Prior to the Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday, iGaming Ontario released some numbers from the province’s sports bettors over the last year. Ontario sports fans wagered $1.4 billion on the sport overall since April 1, 2023, across the province’s 50 regulated online sportsbook operators.
That number includes action on the NFL as well as the Canadian Football League, college football, and others. FanDuel Canada expected record numbers on Super Bowl betting in the country, according to Bloomberg.
“We’re continuing to see interest in the Super Bowl and we’re expecting the game to be the biggest event of the year at FanDuel,” the company noted in a statement. “Unfortunately, we can’t provide actual numbers on bets/handle due to our operating agreement (with iGaming Ontario), but we expect to see year-over-year growth.”
Gridiron Gamblers
While hockey may be king in Canada, football has grown in popularity in recent years and the betting numbers may be a testament to that.
Beyond the NFL, the CFL has also found some traction thanks to an expanded sports betting market in Ontario and across the country. The league announced separate partnerships with FanDuel and 888 Holdings last year for those two operators to become official gaming partners.
iGaming Ontario officials believe the regulated market has funneled cash that might have gone to offshore operators to regulated sportsbooks, and thus bring in millions of dollars in revenue for the province. The regulator noted that the last year’s football betting numbers are “a testament to Ontarians being drawn from the unregulated market to sites where their play is protected and from which Ontario’s economy benefits.”
The $1.4 billion in football bets did not include any projections on the Super Bowl, but is a 50% increase from the 2022 fiscal year. And it’s a good bet Ontario bettors turned out in droves to wager on a game that saw the Chiefs win their third Super Bowl in five years.
The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) released a study prior to the big game with estimates on Ontario Super Bowl betting. A total of 42% of the province’s sports bettors planned to wager on the game with 75% betting online. Here’s a look at how those surveyed planned ot wager:
- 47% – bets with friends
- 44% – sport-based lottery tickets
- 40% – betting in a pool
- 39% – betting online
- 36% – betting online with OLG.ca
As far as the amount handicappers planned to put on the line, 52% said they will bet $50 or less. Another 29% planned to bet between $50 and $100 and 17% would wager $100 or more.
