Online gambling exploding in Ontario at the expense of young males: Study
The study was conducted over a 14-year period, analyzing patients between the ages of 10 and 105 who went to hospital emergency departments in Ontario for gambling disorders.
TORONTO - A recent study indicates that emergency department visits related to gambling disorders have doubled in Ontario following the expansion of online gambling and legalization of single-event sports betting in recent years. The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences analyzed data from January 2012 to September 2025, uncovering a 99 percent increase in gambling-related emergency department visits among boys and men aged 10 to 44 compared to pre-legalization expectations.
The researchers noted a 154 percent rise in such visits among males aged 10 to 29, and a 116 percent increase among males aged 30 to 44 by the study's end. No significant changes were observed in gambling-related hospital visits among females during the same period. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, attributed the surge to the legalization of single-event sports betting by the federal government in August 2021, and the subsequent introduction of online gambling by private companies in Ontario eight months later.
Private gambling sites in the province now host over 80 legal gaming and betting establishments, attracting over 2.1 million active player accounts that wagered a total of $63 billion in the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
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