Casino Takes 90% of Ontario’s Wagers as Sportsbook Revenue Drops 30%

Ontario’s regulated online market took CA$9.74 billion in cash wagers in August, according to the monthly market performance report from iGaming Ontario, known as iGO. Almost all of it went on casino games. Casino wagers came to CA$8.776 billion, or 90% of the total, while sports betting revenue fell 30% from July.

Total gaming revenue, which iGO calls non-adjusted gross gaming revenue or NAGGR, was CA$396.3 million, down 4% on the month. The report covers every operator with a live site in Ontario’s online casino market, which iGO’s directory puts at 49 operators running 84 gaming websites.

Casino Holds Steady While the Books Stall

Casino wagers were flat on July, which also came in at CA$8.776 billion. Casino revenue edged up 2% to CA$336.3 million, and casino now accounts for 85% of all revenue in the market. That share of wagers was 89% in July and 89% in August 2025 as well.

iGO’s casino category is broad. It includes online Slots, live and computer-based Table Games and peer-to-peer Bingo, all counted together.

Betting went the other way. Betting wagers, which cover sports, esports and novelty bets, fell 15% to CA$843 million, and betting revenue dropped 30% to CA$54.4 million, from CA$77.8 million in July. Betting now makes up 14% of the market’s revenue.

A Bad Month for the Books, Not Just Bettors

Revenue fell twice as fast as wagers, so the books kept less of what was bet. In August they held about 6.5 cents of every dollar wagered, down from about 7.8 cents in July. That points to results going the bettors’ way as much as to fewer people betting, though the report does not break down why.

Peer-to-peer Poker grew too, with wagers up 5% to CA$122 million and revenue up 6% to CA$5.6 million.

Fewer Accounts, Bigger Spend

The other big move was in player numbers. Active player accounts fell 11% to 1.208 million, from 1.365 million in July. iGO counts an account as active if it had cash or promotional wagering in the month, and one person can hold accounts with several operators, so this is not a headcount of players.

The accounts that stayed active were worth more. Average revenue per active player account rose 8% to CA$328, from CA$303 in July.

August Was Still the Second-Biggest Month

The dip comes off a high base. July’s CA$9.884 billion is the biggest monthly wager total in iGO’s series, and August’s CA$9.74 billion is the second-biggest since the market opened on April 4, 2022.

A Year of Growth Behind One Soft Month

Against August 2025 the picture is much stronger. Total wagers were CA$8.139 billion a year ago and revenue was CA$334.8 million, so August 2026 wagers are up about 19.7% and revenue about 18.4% year on year. Active accounts are up from 1.016 million.

Casino did all of that growing and then some. Casino revenue rose from CA$267.8 million a year earlier to CA$336.3 million, an increase of about 25.6%. Betting revenue was CA$60.2 million in August 2025, so sportsbook revenue is down about 9.6% on the year.

Betting wagers were actually higher than a year ago, at CA$843 million against CA$765 million in August 2025. So the drop in betting revenue came from what the books kept, not from people betting less. That is a very different problem from losing customers.

What the Numbers Leave Out

The report has limits worth knowing. It doesn’t include OLG’s own online gaming or pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, and cash wagers exclude promotional wagers, so bonus play isn’t in the totals. iGO also says the figures are unaudited and subject to adjustment.

It doesn’t name operators either. BetMGM Canada Inc. and FanDuel Canada ULC are both in iGO’s directory, running the BetMGM Ontario casino and the FanDuel Ontario casino alongside Poker and sportsbook sites, but the monthly data only covers the market as a whole.

iGO published the August tables on September 23, with data pulled on September 21, and casino’s 90% share of wagers is higher than in any earlier month in the series.