The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has adapted its business practices since the commercial iGaming market opened in Ontario in 2022. With 50 licensed operators now in the province, including major brands like FanDuel, BetMGM, and DraftKings, competition has increased significantly.
“OLG has continued to have record-breaking growth in the digital business and has been able to maintain above-than-expected market share,” said OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti. “Customer trust in our brand is important in a crowded field of competitors.”
OLG operates across three lines of business: lottery (retail), land-based gaming (managing 30 casino gaming facilities and 37 charitable gaming centers), and digital gaming (iCasino, iLottery, and iSports).
In FY 2023-24, OLG reported gross online casino and sports betting revenue of $630 million, up from $561 million in FY 2022-23. The broader Ontario private market, excluding OLG, saw $64 billion in total wagers in FY 2023-24, generating $2.4 billion in gaming revenue.
According to H2 Gambling Capital, OLG has maintained its position in the market, with commercial operators holding a 78% market share, OLG at 16%, and offshore platforms at 5%. H2 uses web traffic, affiliate traffic, and search volume data to estimate market sizes and growth rates in regulated markets where official data is not available.
Data provided to Casino.org shows bet365 with a 15% market share in FY 2024, followed by FanDuel (13%) and Betano (9%). Super Group has 8%, with BetMGM, Entain, and BetRivers each holding 7%.
The Auditor General of Ontario, Shelley Spence, issued an annual report last week, following up on recommendations from a 2022 audit of OLG’s casinos, lotteries, and internet gaming performance. The report provided suggestions for making OLG more competitive in the new environment. As of November 15, 2024, OLG had fully implemented 32% of these recommendations and is in the process of implementing another 38%.
Implemented recommendations include the introduction of more iGaming casino products, expanding live game offerings in collaboration with other provinces, assessing staffing numbers, breaking out casino operator fees as a separate line item in financial reporting, and integrating self-exclusion programs across OLG products.
“OLG developed a comprehensive strategy on the introduction of new products and the timeline for their introduction” in 2023, according to the AG report. Since the 2022 audit, OLG has introduced games weekly to drive engagement, adding 80 new games between February 1, 2024, and April 30, 2024.
In June 2023, OLG established a team to explore potential new products, including real-time games and live games offered from a studio shared with other provincial lotteries. By June 2024, OLG was exploring options for new product offerings and considering whether to join a national network or keep the product within a specific region, with a potential implementation by April 2025.
OLG Chief Gaming Officer Dave Pridmore acknowledged that the competitive market has challenged OLG to rethink its product offerings and operations, ensuring everyone plays by the same rules.
“We thank the Auditor General of Ontario for the findings and recommendations in previous audits of OLG — as well as the follow-up observations,” said Bitonti. “We always welcome independent reviews of our business, which contribute to continuous improvement of our operations and performance.”
“OLG has been actively working to implement the AG’s recommendations,” Bitonti added, noting that close to 80% of the recommended actions have been fully implemented or are in the process of being implemented.
