Sports gambling in Ontario booms

It has certainly been an extremely busy opening month for the province’s fledgling betting market

It’s been a competitive start for Ontario’s fledgling sports-betting market, but Greg Warren is anticipating that to ramp up shortly.

The industry opened up fully in Ontario on April 4 and, as of Tuesday, there were 13 operators and 21 sites live in the province. But Warren, who covers sports betting in this country for Sportshandle.com and USBets.com, says more competition is likely on its way.

“Everybody is waiting for DraftKings to come to Ontario,” Warren said during an interview. “They’re not licensed with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario yet ... but everyone is kind of expecting them to jump into the market soon. And I think when they come, they’re going to be very popular.”

Ditto, Warren says, for BetWay, an online gambling company that holds licences in the U.K., Spain, Germany, Italy and six U.S. states, to name a few.

“There was data from Morgan Stanley that suggested they had a large share of the (Ontario) market in the last year because they were operating as a grey operator,” Warren said. “They should be here in the next month and they’re expected to really do well also.”

Another operator expected to launch soon in Ontario is Bet99, which signed Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews as an ambassador in February.

The start of the National Hockey League post-season could also be a boon for both PointsBet and FanDuel, two licensed Ontario operators that both have partnerships with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns both the Leafs and the National Basketball Association’s Toronto Raptors. After dropping the first three games of their opening-round playoff series against Philadelphia, the Raptors have won two straight heading into Thursday night’s home game at Scotiabank Arena.

“The further the Raptors can go in the playoffs, the better for them (PointsBet and FanDuel),” Warren said. “And all eyes will be on the Leafs this year, that’s for sure.”

Earlier this month, BetRivers said the NBA was the most popular sport for Ontario bettors, receiving 35 per cent of all handle through the first week of the launch. The Masters was second (17 per cent) followed by Major League Baseball (14 per cent).

And the Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays were the most popular teams in their respective sports to wager on.

Last month, PointsBet, secured a partnership with the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Redblacks. The league is scheduled to kick off its 2022 season in June.

The CFL announced a multi-year partnership with BetRegal in 2021 that made it the league’s official online sports gaming partner.

Last week, two separate reports suggested the Ontario launch was a good one for theScore Bet, a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming, Inc., headquartered in Toronto.

Barclays Equity Research stated in its report theScore Bet and bet365 finished tied for the most sports app downloads in Ontario over the first 10 days of the provincial launch. And Morgan Stanley had theScore solidly ahead in app downloads according to data through April 18.

Barclays stated theScore Bet and bet365 both had 24 per cent of downloads over the first 10 days of the launch. FanDuel was third at 20 per cent, while BetMGM was fourth at 11 per cent. Morgan Stanley listed theScoreBet with a 35 per cent share, followed by bet365 (27 per cent), FanDuel (16 per cent) and BetMGM (nine per cent).

‘‘ Everybody is waiting for DraftKings to come to Ontario.

GREG WARREN COVERS SPORTS BETTING IN CANADA FOR SPORTSHANDLE.COM AND USBETS.COM