In Ontario, 91.1% of Players Have Moved to Regulated Online Gambling Sites
In Ontario, the share of players choosing legal online gambling platforms continues to grow. According to an annual study, regulated sites are now used by 91.1% of players in the province. That is 7.4 percentage points higher than last year’s result.
At the same time, the illegal segment’s audience has shrunk noticeably. The share of users who play exclusively on unregulated sites has fallen to 8.9%. A year earlier, that figure was 16.3%, meaning the grey market lost almost half of its share among these players in just one year.
The study tracks channelization, a measure of how successfully the market is moving players away from offshore and illegal platforms and toward licensed operators. For Ontario, this has been one of the key indicators since the launch of its competitive regulated iGaming model in April 2022.
Over the past few years, the trend has been uneven, but the latest result is the strongest recorded during the entire observation period. In 2023, the share of players on legal sites was 85.3%; in 2024, it was 86.4%; in 2025, the figure slipped to 83.7%; and in 2026, it rose to 91.1%.
Before the competitive regulated market opened, Ontario authorities viewed the situation very differently: by their estimates, around 70% of online gambling took place on illegal sites. Against that backdrop, the current numbers point to a major shift - not just in reporting, but in players’ own behaviour.
AGCO CEO Dr. Karin Schnarr called the growth in the share of regulated sites an encouraging sign. According to her, more Ontario residents are choosing licensed platforms, while the province’s model is proving effective because of its focus on player protection. The regulator also intends to keep reducing what remains of the illegal market and to continue monitoring compliance with standards.
For Canadian iGaming, this is a strong argument in favour of Ontario’s regulated model. The market was not simply legalized on paper: players are genuinely moving to places with licences, oversight, and clear rules. Although the 8.9% audience share on illegal sites remains a problem, the gap between the regulated and grey segments has become much more visible.
Olivia Grant is an iGaming news reporter at CasinosInCanada who covers casino industry updates, regulations, and market developments.
