Gambling, both online and offline, is a quickly developing industry in Canada and therefore, lots of research is going on in this niche. Due to this, it is easy to find out that in 2022, around 20 million people all over Canada reported being regular gamblers.
While there are around 38 million Canadians living in the country in 2023, 20 million is a huge number and this number is likely to increase with time. Despite the national regulations and responsible gambling initiatives, gambling industries use aggressive marketing strategies and ads and reach out to more potential players. Even teenagers are known to have access to some gambling activities in Canada, and most of the activities now happen online.
Is Online Gambling Taking Over Land-Based Casinos?
Before 2019 – that is, before the pandemic – around 40% of Canadians reported going to a land-based casino house at least once a year; some went more often, depending on the province and local regulations.
Already in 2022, only 26% of Canadians reported visiting land-based casino houses at least once a year. The percentage of people visiting land-based casinos more often increased, but even more people switched to online gambling platforms and applications during, and as a result of, the pandemic.
The industries have naturally responded to this demand by the move of increasing online opportunities, opening new websites, and releasing apps, and even legislation was updated in some provinces.
As a result, more people switched to online and their gambling frequency increased due to the availability that online offers. As it can be seen from the list of real money online casinos on CasinosHunter website, the number of online casinos targeting Canadians constantly increases.
What Are the Online Gambling Facts?
Research that took place in 2022 showed that around ⅓ of all Canadian adults were already registered online gamblers and the correlation with the previous fact proves that some people tend to gamble both online and offline.
Out of these 30% of adult registered gamblers, ⅓ reported that they preferred online platforms and apps to land-based casinos and betting facilities.
Provinces like Ontario and Alberta that have more competitive industries and update their regulations according to the relevant situation see an even bigger increase in online gambling. In Ontario, over ⅓ of all adults reported that they have at least one account registered with a gambling platform, and across Canada, most active adult gamblers have 3-4 accounts on different platforms.
Offline gambling habits are not included and are hard to track but if we add offline gambling, the trend is huge in general.
Games That People Play
Interestingly, the trend for game preferences does not change much. In 2022, more than 48% of online casino gamblers preferred online slot games to all other game types. Online slots resemble classic slot machines and they do not require specific knowledge, or skills, or experience to play successfully and win, so even a teenager can start betting and winning real money which will lead them to want more.
Only around 32% of players prefer automated Table games at online casinos, such as Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Poker, and other game types. Automated Table games are less popular because these games need knowledge, skill, and some experience.
Live Dealer games which are also usually Table games, Card or Dice games, or Game Shows, are extremely popular with players who are experienced and can play fast and match the Dealer. Around 19% of online casino gamblers play Live Games.
In terms of sports betting, basketball is the most popular sport, followed by soccer, football, hockey, and baseball.
Final Thoughts
It seems that the trend of online casino gambling has been increasing since 2019 and is not likely to slow down anytime soon. There is a list of reasons why this happens – like the convenience of online casinos compared to offline gambling houses, bigger choice of games, bigger promotional offers, etc. – but the industry is definitely interested.
In 2022, it was even found that the number of female online gamblers is slightly bigger than the number of male gamblers. At the same time, around 300,000 Canadian gamblers are at risk of problem gambling, and this trend is also going to increase quickly.
