The number of internet-gaming operators in Ontario continues to grow higher, as the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has given its go-ahead to several new brands. Their debut in the province’s legal sector comes a month after, the iGaming regulator announced October 31, 2022, as the deadline for grey-market companies to make the transition.
In April 2022, Ontario became the first Canadian province to launch a private online gambling and sports betting market for third-party entities. This allowed for brands that previously operated as grey-market ones to make their way into the legal one. Currently, the regulated sector has more than 30 operators up and running and accepting internet bets.
Five Newly Licensed
At the start of October, AGCO set the last day of the month as the deadline for the transitional period for grey-market operators to go legal. And now, the regulator reports that over 20 operators had left the unregulated sector, as its new standard came into play. Since then, the commission has licensed five gaming brands to join the provincially-run framework.
Now, registered operators would need to obtain an operational agreement with AGCO’s subsidiary iGaming Ontario. One of the operators that will soon make their debut in the province is Betsson AB-owned TonyBet, which is a Baltic sportsbook firm. The company said that it has already acquired its operator registration by AGCO on December 5, 2022.
At present, AGCO’s registry displays TonyBet’s website, however, the platform says that it is under maintenance. In a message, the operator says that the objective is to go online in the province as soon as possible and that its website will come with everyone’s favourite games and sports wagering options. It is expected to make its official transition and launch in the coming day.
Previously, the commission said that its main focus was to transition operators and related suppliers to the legal sector as quickly as possible. In order to do it, the regulator introduced a process for existing operators and gaming-related suppliers in the unregulated market to go legal without causing any major interruption to their already established player bases.
The Sector in Numbers
It should be also mentioned, that in October, the province released the second quarter financial report on the private gaming market, and the results were a major improvement on the Q1 ones. For the period of July 1 through September 30, 2022, the local market generated a total wagering handle of CA$6.04 billion which translated to over CA$267 million in gaming revenue.
Additionally, at the time, 24 operators and 42 gaming websites were online and accepting wagers and contributed to the betting volume in the local market. Also, Q2 had approximately 628,000 active user accounts, which is a massive improvement from Q1’s 492,000 active players. In Q2 2022, online bettors had an average monthly spend of CA$142 per customer.
