Ontario’s new online sports betting and casino gaming market appears to be a healthy, growing industry, with lots of room for expansion. But it hasn’t launched without a few growing pains.
Some consumers have reported problems trying to sign up and place a bet. Some have had problems with the process for verification of their location and identity. The ID requirements vary from operator to operator.
The government entity in charge of online gaming, iGaming Ontario, said in a statement: “While today is the first day of an iGaming market expected to grow and thrive in Ontario, players will be able to find even more of the world-class online games they love in the weeks and months to come.” It continued, “Ontario’s large and diverse adult population relative to the rest of North America make it a very high priority for any operator’s expansion strategy.”
Ontario was the first Canadian province to open an online sports betting and casino market.
Some players have complained of encountering problems when the market went live April 4 with online sportsbooks and casino websites.
A video by GeoComply Solutions Inc., which operates geolocation software to show the physical location of bettors indicated large numbers of bettors on the first day. Some operators reported bets as soon as they “opened.”
Nic Sulsky, the chief commercial officer of PointsBet Canada, declared, “We’re pretty over the moon with how things are performing.” There are 13 online sportsbooks in the initial launch, and others could follow.
In a related development, the Toronto Blue Jays and the sports betting operator theScore Bet announced a 10-year partnership three days after the market went live. It was the first such deal in Canada.
TheScore Bet CEO John Levy said in a statement: “theScore Bet is proudly Canadian and we are thrilled to make Canada’s baseball team our long-term partner.”
He added, “This is a foundational partnership with a team and organization that is deeply embedded in our country’s sports culture. Teaming with the Blue Jays opens up exciting new exclusive marketing opportunities and brings theScore Bet even closer to a huge audience of passionate and engaged fans, both on-site at Rogers Centre and online across our platforms.”
In related news, a recent Canadian study found that the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated problem gambling and led more people in Ontario to wager online to try to recover from financial hardships.
Ontario has been hit by six waves of the coronavirus in the last two years, and residents subjected to frequent lockdowns and other restrictions on their freedom. Online gaming was one window left open for many.
The Responsible Gambling Council’s Centre for the Advancement of Best Practices teamed up with the Ontario Gambling Research Society to study how gambling behavior, financial stability, well-being and mental health were impacted by the pandemic.
The study, just released, included 2,000 gamblers 18 and older, who were surveyed between April and December of 2020.
Council CEO Shelley White told US Bets: “We found that a sizeable percentage of individuals increased their online gambling involvement during this period, spending more time and money and playing on more sites.” She added, “Those who were at highest risk of moderate to high risk for problem gambling were individuals with severe anxiety or depression, loss of income, gambling while intoxicated, gambling to earn income or to cope with their mental health issues.”
People ages 18 to 35, especially males and persons with Asian backgrounds, were at most risk.
