
As the title suggests, the next 18 months look set to see the Canadian online gambling industry growing by an enormous 51%. In this article we take a look at some of the obvious and less obvious reasons behind this growth, read on to find out what they are…
Legislation Changes
Online casino gambling has been thriving in the United Kingdom for the better part of two decades. Despite sharing close cultural ties with the UK, our law makers have decided to take a largely different stance to online gambling.
Instead of embracing it and setting up a robust regulatory framework, we were instead left with only state-sanctioned online betting sites which were being completely outflanked by overseas companies who were taking Canadian dollars out of the country.
Thankfully though Canadian lawmakers have gotten with the times and made the first moves towards widespread legalisation. It is expected that towards the end of this year the majority of Canadian provinces will have an open market when it comes to online gambling.
Which makes it the obvious reason as to why online gambling games have been projected to hit user growth of 51% by 2027, as quite simply, more people will have the opportunity to play them and there will be a greater choice of variety coming from domestic providers. This will mean that to make it into the top 10 online casinos in Canada, providers will have to go above and beyond to attract players, such as offering enticing bonuses and a wide range of games, according to Jemma McColgan, a writer for casino.org who has worked in gaming for more than 10 years and knows the details that matter.
Customer Behaviour
In general, people are spending more and more time online. That’s not just doing things like doom scrolling through social media either. The amount that we spend online is increasing, whether that be clothes shopping or making deposits with online casinos.
As such, online casinos not just here in Canada but all over the world are forecasting large growth in the coming years.
Recent industry research that owners of bricks and mortar casinos will undoubtedly find disturbing has shown that amongst younger generations – those below Millennials – the first thing that people think of when they hear the word ‘casino’ is an app rather than a land-based venue.
A Recession is Coming
The mistakes that I and you make might have consequences, but they don’t have long-term global consequences. Unfortunately the same thing is not true for the 47th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
Regardless of your political beliefs, there is no denying that Donald Trump’s unpredictable and unreliable relationship with tariffs has deeply damaged the global economy. Barring a complete and utter U-turn from Trump, we are on course for one of two things – a small recession, or a massive recession.
We don’t yet know which of those two options it will be, but what we do know is that during recessions gambling participation skyrockets. Whether that be out of desperation, escapism or something else altogether we can’t say. All we know for sure though is that throughout history, recessions lead to a spike in gambling.
Online Gambling is More Appealing
We’ll round this article off with something more upbeat after that previous downbeat point by saying that online gambling is simply way more fun than it used to be. It’s also going to get even more fun in the coming years.
As a result of the money available, the online casino market became absolutely flooded with companies looking to cash in. At first this left the market looking like a bit of a quagmire, but eventually it forced the companies who wanted to stand out to invest in innovation.
That led to the introduction of some truly exciting changes like VR and AR casinos, live dealer casinos, AI marketing and even crypto casinos. On a more base level, it also led to an improvement in the graphics and playability of run of the mill casino games.
Competition is only going to increase here in Canada in the coming months and years, which will further force providers to innovate and upgrade their offerings. Which is good news for the likes of you and me.
In Summary
Modern legislation is undoubtedly the biggest reason behind the grand predictions surrounding the online gambling industry in Canada. However, there are smaller and less obvious factors like those discussed above which will all have an impact too.
It’s a good time to be an online casino fan, an online casino owner or…an online casino investor. Whilst we’re no stock market experts, we could think of far worse industries to research for budding stock market enthusiasts.