TORONTO, Ont. – Ontario’s government is weighing whether to further tighten advertising rules for online sports betting and internet casino gambling in the province.
- Ontario is considering stricter advertising rules for online sports betting and iGaming, in no small part because of growing concerns about gambling addiction.
- Gaming Minister Stan Cho said the province is willing to work with all levels of government on the issue, albeit while trying to balance regulation with business interests and respecting provincial jurisdiction.
- Ontario says 91% of online gamblers now use provincially regulated platforms, as bettors are becoming increasingly aware of those options.
Ontario Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho told reporters Thursday at the SBC Summit Canada in Toronto that iGaming advertising remains “a hugely important issue,” and one that is growing, including in the governing Progressive Conservative Party caucus.
Cho said PC MPPs are increasingly coming to him with tales about their constituents, particularly young men, facing “very serious problems” with online gambling.
“It's familiar to my family, so I understand the pain that families can go through when this becomes a serious issue,” Cho said. “Advertising is a huge part of it.”
Cho noted the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) already restricted the use of athletes and celebrities in iGaming marketing back in 2024. Even so, the minister said more needs to be done.
“This is a growing problem,” he said. “We recognize that, and we will continue to look at advertising and what we can do to make sure that it is reasonable when it comes to online gaming. Now, I don't have all the answers on what we will be looking at yet, but I had a conversation with the attorney general, and we are very seriously looking at additional measures on the advertising side to make sure this doesn't make the problem grow.”
One measure that the Ontario government may not be interested in is an outright ban, as opposition legislation proposing just that was resoundingly defeated at Queen's Park earlier this month by government members of the legislature.
However, the comments from Ontario’s gaming minister also come as federal lawmakers have been advancing legislation that could put a national framework in place for sports betting-related advertising.
Here come the feds
While that may be welcomed by Canadians irritated by the amount of iGaming advertising they’ve seen, particularly after the decriminalization of single-game wagering in 2021 and Ontario’s launch of a competitive iGaming market in 2022, it could irk provincial governments, given their historical control over gambling.
Some Quebec lawmakers have suggested that the federal advertising legislation could intrude upon that provincial responsibility. Cho, though, said he hoped there wouldn’t be any tension between the province and the federal government on the issue. He also said he sees all parties involved just trying to do the right thing, but perhaps differing in their opinion of what that looks like.
It's not really much of a surprise given that a) it was a private members' bill and b) it was a 3rd party PMB, but Bill 107, which would have banned ads by Ontario iGaming operators, lost its second-reading vote yesterday by a 33-60 margin: pic.twitter.com/rL3gZv4Bri
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) May 16, 2026
“Balance” is the key to it all, Cho said, and he is waiting to see where things go next.
“The province has a role to play, and gaming falls under our jurisdiction, and we want to do things responsibly our way, of course,” he said. “Now, we will work with our partners at the federal level to do what's reasonable, and hopefully we can find some shared common ground on what responsible gaming looks like. We have to also recognize, as important it is to invest in responsible gambling, that we have to respect the rights that exist within the province, as well as understanding that businesses have a right to operate in this province as well, without undue regulations and laws that get in their way.”
Meanwhile, online gambling in Canada’s most populous province continues to hum along, with more than 40 private-sector operators currently offering more than 70 sports betting, iGaming, and poker sites. Moreover, research released on Thursday suggests that Ontarians are increasingly choosing to bet local, rather than with offshore sportsbooks or casino sites based beyond Ontario’s borders.
And here's the official channelization announcement from the AGCO, saying that research suggests that 91.1% of Ontarians are now wagering with provincially regulated sites: https://t.co/8AufVStNrx pic.twitter.com/pNarPh2TtK
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) May 21, 2026
Cho said Thursday during his prepared remarks at SBC Summit Canada that 91% of online gamblers in the province are now using provincially regulated sites, which is up from approximately 84% last year.
This, Cho said, means there are 1.2 million active players opting to wager in the “safer gambling environment” provided by the regulated Ontario sports betting and iGaming regime. That regulatory framework launched in 2022.
Cho told reporters later that the Ontario government’s reasons for launching its competitive iGaming market included a recognition of the growing turn toward online wagering, and that people would bet online whether it was provincially regulated or not.
“I think it was important to bring it in-house, not just because of the revenues, but also to get problem [gamblers] the supports that they need,” Cho said.
Those supports are still being rolled out. One recent reform implemented by Ontario sports betting and iGaming regulators and operators was the launch of BetGuard, a centralized self-exclusion system that allows gamblers to ban themselves from all provincially regulated sites simultaneously.
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Been there, done that
The minister attributed the increased channelization rate to a few different factors, including the efforts of responsible gambling groups. One is that the population of gamblers is growing, with an “adjustment” from in-person wagering toward online options amid those changing demographics.
Cho said there is increased awareness among consumers as well, driven in part by entities like the Responsible Gambling Council.
“And I think what that's done is it's put more people into the regulated market,” Cho said. “They're realizing that there is a grey market out there that people can still game on, so I think it's a bit of awareness, and I think it's the sheer number of gamers in general growing.”
But Ontario is still an outlier in Canada, in that the province permits multiple private-sector operators to offer online sports betting and internet casino gambling. Most others provinces only authorize a single, government-owned operator.
However, there may be growing interest, or at least passing interest, in adopting an Ontario-like iGaming market in other Canadian jurisdictions. Cho said that other provinces are indeed reaching out to inquire about the Ontario sports betting and iGaming market.
Lessons learned by Ontario have been shared already with Alberta, which is preparing to launch its own Ontario-like iGaming market on July 13.
In addition, Cho mentioned that they’d also heard from officials in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, where they still authorize only government-owned iGaming monopolies.
“Because they understand the same thing,” Cho said. “That people in those provinces are gaming online and they don't want problem gambling being rerouted halfway around the world when somebody needs help.”
The minister also followed up in his prepared remarks on Thursday on an announcement he made last year, regarding a government review of the gaming sector aimed at reducing regulatory red tape.
Sensitive subjects
After consulting with operators, agencies, and other stakeholders, Cho said they'd identified nearly 6,000 “requirements” across government, with some of those being duplicative or overly complex.
Certain requirements may be less concerning if they were loosened, such as the multiple regulatory approvals needed to move a slot machine. But the minister also said that they had identified six areas ripe for red tape reduction: responsible gambling, anti-money laundering, financial oversight, data management, audits, and communications.
On the more delicate matters, such as AML, Cho said they will “move much more thoughtfully,” and consult with the industry before any implementation.
“Our goal is simple: We want to keep Ontario competitive while maintaining the highest standards for integrity and player protection,” Cho said during his remarks.
