Yesterday, the Canadian province of Ontario launched its online sports betting and igaming market into effect, becoming the largest regulated area of sports betting in Canada by population.
Online sportsbooks and igaming companies will be able to operate within Ontario once they have obtained a licence.
Home to one of North America’s most popular and diverse cities; Toronto, Ontario has potential to becomeone of the largest markets in North America for regulated sports betting, with popular sports teams such as the Toronto Raptors basketball and the Toronto Blue Jays baseball teams residing there.
Legal Sports Report podcast host Matt Brown is joined by regulars Adam Candee and Dustin Gouker to break down the significance of Ontario’s venture into the online sports betting world and what it could mean for ‘grey’ market operators.
“Ontario would be the fifth largest US state by population, it is obviously a massive jewel for North America,” states Candee.
“What makes it interesting is that it has had a grey market operating for a very long time, you do still have some brand loyalty I would assume built up from some Canadian folks, who are now going to be asked to switch to the regulated market.”
One of those operators, FanDuel, has become a grey market operator for daily fantasy sports (DFS) customers. Despite launching its sports betting platform for Ontario natives, their DFS operations will be shutting down in the province.
“As DraftKings and FanDuel operate DFS, this business model doesn’t work for them,” expressed Gouker.
“They’re (Ontario) asking to pay a 25% tax on DFS revenue, they’re (FanDuel) obviously not super excited about that. This is not going to be a funnel for them to acquire more sportsbook customers here in the short term.”
