Ontario Starting In-Person Sports Betting at Casinos

There’s a new avenue for sports betting in Ontario: casinos.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) announced on Friday that its casino service providers — such as Caesars Entertainment Inc. and Great Canadian Entertainment — are preparing to unveil brick-and-mortar sportsbooks at certain facilities across the province. At least 10 of those casinos opened their sportsbooks to the public on Friday and began taking bets. 

The physical sportsbooks are in addition to the more than 20 online sports betting sites that have legally launched in Canada’s most populous province since April, and which Ontario casinos could now try to compete with by rolling out Las Vegas-like wagering experiences. 

“We are proud to have worked closely with the gaming industry and our partners in the Ontario government on this next phase of growth in Ontario’s gaming market,” said Duncan Hannay, president and CEO of OLG, in a press release. “Sportsbooks in casinos will offer a diverse and integrated entertainment experience for players, give our service providers a stake in the sports gaming market, and bring more jobs and economic benefits to host communities.” 

The launch of legal sports betting at Ontario casinos comes more than a year after federal lawmakers authorized single-game wagering in Canada with the intent of allowing brick-and-mortar gaming facilities in the country to offer that wagering. 

That was chiefly due to the spread of sports betting in the United States following a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2018, which paved the way for U.S. casinos near the Canadian border to offer event wagering. In Canadian cities such as Niagara Falls and Windsor, there was a concern their casinos could lose out on business to their U.S. rivals with sportsbooks, helping to nudge politicians in Ottawa into decriminalizing single-game betting. 

Provinces were finally allowed to conduct and manage singles in August 2021, but none had begun offering it in-person at casinos until Ontario on Friday. Ontario also opted to open a competitive market for internet gambling before installing single-game sports betting at its casinos, and there are now more than 20 iGaming operators legally doing business in the province.

It's all falling into place

Ontario's casinos technically belong to the government-owned OLG, which uses service providers such as Caesars to operate the facilities. As a result, the rollout of retail sports betting at the province's casinos has involved multiple parties, including the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the provincial government. 

Still, some of the groundwork has already been laid to get in-person sports betting up and running, such as technology company Kambi Group PLC’s recent announcement that it will “provide its leading on-property sportsbook” to 10 of Great Canadian Entertainment’s casinos in Ontario.

Great Canadian announced on Friday that four of its casinos have opened "dedicated sportsbook lounges, called Great Canadian Sportsbooks, where sports enthusiasts can watch live games, enjoy their favourite game-day food and beverage options, and place bets at one of several available kiosks."

Those four locations are Great Blue Heron Casino and Hotel, Pickering Casino Resort, Elements Casino Brantford, and Shorelines Casino Belleville.

Meanwhile, six other locations now have sports-betting kiosks within their existing gaming areas, Great Canadian said in a press release. Those locations are Casino Woodbine, Shorelines Casino Peterborough, Shorelines Casino Thousand Islands, Elements Casino Mohawk, Elements Casino Grand River, and Elements Casino Flamboro.

More to come

Kambi struck a similar deal to provide retail sports betting at Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.

Thirty-six kiosks are to be installed at the two facilities, which are run day-to-day by Mohegan. There are plans to reconfigure Casino Niagara's sports bar into a retail sportsbook as well.

Regulators have put in work, too. The AGCO, for example, announced in February that it had updated its land-based gaming standards to cover sports betting. 

“I’d like to congratulate OLG for partnering with Ontario’s gaming operators to bring sportsbooks to casinos,” said Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, in Friday’s press release. “This ongoing collaboration will result in new and expanded options for sports betting – including some first-of-their-kind sportsbooks in Canada – which will attract more people to visit Ontario’s casinos and encourage continued growth across the industry.”