A new provincial study has found that emergency department visits for gambling disorders rose sharply following Ontario’s launch of its regulated online gambling market.
The research tracked more than 17.3 million Ontario residents across a period spanning January 2012 through June 2025, making it a substantial population-level analysis.
Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study identified 952 gambling disorder emergency visits involving 757 people over the entire study period.
The average quarterly visit rate was 31.3% higher after market liberalisation than it had been before Ontario opened its doors to private online operators.
The increase did not happen immediately after Ontario launched its regulated private online market in April 2022, but instead grew progressively over time.
Researchers found the rate began climbing by approximately 7% each quarter following the market’s introduction, suggesting a gradual but sustained upward trajectory.
By the second quarter of 2025, the rate of gambling disorder emergency visits was an estimated 99% above the level expected based on earlier trends.
The situation was particularly pronounced among young men, with males aged 10 to 29 experiencing a rate that was 154% higher than expected by mid-2025.
Researchers were careful to frame these cases as severe manifestations of gambling harm rather than a broader measure of overall problem gambling across the population.
The study also cautioned against attributing the entire increase to any single regulatory change, noting that Ontario’s private market launch coincided with wider access to legal single-event sports betting.
Because both changes happened around the same time, the study measured their combined effect rather than attempting to isolate one factor from the other.
Ontario’s private regulated internet gambling market has grown at a considerable pace since its April 2022 launch, reflecting strong player demand across the province.
During the 2024-25 financial year, players wagered C$82.7bn through private operators, a figure that represented a 32% increase compared to the previous year.
Gaming revenue climbed 31% over the same period, reaching C$2.9bn, as the market closed out the year with 50 active operators and more than 2.6 million active players.
The findings add to an ongoing international conversation about the public health implications of rapid iGaming market expansion and how regulators should respond.
