Rowan Fisher-Shotten Explores How iGaming has Impacted Ontario’s Economy
Rowan Fisher-Shotten has been working in iGaming and sports betting journalism for more than 6 years. He spends a lot of his time focusing on the Canadian gambling market and has seen the positive impact that iGaming has had on the Ontario economy.
It appears that the change has had a positive impact, as the Ontario gambling market seems to be on the rise, and Rowan Fisher-Shotten believes it will only continue to get bigger. He recently explained how iGaming has benefited the Ontario coffers and why it may be good for Canada as a whole that iGaming is now far more accepted in the country.
When the Change Started?
Due to a mishmash of laws in Canada, and nothing that specifically prohibits online gambling, Ontario residents were gambling online for a long time before Ontario introduced any major laws to allow it. In fact, it is estimated that before the launch of iGaming Ontario in late 2021, Ontario gamblers were spending close to $1 billion per year on online gambling, which would make the province the biggest market in all North America. Yes. Even bigger than markets in the USA, where many Canadians often visit.
The launch of iGaming Ontario meant that gambling could become far more regulated in Ontario. Not only was the launch of the regulator meant to improve the security that online gamblers in the province had, but it meant that Ontario could grab a portion of the income and put it into their coffers which, hopefully, would benefit Ontario as a whole.
Multiple Operators in the Province
One of the goals of iGaming Ontario was to make it easier to regulate companies that provide gambling services to Ontario residents. This initiative led many casino operators to seek regulation through iGaming Ontario. As a result, there are now 50 different operators offering 81 different iGaming sites in Ontario, and the number seems to be on the rise.
Jobs, Jobs, and More Jobs
In the middle of 2023, Deloitte released estimates on the Ontario iGaming market. They believe that Ontario’s market was sustaining over 12,000 full-time jobs, which is a massive number. In addition to this, it was generating over $900 million in labour income (the amount of money given to employees). Of course, that $900 million would, mostly, be spent in Ontario.
By the end of 2026, it is believed that the market would sustain over 16,000 jobs. In 2031, if the Ontario iGaming market continues to grow at the same rate, over 22,000 jobs would be supported.
Do bear in mind that many of these jobs are not directly in the iGaming sector, but are supported by the iGaming sector. A lot of these employees will be working directly for iGaming companies, but others will be working for the suppliers of these companies, and those suppliers will be looking forward to the income that iGaming generates for their business, and they will be hiring plenty of staff to cope with this market growth.
I believe that the job market is the biggest ‘seller’ for legalised iGaming in Ontario. After all, who could possibly say no to more jobs being generated? It is jobs that make the whole market go round, and since the iGaming industry is growing at a faster pace than most other industries, people won’t mind too much.
GDP
We don’t want to get too ‘economy studies’ with you here. GDP is the overall market value of something. While it is normally a term associated with everything produced by a country, you can also use GDP to measure the overall health of a market.
If you remember what we said before – before iGaming Ontario existed, Ontario residents were spending around $1 billion per year on iGaming. In the first year of iGaming Ontario being around, this figure had gone up to $1.58B. This indicates a very, very healthy market. About $308 million of this was directly produced by the gambling operators in Ontario, $937 million by the suppliers that work with them, and $332 generated for the economy because of wages spent by all those associated with the iGaming industry (directly, and indirectly).
By 2026, the following will likely have happened:
- $2.91B in GDP (total)
- $1.15B direct contribution (from the iGaming companies)
- $1.31B indirect contribution (their suppliers)
- $455M (the salary spending of those associated with iGaming companies, including their suppliers).
This means that in just 5 years, the iGaming market in Ontario would have almost doubled. That is fantastic. I don’t think there is a single market in Ontario, or elsewhere in Canada, that would have seen such a rapid increase in sales, at least over such a short time span.
The market is predicted to slow down a little bit by year 10 (2032), but even then, the market is still going through a massive period of growth before then. These are the figures:
- $4.73 in GDP (total)
- $2.30B direct contribution (from the iGaming companies)
- $1.80B indirect contribution (their suppliers)
- $627M (the salary spending of those associated with iGaming companies, including their suppliers).
As you can see, the direct contribution from the iGaming companies is predicted to double in that five-year period. This is because it is believed that the number of companies getting licensed in Ontario will increase significantly, and there will likely be more people gambling within Ontario, which should generate some cash for these companies. This will have a knock-on effect for all associated businesses, because they’ll need more resources to keep the iGaming companies properly supplied, and more salaries will be generated by the iGaming industry.
There are no predictions beyond the 10 year mark, but I genuinely believe that the iGaming market in Ontario will continue to see an increase in GDP. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if iGaming became one of the most important markets in Ontario.
Government Revenue
The whole reason why iGaming Ontario exists was to get more revenue for the government. Prior to iGaming Ontario existing, it is believed about 70% of the cash spent in Ontario on gambling was going to platforms located outside of Ontario and, in most cases, outside of Canada.
The government needs revenue to provide us with all those wonderful services that governments should be providing us with. We won’t go into the whole politics of it. Simply know that the government requires revenue, and happily, the iGaming sector in Ontario generates a lot of cash for the government.
During the first year of operation, the market produced:
- $761 million in total contributions
- $238 million in federal contributions
- $469 million in provincial contributions
- $54 million in municipal contributions
Considering this was cash that Ontario struggled to get its hands on before (thanks to most people playing on platforms outside of Ontario), it is a massive increase to the government’s coffers. iGaming has significantly increased the amount of cash all levels of government in Canada need to fund vital services.
By the 5th year (2026), the figures should look like this:
- $1.32B in total contributions
- $389 million in federal contributions
- $849 million in provincial contributions
- $82 million in municipal contributions
And by the 10th year (2032), the figures should look like this:
- $2.15B in total contributions
- $647 million in federal contributions
- $1.39 billion in provincial contributions
- $115 million in municipal contributions
So, we’re seeing a massive increase in government contributions from iGaming in Ontario. Sure, the federal contributions will be quite low, and are unlikely to impact too many people living in Ontario, but the rest of the cash could see a direct benefit to residents of the province. I love the fact that the municipal contributions are so high.
These are so high that we believe that many places in Ontario could see a huge amount of investment, which could make these places much better to live in (not that Ontario is a bad place to live by any stretch of the imagination).
There are no predictions available beyond the 10 year mark, but potential government revenues generated by iGaming in Ontario will likely to continue to rise for decades, albeit probably not at the fast rate that they did in the first 10 years of iGaming Ontario existing.
Final Thoughts
It has been a little over a year since the first reports of the impact that iGaming Ontario had on the Ontario economy. Reports are positive. Rowan Fisher-Shotten, an expert in iGaming and sports betting, has seen the positive impact that iGaming is having on jobs, government revenue, and overall spending in the province. The future looks bright too, with Ontario set to benefit for years from the rise in online gambling in what is now one of the most important gambling markets in North America.
