian Premier League have also announced sponsorship agreements with licensed operators.

Betting brands now feature prominently in arena signage, broadcast integrations and digital content, embedding gambling directly into the commercial presentation of professional sport.

Dmitry Arabuli, CEO at Tonybet, said: “Ontario regulation made gambling become much more visible in sports broadcasts, live events and daily sports culture. It opened significant opportunities for operators such as Tonybet to do business in Canada legally and build brand awareness through marketing and PR campaigns. For example, Tonybet has previously partnered with the Canadian Premier League and currently works with the Canadian Elite Basketball League.”

Arabuli added that these partnerships help operators connect with highly engaged sports audiences. “These partnerships help strengthen brand awareness, target high-value players, and improve customer retention by building trusted and long-term relationships in the Canadian market.”

Yet fewer Canadians report gambling than two decades ago.

This disconnect between rising visibility and declining participation creates a cultural tension. Gambling is increasingly framed as a routine extension of sport rather than a distinct commercial activity.

For younger audiences in particular, repeated exposure through live broadcasts and social media feeds helps position betting as part of the sporting experience itself, regardless of whether participation is expanding.

Visibility, in other words, is reshaping how gambling is perceived, even if it is not expanding its audience.

Selected examples of publicly announced partnerships, as of 13 March 2026, are outlined below.

Selected Professional Sports Betting and iGaming Partnerships in Canadian Sport

Sources: Various league and operator press releases; compiled by CasinoCanada.com.

Risk concentration and policy relevance

If growth is increasingly driven by more intensive digital play among a defined group of participants, the social and regulatory implications become more complex.

Market expansion rooted in activity rather than recruitment raises questions about how gambling risk is distributed. A smaller base of highly active players may account for a disproportionate share of wagering volume.

At the same time, regulators are increasingly focused on channelisation, responsible gambling tools and sustainable market design. If the future of Canada’s gambling market depends more on engagement intensity than expanding participation, policy debates may shift accordingly.

The conversation may move away from how many Canadians gamble and towards how gambling is structured, monitored and integrated into daily digital life.

The next phase

Alberta’s regulatory plans suggest Canada’s gambling evolution is not over. But the next stage may not be about expanding participation. It may be about managing a digital market driven by deeper engagement among a smaller group of players.

Canada’s gambling market is no longer expanding simply because more people are playing. It is expanding because the way people play has fundamentally changed.

The paradox remains: fewer players, larger market.

Methodological note: National participation figures are drawn from Statistics Canada surveys conducted in 2002 and 2018. More recent insights are based on publicly available provincial regulator reporting, which measures wagering, revenue and account activity rather than survey participation. As such, national participation trends and provincial activity data are not directly equivalent but are analysed comparatively to assess structural change.