Casino gaming has changed significantly around the world since the 1990s, and Ontario is no different. What originally started as a relatively limited land-based scene has now become one of the most talked-about gaming sectors that spans casino resorts, racetracks with slot facilities, and, more recently, regulated casino gaming and sports betting across dozens of online platforms.

How the online casino Ontario market has evolved in such a short time is particularly interesting. The province now has one of the largest regulated iGaming markets in North America, and it continues to expand each year.

 

Ontario's Casino Industry Takes Shape

Canada's gambling laws had already begun changing before Ontario established its modern casino industry, but the province's commercial casino era did not begin until the 1990s. According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, the province established the Ontario Casino Corporation in 1994 and selected Windsor as the location for Ontario's first commercial casino.

The first casino was called Casino Windsor, and it officially opened a year later in 1994 to become the first legal land-based casino in Ontario. That same year saw the creation of OLG's first self-exclusion programme at Casino Windsor, an early example of responsible gambling measures being incorporated into the province's casino industry.

Additional gaming establishments would open within years of Casino Windsor, with the likes of Casino Rama and slot facilities at an Ontario horseracing track being among them.

 

Slots Expand Across the Province

The late 1990s were particularly important for the growth of slot gaming outside traditional casino buildings.

In 1999, slot facilities opened at locations such as:

• Hiawatha Horse Park in Sarnia
• Mohawk Raceway near Milton
• Fort Erie Racetrack
• Western Fair Raceway in London

The same year also saw the opening of Casino Sault Ste. Marie and Brantford Charity Casino.

This expansion moved casino-style gaming out of a small number of destination venues and into communities across the province. The shift was significant enough that it later became a reference point in provincial debates over the reach of gaming facilities.

For some communities, these facilities became part of a wider local entertainment economy. Sarnia is one example: the arrival of slots at Hiawatha Horse Park in 1999 placed gaming alongside an existing entertainment and hospitality scene in the area, and local heritage tours of the downtown still trace that period.

 

The Industry Continues to Develop

The expansion continued through the turn of the century and into the 2010s, with further casino resorts, gaming facilities and racetrack operations continuing to open around the province.

During this period, it was not only gaming technology that evolved considerably, as responsible gambling and player-protection methods were also becoming a more important part of the conversation around gambling.

 

The Move Towards Regulated Online Gaming

Before Ontario launched its regulated online market, Ontarians and Canadians across the country were already able to access online gambling on offshore websites. The legal and regulatory status of those operators could vary depending on where they were based. This created a different and riskier gambling environment from the regulated Ontario system that would come in 2022.

Starting with the 2021 establishment of iGaming Ontario, the province developed its own regulated system for the online gambling market in 2022.

Under the new framework, private gaming operators who registered with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), and entered into an agreement with iGaming Ontario were now able to offer online gambling services such as casinos and sportsbooks. This led to sites such as ToonieBet, a multi-award-winning platform offering sports betting and over 3,000 slots, table games and live dealer tables to allow Ontarians to register and use their sites.

The market expanded quickly. According to iGaming Ontario's first-year market report, 46 operators launched a combined 70 gaming websites under the province's regulatory framework. As well as providing consumers with regulated online gaming, it also allowed the province to bring in additional revenue via gambling taxes and licence fees.

 

Regulation Remains Central

The evolution of the casino industry in the province has not only been about allowing more land-based and online gambling entities and an increased number of games. From the very start, regulations and player protection have also played a big part.

Even when Casino Windsor became the first Ontarian land-based gambling establishment, self-exclusion was introduced. Players who used this would be prohibited from entering and betting at the casino. Age restriction has applied throughout: gambling in Ontario, land-based and online, is limited to those aged 19 and over.

Since the launch of Ontario’s iGaming market, licensed platforms have also had to comply with requirements ranging from game integrity and fairness to player protection and social responsibility.

 

A Casino Industry That Keeps Evolving

The 1990s were just the start of casino gaming in Ontario, but through the continued evolution of its established gambling frameworks, the gaming scene has now spread online. Consumers in the province now have access to a variety of different gaming establishments across various cities and also dozens of different online platforms, with all of them subject to a regulatory framework intended to make play safer.