How Ontario's online gambling industry is faring 3 years into legalization
CBC
Three years after legalization, Ontario's online gambling and sports betting industry is booming, but some experts say there's cause for concern around how gaming is marketed.
PowerPlay, an international gambling website licensed under the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), has expanded very successfully into the province over the last three years, Bill O'Brien, a sports book manager at PowerPlay, told CBC Toronto.
"Everyone always knew Ontario … was a market with huge potential," O'Brien said. "But it has surpassed what anyone kind of expected it to be."
He pointed to iGaming Ontario's 2023-2024 annual report, which showed Ontario residents wagered almost $63.3 billion and generated $2.2 billion in total gaming revenue in the second year since the market has been in operation. Those figures represent 78 per cent and 75 per cent increases respectively over the first year. iGaming Ontario is expected to publish its 2024-2025 findings after its fiscal year ends at the end of March.
The industry has also had a positive impact on the provincial economy, O'Brien said.
"The second full year of legalized sports betting contributed something like 15,000 jobs and … $2.7 billion to Ontario's GDP," he said.
Those figures come from a Deloitte report, commissioned by iGaming Ontario.
"That was only the second year. Like, that's just going to get bigger and bigger," O'Brien said.
But while the sector grows, advocates like Bruce Kidd worry about the negative impacts it can have on the public.
Kidd is the co-chair of the Ban Ads for Gambling campaign.
"There has been an explosion of … in our view, unregulated ads, which have led to a huge increase in gambling, sports betting and related addictions," he told CBC Toronto.
The AGCO does have a number of restrictions on how internet gaming is marketed, most geared toward protecting minors.
Last year, the AGCO also banned the use of professional athletes and restricted the use of celebrities that appeal to minors in online gambling advertising.
Kidd, however, wants to see the ads banned entirely.
An RCMP-led corruption investigation is underway into at least one current Calgary city councillor as well as a business, CBC News has learned.
Much of Newfoundland is digging out of a blustery and messy day as another storm slams into the island.
Timiskaming—Cochrane MPP John Vanthof recalls the meeting in Thunder Bay earlier this month. He was part of the nine-day road trip along Highways 11 and 17 with other NDP MPPs.
A bill before the Nova Scotia Legislature is proposing raising the age limit for support for young people who have been in the foster care or group home system to 26.
The Fredericton Police Force has reallocated funds so new staff can be hired this year to better manage evidence after a police error upended murder cases against five people.
One of two pilots killed in a plane crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport Sunday earned his wings at an Ontario college, CBC News has learned.
Air Canada passengers who were aboard Flight 8646 when the CRJ-900 aircraft struck a fire truck upon landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Sunday evening say the collision was sudden and forceful, and they may owe their lives to the pilots who died in the incident.
Cardiac services are set to expand at a Winnipeg hospital once regarded as one of the best in Canada for heart care.
A 26-second TikTok video has ignited a larger conversation about vulnerable populations, theft and content creation.
Some family doctors and emergency room physicians working in Edmonton hospitals warn that an April 1 end to stipend pay arrangements could put patient care at risk and increase suffering.
An Auditor General of Canada report has found that B.C. saw drastically fewer international students than was forecast ever since wide-ranging federal immigration cuts began in 2024.
Six years after e-learning became a mandatory requirement to get an Ontario high school diploma, students don't appear to be taking online school to diversify their course selection as the province had intended, according to a CBC News analysis of provincial enrolment data.
Sarnia City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday morning to respond to social media comments made by Coun. Bill Dennis, who criticized city spending on a new mural by Indigenous artist Kennady Osborne as “virtue signalling by woke politicians” — then made a series of comments in response to a reply from Aamjiwnaang Chief Janelle Nahmabin that some have characterized as unprofessional and aggressive.