The key gambling statistics Canada has on record come from one national health survey and from Ontario’s online market reports. About two in three Canadians aged 15 or older gambled in a year, and 1.6% of them were at moderate-to-severe risk of a problem. For the licensed sites we have reviewed, see our list of top online casinos for Canadians.
This page collects the numbers in one place: who gambles, what they play, which provinces lead, how big online gambling has become and the number of people who get hurt. Every figure names its source.
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Canadians 15+ who gambled in the past year | 64.5% (18.9 million) | Statistics Canada, CCHS |
| Most popular activity: lottery or raffle tickets | 51.8% | Statistics Canada, CCHS |
| Past-year gamblers at moderate-to-severe risk | 1.6% (304,000) | Statistics Canada, CCHS |
| Adults classed as problem gamblers (PGSI 5+) | 0.6% (about 156,000) | AGRI National Project |
| Ontario online wagers, fourth market year | Over $103 billion | iGaming Ontario |
| Ontario online gaming revenue, fourth market year | Over $4.2 billion | iGaming Ontario |
| Ontario online players using regulated sites | 91.1% | Ipsos for AGCO and iGaming Ontario |
| Ontario students who gambled in a year | 32% | CAMH, Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey |
What are the key gambling statistics Canada has on record?
The key gambling statistics Canada has on record are simple. 64.5% of people aged 15 or older gambled in a year, and lottery tickets lead every other activity. 1.6% of gamblers were at moderate-to-severe risk of a problem.
Those three gambling statistics Canada owes to the gambling module of the Canadian Community Health Survey. Statistics Canada ran it across the ten provinces.
The online gambling statistics Canada has come from iGaming Ontario. Its reports cover Ontario’s open, competitive online market, the first in the country. Alberta opened a second one on July 13.
Youth gambling statistics Canada has come from CAMH and from university researchers. Each set uses its own method, so the numbers are not always directly comparable.
What share of Canadians gamble?
About 18.9 million Canadians aged 15 or older gambled at least once in the past year, according to the gambling statistics Canada’s health survey produced. That is 64.5% of the population in that age range.
The survey counted anyone who spent money on at least one of eight activities. Those include lottery tickets, scratch tickets, slot machines, table games, sports bets, bingo and day trading.
A single raffle ticket counts. So does a friendly bet on a hockey game. That wide net explains why the share is so high.
Most of that gambling is occasional. Lottery tickets alone account for the bulk of it, as later sections show.
Which survey produced the gambling statistics Canada relies on?
The national gambling statistics Canada relies on come from the Canadian Community Health Survey, Gambling Rapid Response. The gambling module went to 24,983 respondents aged 15 or older in the ten provinces, over a six-month period.
Interviews ran by phone and in person. About 82% were done entirely by phone.
The overall response rate was 58.8%. The full survey file held 26,648 respondents, representing 31.4 million Canadians aged 12 or older.
The Canadian Consortium for Gambling Research paid for the module. The territories were not included, and neither were people living on reserves, full-time members of the Canadian Forces or people in institutions. Those groups make up about 3% of the target population.
How does the Canadian Problem Gambling Index work?
The Canadian Problem Gambling Index asks nine questions about gambling behaviour and its consequences. Each answer scores from 0 to 3, so the total runs from 0 to 27. Most of the problem-gambling statistics Canada publishes rest on this score.
| CPGI score | Category |
|---|---|
| 0 | Non-problem gambling |
| 1 to 2 | Low-risk gambling |
| 3 to 7 | Moderate-risk gambling |
| 8 to 27 | Problem gambling |
Answers run never (0), sometimes (1), most of the time (2) and almost always (3). Only people who gambled at least once a month got the nine questions.
Statistics Canada combined the two top groups, scores of 3 or more, to get a large enough sample. That combined group is the “moderate-to-severe risk” figure you see in headlines.
Why do the gambling statistics Canada collects undercount real play?
The gambling statistics Canada collects undercount gambling because people under-report it. Statistics Canada notes that households report less than half of their real government lottery spending when survey answers are checked against lottery corporation sales figures.
The health survey also skipped key details. It did not ask what people spent, how long they played or why they gambled.
The data are cross-sectional, a snapshot at one point in time. They show links between factors but not cause and effect.
Keep these limits in mind when you read gambling statistics Canada’s agencies release. The true level of play is higher than the surveys show.
Which age group leads the gambling statistics Canada recorded?
Canadians aged 45 to 64 gamble the most: 72.3% of them gambled in the past year. Among the age-based gambling statistics Canada recorded, people aged 15 to 24 gamble the least, at 43.9%.
| Age group | All | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 to 24 | 43.9% | 47.9% | 39.7% |
| 25 to 44 | 64.6% | 69.1% | 60.0% |
| 45 to 64 | 72.3% | 76.3% | 68.5% |
| 65 or older | 65.4% | 70.8% | 60.9% |
In every age group, men were more likely than women to gamble. The gap is widest among adults aged 25 to 64.
Seniors still gamble at a high rate. Almost two in three Canadians aged 65 or older bought a ticket or placed a bet in the past year.
What share of Canadians do not gamble at all?
About 35.5% of Canadians aged 15 or older did not gamble at all in the past year. The non-gamblers in the gambling statistics Canada recorded are mostly young people, recent immigrants and residents of British Columbia.
More than half of people aged 15 to 24 did not gamble, at 56.1%. Among recent immigrants, 56.9% did not gamble.
In British Columbia, 41.0% of people did not gamble, the highest share of any province.
Non-gamblers also stand out by income. Almost half of people in the lowest income group, 46.2%, did not gamble in the past year.
What do the gambling statistics Canada publishes show for each age group?
About 7.2 million Canadians aged 45 to 64 gambled in the past year, the largest group in the gambling statistics Canada’s health survey recorded. Adults aged 25 to 44 came next, at about 6.3 million.
| Age group | People who gambled |
|---|---|
| 15 to 24 | 1.78 million |
| 25 to 44 | 6.25 million |
| 45 to 64 | 7.15 million |
| 65 or older | 3.71 million |
Together these groups add up to about 18.9 million people.
The middle-aged group is both the largest and the most likely to gamble. That makes it the biggest single group of gamblers in the country.
How do older Canadians gamble?
Older Canadians gamble often but carry less risk. In the gambling statistics Canada published, 65.4% of people aged 65 or older gambled in the past year, about 3.7 million people. Men in that group gambled at 70.8% and women at 60.9%.
The AGRI study notes that older people have lower rates of problem gambling.
That is one reason Canada’s overall problem rate fell. An ageing population pulls the average down.
The makers of an NFB film on gambling first set out to study how casinos court older people. Our page on gambling documentaries covers that film, Thank You for Playing.
Do men gamble more than women in Canada?
Yes. In the national gambling statistics Canada collected, 68.8% of men gambled in the past year, compared with 60.4% of women. The difference holds in every age group and in most provinces.
That works out to about 9.8 million men and 9.0 million women. The gap matters less than the type of game each group prefers.
Men lean toward sports, table games and speculative trading. Women lean toward bingo and instant lottery games.
The gap also shows in problem gambling. Men were more likely to be at moderate-to-severe risk, at 2.0% compared with 1.2% for women.
Which forms of gambling do men prefer?
Men prefer sports betting, casino table games and speculative markets. The gambling Statistics Canada measured shows men were three times as likely as women to bet on sports and twice as likely to play table games.
| Activity | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Sports betting | 12.1% | 3.9% |
| Casino table games | 10.2% | 4.8% |
| Speculative financial markets | 5.7% | 1.5% |
| Lottery or raffle tickets | 55.4% | 48.4% |
Speculative markets mean day trading, penny stocks, short selling, options and currency futures. Men were nearly four times as likely to put money into them.
Men also bought more lottery and raffle tickets, by about seven percentage points.
Which forms of gambling do women prefer?
Women prefer bingo and instant lottery games. In the gambling statistics Canada’s survey produced, 5.7% of women played bingo compared with 2.1% of men, and 34.8% bought instant tickets compared with 31.1% of men.
Instant tickets include scratch tickets, break-open tickets, pull-tabs and instant online games.
Electronic gambling machines are the one activity with an even split. About 12.3% of women and 12.9% of men played them.
That category covers slot machines, video lottery terminals, electronic blackjack, electronic roulette and video poker, in person or online.
How does income shape the gambling statistics Canada records?
Higher-income Canadians gamble more often. In the income-based gambling statistics Canada published, 71.5% of people in the top fifth of household incomes gambled, compared with 53.8% in the bottom fifth.
| Household income group | Gambled in the past year |
|---|---|
| Lowest 20% | 53.8% |
| Second 20% | 63.0% |
| Middle 20% | 68.0% |
| Fourth 20% | 69.1% |
| Highest 20% | 71.5% |
Other studies found the same pattern. Participation rises with income.
The risk runs the other way. Lower-income gamblers are more likely to develop a problem, as the problem-gambling sections below show.
Does the income gap look the same for men and women?
Yes. For both men and women, gambling rises with household income. In the gambling statistics Canada recorded, men in the top income group gambled at 74.9% and women at 67.7%, against 56.6% and 51.6% in the bottom group.
| Household income group | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest 20% | 56.6% | 51.6% |
| Second 20% | 68.4% | 57.8% |
| Middle 20% | 71.6% | 64.4% |
| Fourth 20% | 72.9% | 65.3% |
| Highest 20% | 74.9% | 67.7% |
The gender gap is smallest in the lowest income group, at five points.
It is widest in the second income group, where men gamble about ten points more often than women.
What do gambling statistics Canada publishes show about household spending?
The average Canadian household spent $186 a year on games of chance, according to Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending. The top income group spent $256 and the bottom group spent $111.
| Income group | Average yearly spending | Share of total spending |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest 20% | $111 | 0.3% |
| Second 20% | $155 | 0.3% |
| Middle 20% | $200 | 0.3% |
| Fourth 20% | $206 | 0.2% |
| Highest 20% | $256 | 0.1% |
Lower-income homes spend fewer dollars but a bigger share of their budget. Games of chance take 0.3% of spending in the bottom group and 0.1% in the top group.
These figures are not adjusted for winnings. They also suffer from under-reporting, so real spending is higher.
What do gambling statistics Canada recorded show about marital status?
Yes. In the gambling statistics Canada recorded, separated or divorced Canadians gamble the most, at 73.2%, while single people who never married gamble the least, at 55.6%. Married or common-law Canadians sit in between, at 67.6%.
Widowed Canadians reported a rate of 60.5%. Among separated or divorced men, the rate reached 78.3%.
Marital status matters even more for problem gambling. Researchers link marriage to social support, and people with more support gamble less often.
Reasons for gambling differ too. In studies Statistics Canada cites, married people often named charity as a reason, while divorced people named forgetting their problems.
How does marital status shape gambling for men and women?
Married men gamble far more than married women, at 73.1% against 62.1%. Among the gambling Statistics Canada measured by marital status, separated or divorced men had the highest rate of any group, at 78.3%.
| Marital status | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Married or common-law | 73.1% | 62.1% |
| Single, never married | 57.8% | 53.1% |
| Separated or divorced | 78.3% | 69.9% |
| Widowed | 64.2% | 59.5% |
Single and widowed people have the smallest gender gaps, under five points.
Widowed women make up most of the widowed gamblers, about 612,000 of 783,000, because women outlive men.
How do immigrants compare in the gambling statistics Canada recorded?
Immigrants gamble less than people born in Canada. Among the gambling Statistics Canada tracked, 69.7% of non-immigrants gambled, compared with 58.5% of immigrants who arrived more than ten years earlier and 43.1% of recent immigrants.
The gap is widest among women. Only 33.9% of women who arrived within ten years gambled, compared with 66.4% of women born in Canada.
American research found the same pattern. First-generation immigrants gamble less and have lower rates of problem gambling.
Rates rise with time in Canada. Long-term immigrants gamble more than recent arrivals but still less than the Canadian-born.
How do gambling rates differ across racialized groups?
White Canadians reported the highest gambling rate, at 69.1%. Black Canadians followed at 56.6%, Chinese Canadians at 45.6% and South Asian Canadians at 39.8%, according to the gambling statistics Canada’s health survey recorded.
Income does not explain the gap. Among the top 40% of earners, 71.8% of White Canadians gambled, compared with 57.2% of Chinese and 53.9% of South Asian Canadians.
Black Canadians in the same income group gambled at about the same rate as White Canadians, at 71.5%.
The gap was largest among women. Only 25.9% of South Asian women gambled, compared with 65.7% of White women.
How do racialized groups compare by gender?
The gender gap is widest among South Asian Canadians. In the gambling statistics Canada published, 52.6% of South Asian men gambled but only 25.9% of South Asian women did. Black and Chinese Canadians also showed large gaps.
| Group | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| White | 72.9% | 65.7% |
| Black | 65.1% | 46.7% |
| Chinese | 52.3% | 39.8% |
| South Asian | 52.6% | 25.9% |
The racialized-group variable excludes people who identify as Indigenous. Those figures appear in the next section.
Statistics Canada flags the counts for Black men and women for caution because of small sample sizes.
What do gambling statistics Canada publishes show for Indigenous people?
Indigenous people gamble more and face higher risk. In the gambling Statistics Canada measured, 72.4% of Indigenous people gambled, compared with 64.2% of non-Indigenous people, and their moderate-to-severe risk rate was three times higher.
| Group | Gambled in the past year |
|---|---|
| First Nations living off reserve | 76.0% |
| Métis | 69.6% |
| All Indigenous people | 72.4% |
| Non-Indigenous people | 64.2% |
The risk rate was 4.5% for Indigenous people and 1.5% for non-Indigenous people.
Statistics Canada points to colonialism, intergenerational trauma, discrimination and economic marginalization as likely factors. The survey excluded people living on reserves.
How do Indigenous men and women compare?
Indigenous women gamble at almost the same rate as Indigenous men, 70.8% against 74.1%. In the gambling statistics Canada recorded, First Nations men living off reserve had one of the highest rates of any group, at 78.6%.
| Group | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| First Nations living off reserve | 78.6% | 73.6% |
| Métis | 70.6% | 68.6% |
| All Indigenous people | 74.1% | 70.8% |
Indigenous women gambled far more often than non-Indigenous women, at 70.8% against 59.9%.
Figures for Inuit respondents were too uncertain to break down by gender.
How do smoking and drinking relate to gambling?
Smokers and heavy drinkers gamble more. Daily smokers had a 76.8% gambling rate and heavy drinkers had 77.2%. In the gambling statistics Canada reported, non-smokers and moderate drinkers sat near 62%.
The link is stronger for problems. Among past-year gamblers, 4.3% of smokers were at moderate-to-high risk, compared with 1.2% of non-smokers.
The alcohol link is weaker. Heavy drinkers had a 2.1% risk rate, against 1.3% for others.
Heavy drinking means five or more drinks on one occasion for men, or four or more for women, at least once a month. Researchers think smoking and gambling share genetic, brain and environmental influences.
Do smoking and drinking affect men and women alike?
Smoking erases the gender gap. In the gambling statistics Canada published, 77.1% of male daily smokers and 76.4% of female daily smokers gambled, almost the same rate. Heavy drinking narrows the gap too.
| Group | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Daily smokers | 77.1% | 76.4% |
| Non-smokers | 67.5% | 58.7% |
| Heavy drinkers | 79.4% | 74.1% |
| Not heavy drinkers | 65.5% | 57.8% |
Among non-smokers, men gamble about nine points more often than women. Among daily smokers, the gap is under one point.
About 4.4 million heavy drinkers gambled in the past year, nearly a quarter of all gamblers.
Do mental health and sexual orientation change gambling rates?
Neither changes the share of people who gamble. Participation rates in the gambling Statistics Canada surveyed did not differ by sexual orientation or self-rated mental health. Both factors did matter for problem gambling.
People who rated their mental health as fair or poor were more likely to be at moderate-to-severe risk. The link runs both ways: gambling stress hurts mental health, and people also gamble to cope with stress.
Once other factors were controlled, sexual-minority men had higher odds of gambling problems than heterosexual men.
Statistics Canada notes that directly comparable studies are not available. Related research finds higher rates of problem gaming and internet use in these groups.
Which province leads the gambling statistics Canada publishes?
Newfoundland and Labrador gambles the most, at 74.6% of people aged 15 or older. New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Quebec follow at about seven in ten, in the provincial gambling statistics Canada published.
| Province | Gambled in the past year |
|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 74.6% |
| New Brunswick | 72.1% |
| Saskatchewan | 70.9% |
| Quebec | 69.1% |
| Prince Edward Island | 67.4% |
| Nova Scotia | 66.9% |
| Alberta | 64.6% |
| Manitoba | 63.0% |
| Ontario | 62.2% |
| British Columbia | 59.0% |
In Newfoundland and Labrador, women gambled almost as often as men, at 73.9% compared with 75.4%.
Saskatchewan men had one of the highest rates of any group, at 76.9%.
How do men and women compare in each province?
Men gamble more than women in every province, but the gap varies. In the provincial gambling statistics Canada published, the gap was widest in Saskatchewan and Alberta and almost closed in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick.
| Province | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 75.4% | 73.9% |
| New Brunswick | 72.4% | 71.9% |
| Saskatchewan | 76.9% | 64.9% |
| Quebec | 72.8% | 65.4% |
| Prince Edward Island | 70.2% | 64.9% |
| Nova Scotia | 69.8% | 64.2% |
| Alberta | 70.7% | 58.6% |
| Manitoba | 65.8% | 60.4% |
| Ontario | 67.2% | 57.5% |
| British Columbia | 61.7% | 56.6% |
Alberta women gambled at 58.6%, against 70.7% of Alberta men, a gap of 12 points.
Ontario women had the second-lowest rate in the country, at 57.5%. Only British Columbia women were lower.
Which provinces sit lowest in the gambling statistics Canada publishes?
British Columbia and Ontario gamble the least. Only 59.0% of British Columbians and 62.2% of Ontarians gambled in the past year, below the national figure of 64.5% in the gambling statistics Canada recorded.
Ontario is still the biggest market by headcount. About 7.1 million Ontarians gambled, more than any other province.
Quebec came second with 4.7 million gamblers. British Columbia had about 2.3 million and Alberta about 2.2 million.
The AGRI national study also found British Columbia had a higher share of non-gamblers than most other provinces.
Why do gambling rates differ between provinces?
Gambling rates differ between provinces because access differs. The provincial gaps in the gambling statistics Canada publishes likely reflect social and cultural differences and different access to casinos, race tracks, video lottery terminals and lotteries.
Each province runs its own gambling. It decides the number of casinos to license and where video lottery terminals can go.
Certain provinces place terminals in bars and lounges. Others keep slot machines inside casinos and racetracks.
Those choices shape what people play. That shows most clearly in the electronic machine numbers for the Prairies.
Where are slot machines and VLTs most popular?
Electronic gambling machines are most popular in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The AGRI national study found that both provinces had higher machine participation than every other province, the most important provincial gap in the gambling statistics Canada has.
Electronic machines are a continuous form of gambling. Play is fast and repeats without a break.
That makes them, along with casino table games, the forms with the highest risk profile, according to the study.
The Prairies also had the highest share of people at moderate-to-severe risk in the Statistics Canada data, at 2.5%.
Which province leads in sports betting and table games?
Alberta leads in sports betting in the gambling statistics Canada has. The AGRI study found Albertans bet on sports more often than residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Alberta and British Columbia also led in casino table games.
Alberta was also higher than five provinces in speculative financial activities such as day trading.
Newfoundland and Labrador led in bingo. Nova Scotia led in the “other” category of gambling.
For lottery and raffle tickets, seven provinces had higher rates than Ontario and British Columbia: Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
What is the most popular form of gambling in Canada?
Lottery and raffle tickets are the most popular form of gambling in Canada. In the activity-level gambling statistics Canada’s survey produced, 51.8% of people aged 15 or older bought one in the past year, more than any other activity.
| Activity | Share who played in the past year |
|---|---|
| Lottery or raffle tickets | 51.8% |
| Instant lottery tickets or instant online games | 33.0% |
| Electronic gambling machines | 12.6% |
| Sports betting | 7.9% |
| Casino table games | 7.5% |
| Bingo | 3.9% |
| Speculative financial markets | 3.5% |
| Other gambling | 2.6% |
Lottery tickets are the only form of gambling that most Canadian adults take part in, the AGRI study notes.
Every other activity reaches only a minority. That is why the headline participation rate looks high while regular gambling stays low.
What do gambling statistics Canada collects say about lottery tickets?
Most lottery buyers play now and then. In the frequency figures behind the gambling statistics Canada released, 24.4% of past-year gamblers bought lottery or raffle tickets less than once a month. Another 13.6% bought them one to three times a month, and 13.8% bought them every week.
Another 48.2% of past-year gamblers never bought a lottery or raffle ticket. They gambled in other ways.
Lottery tickets are not only the most popular form of gambling. They are also the form played most often.
Scratch tickets and instant online games ranked second for frequency. Electronic gambling machines ranked third.
What share of Canadians buy scratch tickets?
One in three Canadians aged 15 or older bought instant lottery tickets or played instant online games in the past year. The figure in the gambling statistics Canada published was 33.0%, making scratch tickets the second most popular activity.
The category covers scratch tickets, break-open tickets, pull-tabs and instant online games.
It is the one big category where women lead men, at 34.8% to 31.1%.
Instant tickets look cheap and harmless. They are also fast, which makes repeat buying easy.
What do gambling statistics Canada collects say about slot machines?
About one in eight Canadians, or 12.6%, played electronic gambling machines in the past year. The category in the gambling statistics Canada collected includes slot machines, video lottery terminals, electronic blackjack, electronic roulette and video poker.
Men and women play these machines at almost the same rate, 12.9% and 12.3%.
Participation has fallen. The AGRI study found machine play dropped 46% compared with the previous national survey, taken 16 years earlier.
Slot outcomes come from a random number generator. Our page on how casino random number generators work explains the software behind every spin.
What share of Canadians bet on sports?
About 7.9% of Canadians aged 15 or older bet money on sports in the past year. The sports figure in the gambling statistics Canada’s survey recorded includes hockey, football, horse racing, golf, sports pools, sports lottery and bets with friends.
Men dominate. 12.1% of men bet on sports, compared with 3.9% of women.
These numbers were collected before single-event sports betting became legal. The survey serves as a baseline for measuring what changed afterwards.
Statistics Canada flagged sports betting as an activity likely to grow as access becomes easier. Ontario’s online numbers, covered below, show that growth.
What share of Canadians play casino table games?
About 7.5% of Canadians played casino table games in the past year. In the gambling statistics Canada published, that category covers poker, blackjack, baccarat and roulette, in a casino, at home, online or anywhere else, excluding electronic versions.
Men played table games about twice as often as women, at 10.2% to 4.8%.
Table games are the one category that did not decline over time. The AGRI study credits the growing popularity of poker.
Alberta and British Columbia had higher table game rates than five other provinces.
What do gambling statistics Canada collects say about bingo?
Only 3.9% of Canadians played bingo in the past year, excluding instant games. Bingo is a women’s game in the gambling statistics Canada recorded, with 5.7% of women playing compared with 2.1% of men.
Bingo has seen the steepest fall of any activity. Participation dropped 53% compared with the previous national survey.
Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest bingo rate, above Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Along with electronic machines, bingo is the activity that lost the most players between the two national surveys.
What counts as speculative financial gambling?
In the gambling statistics Canada collects, speculative financial gambling means day trading, penny stocks, short selling, options and currency futures. About 3.5% of Canadians did it in the past year, and men did it nearly four times as often as women.
The survey listed these trades alongside lottery tickets and slot machines as forms of gambling.
Alberta had the highest rate. It was higher than in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba.
Among the gambling Statistics Canada measured, speculative trading had the largest gender gap of any activity, 5.7% of men against 1.5% of women.
Do Canadians play more than one type of gambling?
Most Canadian gamblers stick to one or two activities. The gambling statistics Canada’s survey produced show 27.3% of people played one type, 23.2% played two, 8.7% played three and 5.2% played four or more.
| Number of activities | All | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | 27.3% | 29.8% | 25.0% |
| Two | 23.2% | 23.2% | 23.1% |
| Three | 8.7% | 9.1% | 8.4% |
| Four or more | 5.2% | 6.6% | 3.8% |
The AGRI study describes the intensity of play as low. Most gamblers play only now and then.
The small group who play four or more types carries the highest risk, as the next section shows.
Why does playing more types of gambling raise the risk?
Playing more types of gambling raises the risk because of a dose-response effect. The share at moderate-to-severe risk was 0.5% for people with one activity and 7.3% for people with four or more, in the gambling statistics Canada reported.
Dose-response means more exposure brings more harm. It applies to the number of activities and to how often people play.
The link held after other factors were controlled. Multiple activities stayed a significant risk factor in the final analysis.
For a player, the lesson is plain. Adding new games adds new risk, even if each game feels small.
How common is problem gambling in the gambling statistics Canada publishes?
About 304,000 Canadians aged 15 or older were at moderate-to-severe risk of a gambling problem. That is 1.6% of past-year gamblers in the gambling statistics Canada’s health survey collected.
A further 3.4%, or 636,000 people, were at low risk. They scored 1 or 2 on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index.
The remaining 95.0% of gamblers were non-problem gamblers with a score of zero.
Statistics Canada concludes that problem gambling affects a minority but remains an issue. Two percent of men and about one percent of women who gambled were at moderate or severe risk.
How does gambling risk split between men and women?
Men carry more risk at every level. In the risk-level gambling statistics Canada published, 94% of male gamblers had no problems, against 96% of female gamblers. 4% of men and 3% of women were at low risk.
| Risk level | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| No gambling problems | 94% | 96% |
| Low risk | 4% | 3% |
| Moderate to severe risk | 2% | 1% |
These are the rounded gambling statistics Canada published in an infographic on the survey.
The male results drove the overall findings, the agency notes, because men make up most of the moderate-to-severe group.
How does the AGRI study count problem gamblers?
The AGRI national study read the same gambling statistics Canada collected with a different cut-off on the nine questions. It counted a score of 5 or more as problem gambling, and found 0.6% of Canadian adults, about 156,000 people, met that bar. Another 2.7% were at risk.
The study team, part of the Alberta Gambling Research Institute’s national project, says the usual cut-off of 8 matches people in treatment. A lower cut-off of 5 better captures problem gamblers in the general population, most of whom never seek treatment.
The study looked at adults 18 and older. It found no significant provincial differences in problem gambling rates.
Both sets of gambling statistics Canada researchers publish come from the same survey. They differ only in how they draw the line.
Do provinces differ on problem gambling in the gambling statistics Canada has?
Barely, in the AGRI study. It found no significant differences in problem gambling rates between provinces, using the gambling statistics Canada collected. The one notable gap was in at-risk gambling, which was higher in Manitoba than in Quebec.
Statistics Canada’s own cut-off gave a different picture. The Prairie provinces had the highest moderate-to-severe rate, at 2.5%.
The two results do not contradict each other. They use different cut-offs and different age floors, 15 and 18.
Small provincial samples also make gaps hard to prove. A difference has to be large to count as significant.
Has problem gambling gone up or down in the gambling statistics Canada tracks?
Problem gambling has gone down in the gambling statistics Canada tracks. The AGRI study found the rate was 45% lower than in the previous national survey, taken 16 years earlier. At-risk gambling also fell, along with overall participation.
The study calls the current Canadian rate among the lowest reported worldwide.
The provincial pattern barely changed. Provinces with higher rates before still had higher combined problem and at-risk rates.
The fall happened while legal gambling expanded. Casinos and racetracks with gambling machines almost doubled over the same period.
Why has problem gambling fallen in Canada?
The AGRI study names five likely reasons problem gambling fell in the gambling statistics Canada tracks. Fewer people gamble, more people know the risks, and operators and governments do more to prevent harm. People with severe problems leave the pool, and the population is ageing.
Older people have lower rates of problem gambling. An ageing country pulls down the average in the gambling statistics Canada tracks.
Researchers also describe adaptation. After the novelty of new gambling wears off, the population becomes more resistant to it.
Similar declines have appeared in other Western countries. In each case they came despite more legal gambling.
Why do Canadians gamble, according to the gambling statistics Canada published?
Most Canadians gamble for social or recreational reasons, according to the research behind the gambling statistics Canada published. Most gamblers say gambling is good for them, but problem gamblers are far more likely to name winning money as their main reason.
Gambling can also be a way to cope. Statistics Canada notes that people use it after stressful events such as losing a job.
Loneliness can feed the development of a gambling problem.
The health survey did not ask people why they gamble. These reasons come from earlier studies the agency cites, so treat them as context rather than survey results.
Which groups face the highest risk in the gambling statistics Canada publishes?
The groups at highest risk in the gambling statistics Canada published are men, Prairie residents, lower-income households and unmarried people. Daily smokers, Indigenous people, people with fair or poor mental health and people who play multiple types of gambling also face higher risk.
| Group | Moderate-to-severe risk | Comparison group |
|---|---|---|
| Indigenous people | 4.5% | 1.5% non-Indigenous |
| Daily smokers | 4.3% | 1.2% non-smokers |
| Separated or divorced | 3.4% | 1.1% married |
| Lowest income group | 2.7% | 1.1% highest income |
| Prairie residents | 2.5% | 1.6% national |
| Men | 2.0% | 1.2% women |
These factors stayed significant after the others were controlled.
Our page on how to avoid gambling addiction turns these risk factors into practical steps.
How does income relate to problem gambling?
Lower income means higher risk. In the gambling statistics Canada published, 2.7% of gamblers in the lowest income group and 2.1% in the second-lowest were at moderate-to-severe risk, compared with 1.1% in the highest group.
Statistics Canada gives two likely reasons. People with less money are less able to absorb losses. They may also see gambling as a way out of a low income.
The same link appears for people in lower-income neighbourhoods, people out of work and people on social assistance.
This is the reverse of participation. Richer Canadians gamble more often, but poorer Canadians are more likely to get hurt.
How does marital status relate to problem gambling?
Unmarried gamblers face higher risk. Among the gambling Statistics Canada measured, 3.4% of separated or divorced gamblers and 2.4% of single gamblers were at moderate-to-severe risk, against 1.1% of married or common-law gamblers.
Studies of pathological gamblers find high rates of marital conflict, divorce and separation.
The link runs both ways. Gambling strains marriages, and people without a partner have less social support to fall back on.
Being single or divorced stayed a significant risk factor after income, age and other factors were taken into account.
Why do men develop more gambling problems?
Men develop more gambling problems in the gambling statistics Canada published, at 2.0% against 1.2% for women, but the reasons are not fully clear. Statistics Canada notes that men also have higher rates of drug and alcohol use, which fits a wider pattern.
One study cited by the agency points to marketing aimed at men.
Others suggest that stigma once kept women away from gambling. That would lower their rates of both play and harm.
The gap starts early. Teenage boys have a higher risk of gambling problems than teenage girls, according to research in the same report.
Who is harmed beyond the gambler?
Families pay a large share of the cost behind the gambling statistics Canada publishes. Statistics Canada lists marital breakdown, bankruptcy, financial hardship, suicide, crime, poorer health and more alcohol and drug use as consequences of problem gambling.
The AGRI study adds that far more people are harmed than the problem gambling count suggests. Problem gamblers are often married or have children.
Other people report real gambling harm without meeting the formal criteria for a problem.
So the gambling statistics Canada publishes on problem rates show only the core of the harm, not its full reach.
How does gambling harm compare with other health problems?
Gambling harm is comparable to major depression or alcohol misuse, according to research behind the gambling statistics Canada published. Statistics Canada cites estimates that the burden of harm from gambling is similar in size to the harm caused by major depressive disorder or by alcohol misuse and dependence.
Problem gambling is now classed as gambling disorder in the main psychiatric manual, the DSM.
That shift treats it as a public health issue. The aim is to make sure people who need treatment can get it.
Loneliness is one factor in how the problem develops. Problem gamblers are also far more likely than others to name winning money as their main reason to play.
Is gambling revenue concentrated among problem gamblers?
Research says yes. Drawing on the gambling statistics Canada collected, the AGRI study notes that gambling revenue is known to come disproportionately from problem gamblers. Commercial gambling revenue per adult held steady even as fewer people gambled, so spending per gambler went up.
Revenue per adult moved from $453 to $503 between the two national surveys.
With fewer people gambling, the same money came from a smaller group. The study suggests that spending per problem gambler may have risen further.
Read these gambling statistics Canada researchers gathered alongside the falling problem rate. Fewer people may be at risk, but those at risk may be losing more.
How have the gambling statistics Canada tracks changed over time?
In the gambling statistics Canada tracks, participation has fallen across almost every activity. The AGRI study compared the latest national survey with the one 16 years earlier. Lottery and raffle play fell from 67.1% to 53.6% of adults, and instant lottery play fell from 37.6% to 34.1%.
| Activity | Change between the two national surveys |
|---|---|
| Lottery or raffle tickets | From 67.1% to 53.6% of adults |
| Instant lottery tickets | From 37.6% to 34.1% of adults |
| Electronic gambling machines | Down 46% |
| Bingo | Down 53% |
| Casino table games | The only activity that did not decline |
The ranking of activities in the gambling statistics Canada collects barely moved. The two surveys correlate at 0.98 on how popular each type of gambling is.
Researchers link the fall to the novelty wearing off and more people knowing the risks.
What do gambling statistics Canada compiles say about casinos and racinos?
The number of casinos and racetracks with gambling machines, called racinos, almost doubled from 78 to 147 between the two national gambling surveys. The AGRI study compiled these gambling statistics Canada’s provinces report each year.
Machine density barely changed. There were 3.2 gambling machines per 1,000 people before and 3.4 after.
Legal online gambling also spread to every province except Alberta and Saskatchewan over that period, the study notes. Both have since launched government sites.
Despite the expansion, both participation and problem gambling fell. That is the adaptation effect researchers describe.
What is the total gambling spend in Canada?
Among the money-based gambling statistics Canada has, net commercial gambling revenue stands out at about $14.5 billion a year. That figure comes from an article by Rhys Stevens of the University of Lethbridge in Critical Gambling Studies. The figure counts what gamblers lose after winnings are paid.
Stevens built the Canadian Gambling Statistics database from provincial annual reports. It covers lotteries, casinos, video lottery terminals and online gambling, sorted by province and year.
The database is hosted by the Alberta Gambling Research Institute at the University of Calgary.
The AGRI study’s figure of $503 in revenue per adult gives a per-person view of the same spending.
What do gambling statistics Canada publishes show about online play?
The gambling statistics Canada publishes show online play growing fast, led by Ontario. The AGRI study found online participation had risen but was still uncommon compared with in-person play. Since then, Ontario’s open market has grown to over $103 billion in yearly wagers.
The health survey data came before single-event sports betting was legal and before Ontario opened its market to private operators.
Ontario’s reports now give the clearest online gambling statistics Canada has. Alberta’s new market is too young for a full year of figures. The remaining provinces sell online gambling through a single government site and publish less detail.
The sections below follow Ontario’s market from its first year to its fourth. Our page on Ontario online gambling laws explains the rules behind it.
How big is Ontario’s online gambling market?
Ontario’s online gambling market took over $103 billion in wagers and produced more than $4.2 billion in gaming revenue in its fourth year, according to iGaming Ontario. Those are the largest online gambling statistics Canada has on record.
Gaming revenue means cash wagers minus player winnings. It does not subtract operating costs.
The figures cover private operators in iGaming Ontario’s market. They exclude OLG’s own online casino and horse racing bets.
iGaming Ontario marks the numbers as unaudited and subject to change.
How fast has Ontario’s online market grown?
Ontario’s online market roughly tripled in four years, the steepest rise in the gambling statistics Canada has. Wagers rose from $35.5 billion in the first year to over $103 billion in the fourth, and gaming revenue rose from $1.4 billion to over $4.2 billion.
| Market year | Wagers | Gaming revenue | Operators and sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year one | $35.5 billion | $1.4 billion | 45 operators, 76 sites |
| Year two | $63 billion | $2.4 billion | 47 operators, 77 sites |
| Year three | $82.7 billion | $3.2 billion | 49 operators, 84 sites |
| Year four | Over $103 billion | Over $4.2 billion | Not stated |
Year two grew 78% in wagers and 72% in revenue. Year three grew 31% and 32%.
In its first year, the market grew by more than 50% each quarter on average. Wagers exclude bonus bets.
What do Ontarians wager on online casino games?
Ontarians wagered $69.6 billion on online casino games in the third market year, up 34%. Casino gaming revenue reached $2.4 billion, up 36%. Casino play makes up the bulk of the online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province reports.
In year two, casino wagers were $51.7 billion, an 88% jump, and casino revenue was $1.8 billion.
The casino category covers slots, live dealer and computer-based table games, and peer-to-peer bingo.
Casino games produced about three quarters of all online gaming revenue in year three. Our page on online slots in Ontario covers the most played category.
How did each online category grow in Ontario?
Casino games grew fastest. In the online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province reported, casino wagers rose 88% in year two and 34% in year three. Betting rose 39% and then 17%, and poker rose 64% and then 2%.
| Category | Year two wagers | Year two revenue | Year three wagers | Year three revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casino games | $51.7 billion (+88%) | $1.8 billion (+89%) | $69.6 billion (+34%) | $2.4 billion (+36%) |
| Betting | $9.7 billion (+39%) | $588 million (+36%) | $11.4 billion (+17%) | $724 million (+23%) |
| Peer-to-peer poker | $1.6 billion (+64%) | $67 million (+67%) | $1.7 billion (+2%) | $66 million (flat) |
Growth slowed in year three across every category, as you would expect in a maturing market.
Poker stalled first. Its revenue was flat while casino revenue still grew by more than a third.
Which online casino games get the most wagers in Ontario?
Slots get the most wagers in the online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province reports. In Ontario’s first market year, 48% of online casino wagers went to slots, 32% to live dealer table games and 19% to computer-based table games, according to iGaming Ontario.
Live dealer games stream a real dealer and table from a studio. Computer-based tables use software in place of a dealer.
Almost a third of casino wagers going to live tables shows how popular that format has become.
These shares are rare game-level gambling statistics Canada’s regulators publish.
What do Ontarians wager on sports online?
Ontarians bet $11.4 billion on sports and other events online in the third market year, up 17%. Betting gaming revenue reached $724 million, up 23%. These are the sports betting statistics Canada’s open market reports.
In year two, betting wagers were $9.7 billion and betting revenue was $588 million.
The betting category covers sports, esports, proposition and novelty bets, plus exchange betting.
Sports betting is a smaller slice than casino play. It drew about one seventh of wagers but almost a quarter of revenue in year three, because sportsbooks keep a larger share of each dollar.
Which sports attract the most bets in Ontario?
Basketball attracts the most bets in the Ontario gambling statistics Canada has. In the market’s first year, basketball took 29% of betting wagers, ahead of soccer at 15%, football at 13%, hockey at 9% and baseball at 8%, according to iGaming Ontario.
| Sport | Share of betting wagers |
|---|---|
| Basketball | 29% |
| Soccer | 15% |
| Football | 13% |
| Hockey | 9% |
| Baseball | 8% |
Hockey, the national sport, ranked only fourth. The categories include all leagues, not only the major professional ones.
These five sports took about three quarters of all betting wagers between them. Among the sports betting statistics Canada has, this ranking is the clearest view of what bettors pick.
How big is online poker in Ontario?
Online poker is the smallest category in Ontario. Peer-to-peer poker drew $1.7 billion in wagers and $66 million in gaming revenue in the third market year, according to the online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province publishes.
Wagers rose only 2% that year, and revenue stayed flat. In year two, poker wagers had jumped 64% to $1.6 billion, with $67 million in revenue.
Peer-to-peer means players compete against each other, not the house. The site earns money from rake and tournament fees.
That is why poker revenue is so small next to its wagers. Most of the money moves between players.
What did a single quarter look like in Ontario?
In the last quarter of Ontario’s second market year, players wagered $17.8 billion and operators kept $690 million in gaming revenue. That quarter alone was half the size of the market’s entire first year, in the online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province reports.
| Category, last quarter of year two | Wagers | Gaming revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Casino games | $14.6 billion | $510 million |
| Betting | $2.7 billion | $161 million |
| Peer-to-peer poker | $446 million | $19 million |
| Total | $17.8 billion | $690 million |
A year earlier, the last quarter of year one brought $13.9 billion in wagers and $526 million in revenue.
How large is Ontario’s roster of licensed operators?
Ontario had 49 operators running 84 gaming sites by the end of its third market year. The count rose from 45 operators and 76 sites in year one, and 47 operators and 77 sites in year two.
Each operator signs an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario and registers with the AGCO, the provincial regulator.
A single operator can run more than one brand, which is why sites outnumber operators.
The live list is on the iGaming Ontario website. It names each company and the sites it runs, from BET99 to PointsBet.
How large is Ontario’s active player base?
About 1.65 million player accounts were active over Ontario’s first market year. In the last quarter of year two, more than 1.3 million accounts were active, according to the account-level gambling statistics Canada’s largest province publishes.
An active account is one with cash or bonus wagering in the period.
Accounts are not people. One player can hold accounts with more than one operator, so the number of unique players is lower.
Just over one million accounts were active in the last quarter of year one. The count rose as the market grew.
What does an average Ontario player account spend?
In the online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province reports, the average active account spent $263 a month. That figure covers the last quarter of Ontario’s second market year, using iGaming Ontario’s updated method. In year one, the average was $70 a month across all accounts active that year.
In the last quarter of year one, the monthly average was $174.
iGaming Ontario restated the earlier quarters when it changed how it calculates this figure.
Averages hide a wide spread. A small group of heavy players can lift the average well above what a typical player loses.
What share of Ontario players use regulated sites?
The latest gambling statistics Canada has on this show 91.1% of Ontarians who gambled online in the past three months used regulated sites. The figure comes from an Ipsos study for the AGCO and iGaming Ontario. The share rose 7.4 points from 83.7% a year earlier.
| Ipsos study | Played on a regulated site | Played only on unregulated sites |
|---|---|---|
| First | 85.3% | 14.7% |
| Second | 86.4% | 13.6% |
| Third | 83.7% | 16.3% |
| Fourth | 91.1% | 8.9% |
This share is called channelization. It measures the share of play the legal market captures.
The fourth study is the best result so far among the channelization statistics Canada’s regulators have released.
What share of Ontarians still gamble only on unregulated sites?
8.9% of Ontario online gamblers played only on unregulated sites in the latest Ipsos study, down from 16.3% the year before. That share almost halved in one year.
Unregulated sites do not carry Ontario’s mandatory player protections. That includes deposit limits, self-exclusion and age checks set by the AGCO.
iGaming Ontario’s chief executive, Joseph Hillier, credited growing confidence in the regulated market.
The third study found the opposite trend. Its unregulated-only share had risen to 16.3%, from 13.6% the year before. Our page on setting gambling limits online covers the tools regulated sites must offer.
How was the Ipsos channelization study done?
Ipsos surveyed 2,012 Ontarians aged 19 and older over three weeks in the spring. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, according to the AGCO.
Respondents were asked about online gambling in the past three months. Those who had gambled online said whether they used a regulated site, an unregulated one or both.
The AGCO and iGaming Ontario commissioned the study. It has run four times since the open market launched.
Because the method stayed the same, the four results can be compared. That makes this a rare trend series in the online gambling statistics Canada has.
What is BetGuard?
BetGuard is Ontario’s central self-exclusion tool. Anyone 19 or older can use one website to opt out of every regulated online gambling site in the province, including OLG’s, in minutes.
Once you opt out, you cannot log in to existing accounts or open new ones on any regulated site.
Operators are also told to stop sending you direct marketing.
Before BetGuard, a player had to self-exclude site by site. With more than 80 regulated sites, that was slow and easy to get wrong.
How long can you self-exclude with BetGuard?
BetGuard offers self-exclusion terms of six months, one year, five years or a custom period. The tool has a dedicated customer care line for people who need help with the process.
The choice of term matters. A short break suits someone who wants to reset habits. A five-year term suits someone who wants a long distance from gambling.
iGaming Ontario warned the public about people impersonating BetGuard. Use only the official BetGuard.ca site.
Self-exclusion is a key part of the responsible gambling statistics Canada’s regulators track, alongside deposit limits and time-outs.
What does Ontario invest in responsible gambling?
The Government of Ontario says it has invested over $421 million in recent years in gambling-related public education, awareness, responsible gaming support, campaigns and research. The open market also returned $262 million in revenue to the province in one fiscal year.
iGaming Ontario reported both figures when it launched BetGuard.
The $262 million is revenue re-invested into the province from the open online market. It is separate from what OLG and the casinos return.
Funding public education is one of the five reasons the AGRI study gives for the fall in problem gambling.
Does Ontario’s data include OLG’s online casino?
No. iGaming Ontario’s figures, the core online gambling statistics Canada’s largest province publishes, cover only private operators with an operating agreement. They exclude OLG’s own online gambling and pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, so Ontario’s total online gambling is larger than the headline numbers.
OLG is the provincial lottery and gaming corporation. It runs its own online casino and lottery site alongside the open market.
Horse racing bets run through a separate pari-mutuel system, regulated federally and by the AGCO.
When you compare provinces, keep this gap in mind. Online gambling statistics Canada’s provinces publish rarely cover the same set of products.
What do the first gambling statistics Canada has on Alberta’s online market show?
Alberta’s regulated online market went live at midnight on July 13, with 22 operator sites open on the first day, according to European Gaming. It is the second open online market in the gambling statistics Canada now tracks, after Ontario.
The AGLC had licensed more than 50 sports betting and casino sites, plus almost 60 game suppliers and 14 platform providers, by launch.
The province keeps 20% of net online gaming revenue and gives 80% to operators. First Nations and social responsibility funding, set at 3% of gross gaming revenue, comes out first.
Before launch, Alberta estimated that unregulated sites held about 70% of its online gambling market. The share that moves to licensed sites will be the key number to watch.
What do wagers and gaming revenue mean?
In the gambling statistics Canada’s online markets publish, wagers are the total cash bets players place, not counting bonus bets. Gaming revenue is cash wagers plus rake and fees, minus player winnings. It is what players lose before operators pay their costs.
The two numbers tell different stories. Wagers show activity. Revenue shows the money that stays with the operators.
Revenue does not subtract staff, marketing, software or taxes. It is not profit.
Most online gambling statistics Canada’s media quote use wagers, because they are the bigger number. Revenue is the better measure of what players actually lose.
What do youth gambling statistics Canada collects show for Ontario students?
About one in three Ontario students in grades 7 to 12, or 32%, took part in at least one gambling activity in a year. That figure comes from CAMH’s Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, the main source of youth gambling statistics Canada has.
About 4% of secondary students reported symptoms of a low- to moderately-severe gambling problem.
Another 2% reported symptoms of a high-severity gambling problem.
CAMH notes that adults tend to underestimate the number of young people who gamble. Most regulated gambling is illegal at their age, but young people still find ways to play.
What do Ontario students gamble on?
In the youth gambling statistics Canada collects, Ontario students gamble mostly on dares and private bets, sports pools and card games. In the CAMH survey, 11.6% bet on dares or private bets, 9.8% on sports pools and 9.4% on card games.
None of those need a casino or a licensed site. They happen among friends, at school or at home.
CAMH also points to newer forms that blur gaming and gambling: loot boxes, social casino games, skins betting and esports betting.
These forms are hard to count. They sit outside most of the youth gambling statistics Canada collects.
What share of Canadian teenagers gamble?
The youth gambling statistics Canada has show 41.6% of teenagers aged 13 to 19 had gambled in the past three months, according to the Canadian Youth Gambling Survey. The study covered youth in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
That is a three-month window, shorter than the one-year window behind the adult gambling statistics Canada publishes.
The survey was led by Tara Elton-Marshall and colleagues and published in BMC Public Health.
It also compared online and land-based gamblers, with a striking result covered in the next section.
Is online gambling riskier for teenagers?
Yes. In the Canadian Youth Gambling Survey, 17.4% of teenagers who gambled online scored high on problem gambling severity, and 18.2% scored low-to-moderate. Among those who gambled only in person, the figures were 1.2% and 7.2%.
| Teen gambling type | High severity | Low-to-moderate severity |
|---|---|---|
| Online gambling | 17.4% | 18.2% |
| Land-based gambling | 1.2% | 7.2% |
Online teen gamblers were about 14 times as likely to score high severity.
CAMH notes that gambling websites, especially skins betting sites, often skip age and ID checks. That gap is one of the starkest youth gambling statistics Canada’s researchers have produced.
Do young people have higher rates of problem gambling than adults?
Yes. Drawing on the youth gambling statistics Canada has, CAMH says young people aged 10 to 24 have higher rates of problem gambling than adults. Habits formed in the teenage years can carry into adult problem gambling.
That sits alongside a lower participation rate. Statistics Canada found that only 43.9% of people aged 15 to 24 gambled in a year, the lowest of any age group.
So fewer young people gamble, but those who do are more likely to run into trouble.
CAMH calls for more research and more support services aimed at this age group.
Are loot boxes a form of gambling?
CAMH treats loot boxes as a form of gambling. Players pay real money or in-game currency for a mystery bundle of virtual items, so they risk something of value on a chance outcome. One study linked higher loot box spending to more severe problem gambling in teens.
That study looked at older adolescents aged 16 to 18. The more they spent on loot boxes, the worse their problem gambling scores.
Young gamers often see loot boxes as just part of the game. They are not regulated like gambling.
Because they sit outside gambling law, loot boxes do not appear in the official gambling statistics Canada publishes.
What are social casino games and skins betting?
Social casino games are free-to-play slot and card games on social media and apps, using virtual coins. Skins betting uses cosmetic items from video games as currency to bet on esports or casino-style games. CAMH flags both as gateways for young people.
Social casino games often offer better odds than real games, CAMH notes. That can give young players a false idea of their chances when they later play for money.
Skins have no effect on gameplay but carry collector value, so rarer skins are worth more.
Skins betting sites often run without age or ID checks. That makes them a direct route to underage gambling.
Why do teenagers gamble?
Teenagers gamble mainly for entertainment, to escape bad feelings, to relieve boredom or loneliness and to compete with friends. CAMH notes that adults are more likely to gamble for financial gain.
Young people are also more willing to take risks in general, which adds to the danger.
Teen problem gambling often comes with substance use, mood disorders or anxiety.
Adolescents with gambling problems also show higher rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts than other teens, according to research CAMH cites. Those findings are among the most serious youth gambling statistics Canada’s health researchers report.
What did an older poll add to the gambling statistics Canada has?
An Angus Reid poll for CTV of 1,000 Canadian adults found that 60% spent money on gambling in an average month. The average Canadian spent $6.75 a month, and only 3% spent more than $100.
| Monthly gambling spend | Share of Canadians |
|---|---|
| Nothing | 40% |
| $1 to $20 | 43% |
| $20.01 to $100 | 14% |
| Over $100 | 3% |
The poll is old, from the last century, and now sits on the Ipsos website, so the dollar figures are dated. It is still cited in today’s search results for gambling statistics Canada.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Which region gambled the most in the Angus Reid poll?
Quebec gambled the most in the Angus Reid poll, at 69%. Saskatchewan and Manitoba gambled the least, at 50%. The poll found 48% of Quebecers spent $1 to $20 a month, compared with 43% nationally.
21% of Quebecers spent more than $20 a month, against 17% nationally.
In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, fewer people spent small amounts. Only 33% spent $1 to $20, but 17% spent more than $20, the same as the national rate.
Between 2% and 4% of Canadians spent over $100 a month in every region, regardless of where they lived.
How did age, gender and income shape the poll results?
Younger adults gambled least in the poll: 45% of Canadians aged 18 to 34 spent nothing, against 36% of those aged 35 to 54. Men spent more than women, and people with incomes under $25,000 were the least likely to gamble.
43% of women spent nothing on gambling in an average month, compared with 37% of men.
Men were more likely to spend $20.01 to $100 a month, at 18% compared with 10% of women.
45% of people with household incomes under $25,000 spent nothing, compared with 38% of those earning over $55,000. A core of 3% to 4% spent over $100 regardless of age or income.
What do Canadians think about gambling problems?
In the same Angus Reid poll, 73% of Canadians said gambling problems had increased in their province over the past couple of years. 83% said it is up to the individual to control their gambling, whatever the consequences.
Concern was highest in Atlantic Canada, at 89%, and Quebec, at 88%. It was lowest in British Columbia, at 56%, and Ontario, at 63%.
Belief in individual responsibility was strongest among people with household incomes under $25,000, at 87%, and those whose highest education was high school, at 89%.
Albertans were the least likely to put it all on the individual, at 74%. These opinion figures sit apart from the behavioural gambling statistics Canada’s surveys measure.
What are the odds of winning the Lotto 6/49 jackpot?
The odds of winning the Lotto 6/49 jackpot are 1 in 13,983,816 per play. You must match all six numbers drawn from 49, and there are 13,983,816 possible combinations.
Buying ten tickets makes the odds 1 in about 1.4 million. Buying a hundred makes them 1 in about 140,000.
Lottery tickets are the most popular form of gambling in the health survey, yet the jackpot is one of the longest shots in gambling.
Smaller prizes are far more likely, but they return less than the ticket cost on average. Odds like these are among the lottery gambling statistics Canada’s players rarely see in ads.
What are the odds of winning the Lotto Max jackpot?
The odds of winning the Lotto Max jackpot are 1 in 33,294,800 per line. Each Lotto Max play includes three sets of numbers, so the odds per ticket purchase are better than per line, but still extremely long.
Lotto Max draws seven numbers from 50. You need all seven on one line to win the jackpot.
Compared with Lotto 6/49, a Lotto Max line is about 2.4 times harder to win.
Big jackpots draw more buyers. That pushes lottery sales up without changing anyone’s odds.
What are the odds of winning the Daily Grand top prize?
The odds of winning the Daily Grand top prize are 1 in 13,348,188. You must match five numbers from 49 plus the Grand Number from 7. The top prize pays a set amount every day for life.
The odds are close to those of the Lotto 6/49 jackpot.
The difference is in how the prize is paid. Daily Grand spreads it over a lifetime, with a lump-sum option.
Whatever the game, the lottery figures in the gambling statistics Canada tracks show that most buyers play now and then, not every week.
What is the house edge on roulette?
European roulette has a house edge of 2.70%, and American roulette has a house edge of 5.26%. The difference comes from the extra double-zero pocket on the American wheel.
European wheels have 37 pockets: 1 to 36 plus a single zero. American wheels have 38, with a single zero and a double zero.
Every even-money bet loses on the zero. That one pocket creates the house edge on the European wheel.
Our page on roulette odds in Canada lists the odds and payouts for every bet.
What is the house edge on blackjack?
Blackjack has one of the lowest house edges in the casino, around 0.5% when you play perfect basic strategy. The exact figure depends on the rules, such as the number of decks and whether the dealer stands on soft 17.
Poor play raises the edge sharply. Guessing instead of following basic strategy hands the casino a far bigger margin.
A blackjack that pays 6:5 instead of 3:2 also adds to the house edge.
Table games, including blackjack, drew 7.5% of Canadians in the health survey. Most players do not use perfect strategy, so the real edge they face is higher.
What is the house edge on baccarat?
Baccarat’s Banker bet has a house edge of about 1.06%, and the Player bet about 1.24%. The Tie bet, paying 8 to 1, has a house edge of about 14.4%, one of the worst bets on the casino floor.
The Banker bet wins slightly more often, which is why casinos charge a 5% commission on Banker wins.
The Tie bet looks tempting because of the high payout. It loses so often that the payout does not make up for it.
Banker and Player both sit close to a 1% edge, so the Tie is the bet to skip.
What is the house edge on craps?
The Pass Line bet in craps has a house edge of about 1.41%, among the lowest in the casino. Taking free odds behind the Pass Line lowers the overall edge further, because odds bets carry no house edge.
Proposition bets in the middle of the table carry far higher edges. Any Seven, for example, has a house edge of about 16.7%.
The health survey does not count craps separately. It falls under casino table games.
Our page on how to play craps explains the main bets.
What do online slots pay back?
Online slots pay back a set percentage over the long run, called return to player or RTP. Most online slots publish an RTP between about 94% and 97%, which means a house edge of about 3% to 6%.
RTP is calculated over millions of spins. A single session can land far above or far below it.
Slots took 48% of Ontario’s online casino wagers in the first market year, more than any other game type.
Because slots spin fast, a small edge adds up quickly. That speed is why electronic machines carry a high risk profile in the gambling statistics Canada’s researchers studied.
What share of each dollar wagered do Ontario operators keep?
The gambling statistics Canada’s largest province publishes show operators kept about 3.9% of every dollar wagered online in the third market year. That is $3.2 billion in gaming revenue from $82.7 billion in wagers. In the fourth year, the rate was about 4.1%. This rate is called the hold.
| Category, third market year | Wagers | Gaming revenue | Hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino games | $69.6 billion | $2.4 billion | About 3.4% |
| Betting | $11.4 billion | $724 million | About 6.4% |
| Peer-to-peer poker | $1.7 billion | $66 million | About 3.9% |
| All categories | $82.7 billion | $3.2 billion | About 3.9% |
We calculated the hold by dividing gaming revenue by wagers from iGaming Ontario’s figures.
Hold looks lower than the house edge because winnings get re-bet. The same dollar can be wagered again and again before it is lost, which inflates total wagers.
Why is the hold higher on sports betting than on casino games?
Sports betting held about 6.4% of wagers in Ontario’s third market year, against about 3.4% for casino games. Sportsbooks build a margin into every line, and parlays carry higher margins than single bets.
The margin on a standard two-way bet at -110 odds is about 4.5%. Each extra leg in a parlay stacks another margin on top.
In year two, the betting hold was about 6.1%: $588 million from $9.7 billion.
Casino wagers recycle more. A slot player re-bets winnings spin after spin, so the hold on total wagers looks smaller than the game’s edge. These ratios are rarely shown in the gambling statistics Canada’s media cover.
What is the legal gambling age in each province?
The legal gambling age in Canada is 19 in most provinces and territories, and 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. The age applies to casinos and online gambling. Lottery tickets can have a lower age, such as 18 in Ontario.
| Province or territory | Legal gambling age |
|---|---|
| Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec | 18 |
| British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan | 19 |
| New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador | 19 |
| Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut | 19 |
Ontario’s BetGuard tool and the Ipsos channelization study both use 19 as their age floor.
Our page on the Canadian gambling age and online casinos covers ID checks and the rules for each province.
When did single-event sports betting become legal in Canada?
Single-event sports betting became legal when the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act amended the Criminal Code. Before that, Canadians were allowed to bet legally only on parlays of two or more games through provincial lotteries.
The change let provinces offer bets on a single game. Ontario then launched its open online market on April 4, with private operators.
The national health survey data were collected before the act. Statistics Canada calls its figures a baseline for tracking change.
So the sports betting statistics Canada’s health survey holds show a market before legal single-game bets. Ontario’s market reports show what came after.
Who runs gambling in each province?
Each province runs its own gambling through a Crown corporation. Ontario and, since July 13, Alberta add regulated markets of private operators, while the other provinces sell online gambling through a single government site.
| Province | Main gambling operator |
|---|---|
| Ontario | OLG, plus private operators through iGaming Ontario |
| Quebec | Loto-Québec |
| British Columbia | BCLC, online through PlayNow |
| Alberta | AGLC regulates; Play Alberta plus private sites under the Alberta iGaming Corporation |
| Manitoba | Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, online through PlayNow |
| Atlantic provinces | Atlantic Lottery Corporation |
The Western Canada Lottery Corporation runs lotteries for the Prairie provinces and the territories.
Each corporation publishes an annual report. Those reports feed the Canadian Gambling Statistics database built by Rhys Stevens.
Where can Canadians get help with gambling?
Every province has a free gambling help line, and every regulated online site offers deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion. In Ontario, BetGuard lets you exclude yourself from all regulated sites at once.
Signs that call for help include chasing losses, hiding gambling, borrowing to play and gambling to escape stress.
The gambling statistics Canada’s surveys collected show the risk is highest among people who play four or more types of gambling.
Our page on responsible gambling for Canadians lists the tools and where to start.
How do you read the gambling statistics Canada publishes?
Read gambling statistics carefully by checking four things: who was surveyed, which cut-off defines a problem, whether the figure counts people or accounts, and whether the numbers are audited. The same survey can give 1.6% or 0.6% depending on the cut-off.
Statistics Canada used a score of 3 or more. The AGRI study used 5 or more, and treatment studies often use 8 or more.
iGaming Ontario counts accounts, not people. One person can hold more than one account.
iGaming Ontario’s figures are also unaudited and can be restated later, as its own reports note.
What do confidence intervals mean in these surveys?
A confidence interval shows the range where the true figure likely sits in the gambling statistics Canada publishes. The 64.5% national gambling rate has a 95% confidence interval of 63.4% to 65.6%, so the real rate is very likely within that band.
Small groups have wide intervals. The rate for Inuit respondents, for example, carried an interval from 40.0% to 91.1% and a warning to use it with caution.
Certain figures were too unreliable to publish at all. Statistics Canada marks those with an F.
Check the interval before comparing two groups. If the ranges overlap heavily, the gap in the gambling statistics Canada publishes may not be real.
What is missing from the gambling statistics Canada has?
Canada lacks recent national data. The health survey’s gambling module skipped the territories, people on reserves and spending amounts, and no national survey has measured gambling since single-event sports betting became legal.
Statistics Canada noted that before its module, national data were limited and not current.
Provincial surveys fill gaps, but the AGRI study warns that their methods differ and their response rates can fall below 20%.
Youth data come mostly from Ontario. National youth gambling statistics Canada can compare across provinces are scarce.
How often is national gambling data collected in Canada?
Rarely. Before the latest health survey module, only two national studies of gambling and problem gambling had ever been published in Canada, according to the AGRI study. The second came 16 years before the latest one.
Statistics Canada ran the earlier national survey as part of a mental health cycle of the same health survey.
The AGRI study argues that Statistics Canada surveys are more reliable than most provincial gambling surveys. They reach response rates above 50% and samples above 20,000.
That reliability is why most gambling statistics Canada’s media quote still trace back to this one survey.
Why are Statistics Canada surveys more reliable than other gambling polls?
The gambling statistics Canada’s own surveys produce are more reliable because those surveys present themselves as health surveys, not gambling surveys. The AGRI study says gambling-branded surveys over-recruit regular gamblers and inflate the results.
The health survey also used phone and in-person interviews in English and French, with interpreters for other languages. Its samples covered every province with the same method.
Provincial surveys often have poor response rates, small samples or phone coverage that misses cell-only homes.
Certain surveys also ask problem gambling questions of anyone who gambled once. That raises false positives, the study warns.
What do the gambling statistics Canada publishes mean for players?
The gambling statistics Canada has point to three lessons for players. Most people gamble lightly and without harm. Playing multiple types of gambling raises the risk. Online gambling is growing fast, and regulated sites offer the strongest protections.
The house edge works on every game. Over time, the casino keeps a share of every dollar bet, as Ontario’s hold figures show.
If you play, set a budget, keep to one or two games and use the limit tools regulated sites provide.
If gambling stops being fun, stop and reach out. Help in every province is free and confidential.