The Expected Effects of Ontario Legalizing Online Gambling
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As the first Canadian province to legalize online casino gaming and sports betting, Ontario’s attitude to gambling is changing. What are the expected effects?
Legalized Online Gambling in Ontario
Placing bets at online casinos and sportsbook sites has never been more popular due to the global online gambling industry undergoing rapid development over the last 10 years. With the industry generating a record-breaking turnover in 2021, more new legal online gambling markets are opening up than ever before, especially in countries such as South Africa and Canada which have previously relied on offshore (rather than domestic) operators. In particular, the Canadian province of Ontario opened its first legal online gambling market in April 2022, which has had a huge effect on the gambling culture and infrastructure in the country, as well as having a positive influence on the wider economy. Let’s take a closer look
at the regulation of legalized online gambling in Ontario, including some of the knock-on effects that Canadian gamers are likely to see in the near future.
Dedicated online gambling regulators such as iGaming Ontario work with the Canadian government (as a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO)) to provide domestic gamers with a safe and reliable iGaming culture, ensuring that casino and sportsbook operators in the area honor their legal obligations. iGaming Ontario provides a comprehensive list of approved iGaming sites and offers in-depth support and assistance to new operators hoping to set up in Ontario. If you’re a Canadian gamer or you’re thinking of setting up a business as an online casino operator, iGaming Ontario can provide you with all the help and information you may need to play or operate safely and legally. iGaming
Ontario is responsible for regulating operators and granting operating licenses. Highly visible and accessible regulators like iGaming Ontario can help to ease the transition into legalized gambling in the country, with gambling amongst Canadians likely to increase due to the new legislation.
In recent years, the Canadian provinces have undergone some pretty monumental changes related to the passing of new legislation such as the French-modelled Bill 27: Working for Workers Act 2021. Essentially, this Act enables workers to ‘disconnect’ from work technology outside of business hours. In theory, Bill 27 should increase productivity in the workplace and provide staff with a much-needed break from technology when they’re not on the job. The passing of increasingly tech-savvy legislation like this Act is a sure indicator of Canada’s open-minded and liberal attitude towards technology, legislation, and wellbeing. It seems highly likely that the legalization of online gambling in Ontario will encourage the
passing of similarly groundbreaking legislation in provinces across the country.
Before the C-218 Bill was passed, Canadian gamblers were only legally allowed to use sports betting sites using parlays, which are essentially spread bets in which the gambler chooses multiple results, which must all be successful to warrant a win or cashout. While Canadian sports lovers could previously only make parlays or gamble on horse racing legally, the launch of Ontario’s first regulated sports betting market has changed everything. The previous federal ban on generic sports betting has now been lifted, with Ontario-based gamblers able to place a wider range of bets such as future bets and single-game betting.
Ontario is a densely populated Canadian province, with approximately 14.57 million people living and working in the area. Due to the new abundance of sportsbook betting sites available in the province, Ontario is expected to generate around $800 million in gross revenue from sports gambling in the next year. The obvious changes to sports betting legislation in Ontario have led to a much more diverse selection of operators to choose from.
Whether you’re looking for a safe and legal homegrown sportsbook or offshore betting site, it’s now easier than ever before to place bets on your favourite sports in the Canadian province of Ontario.
A Wider Selection of iGaming Sites
Players are now able to access an incredible selection of reputable, fully tested Canadian casino sites that have been given the green light by iGaming Ontario. The new national regulator has already granted legal market access to a wide range of top international online casino and sportsbook platforms such as PointsBet, Rivalry, theScore, 888 Casino, and Bet365. This means that players based in Ontario can now enjoy some of the most popular online casinos on the international market and benefit from the same perks and bonuses as many of their European and North American peers.
A Wider Selection of Online Casino Games
Of course, the rising number of new legal gambling sites in Canada has resulted in a marked improvement in the diversity and quality of casino games on offer. Whereas players in Ontario were previously limited to betting with parlays, gambling on horse racing, or playing staple casino games, they are now inundated with casino gaming options including roulette, blackjack, baccarat, video poker, craps, and online slot machines. Canadian players can also enjoy a wider selection of live casino and live dealer games in the country today, experiencing an authentic taste of a land-based casino from the comfort of your own home on mobile.
The increasing availability of high-speed internet and relatively cheap smartphones (second-hand smartphone models are much more affordable than new first-generation devices), has led to a revolution in online casino gaming worldwide. Whereas many gambling sites were previously only accessible via desktop browsers such as Goggle Chrome, the vast majority of iGaming platforms today provide mobile-optimized versions of their sites including a range of games specially designed to be enjoyed on a mobile phone screen. Due to the legalization of online gambling in Ontario, players in the province will now be able to choose from a more plentiful selection of mobile games that can be easily enjoyed when out and
about. This is great news for those Canadian gamers who enjoy gambling on the move, such as on their morning commute or during their afternoon break.
Widely tipped as the payment system of the future, cryptocurrencies are powered by blockchain technology and can be basically described as virtual currencies that are quickly and easily transmitted across digital networks. Due to the rapid onset of blockchain and an international drive towards cashless economies, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are now an extremely popular choice for countless online casinos and their members. Due to its relative safety and ease of use, cryptocurrency is now the favored method of making deposits and withdrawals for countless players across the world. In Canada, we have already seen multiple crypto-casinos popping up since the legislation was put into place, and the number of new crypto-enabled sites will only continue to grow.
