Ontario Market: Perspectives, First Operators, Regulations

On April 4, 2022, the capital province of Canada, Ontario, authorised regulated gambling activities for non-monopoly businesses.

Casino Market experts conducted a market analysis to present a prospects assessment for regional gaming.

First Introduction

The province has about 40% of the population, which is 15 million people in total. This makes it one of the largest markets in North America. Profitability is expected to reach CA$ 989 million by the end of 2022.

Local regulators, namely iGO and the AGCO, have already allowed 24 brands. 15 operators are actively offering their services to users. Over 70 distributors are waiting for permits. The authorities do not plan to limit the number of licences.

American corporations began to channel their promotional efforts into the province.

These are such gambling giants as:

• DraftKings;
• Caesars Interactive;
• Bet365, etc.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG), previously the only licensed iGaming brand in the province, introduced an affiliate program as well.

Advertising Restrictions

Local regulators place a ban on advertising materials if they are anywhere out of operators' sites or do not request gamers' approvals. These measures create some discomfort for operators and their partners.

The AGCO has already issued fines for advertising and incitement offences. Some businesses are required to pay over CA$ 30,000 for their illegal activities.

In Ontario, companies are accountable for control of promotion themselves. Therefore, distributors need to assure promotion partners create marketing materials following the guidelines.

Partnership Possibilities

The Canadian market is full of promising opportunities for affiliate collaboration now. It is expected that there will be more new operators in the country soon. This will give gambling businesses an incredible opportunity to contact new companies and provide their clients with the most exciting content.

Some local promotion restrictions may seem harsh. However, these limits provide safe gaming practices and consumer protection.

Affiliates have less responsibility but they must ensure strict compliance with rules to maintain productive relationships with operators. Distributors take the bigger risk, so they want to work with partners whose marketing strategies are above reproach from a regulatory point of view.

There is another difficulty that prevents users from enjoying a smooth registration process — KYC. This policy is inconvenient for gamblers as they have to provide all their data to the distributor.

Punters choose products that operate instantly and correctly. Since the KYC policy slows down the authorisation a little, and some players do not want to include all their information, this leads to some businesses not converting as much as they could.

James Burton The Casino Market partner, the owner of the gambling establishments’ network

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