The online casino sector continues to experience new highs with each passing year, and several countries have contributed to this surge in growth. While big gambling economies like the UK have had online casinos operating within the digital shores for two decades, North America has been “slightly” behind the curve.
However, the recent growth in popularity in Canada has contributed significantly to the multi-billion-dollar industry continuing to swell. The sheer volume of Canadian casinos available for Canadian gamers is an eye-opener, and it speaks to how healthily the wider gambling industry is growing within the country. TalkSport Canada has a broader list of some of the top providers, including categories for those with the best slot gaming options, as well as some of the top welcome bonuses and promotions.
The power of promotions
To put it bluntly, we all love some free stuff, don’t we? Well, casino gaming marketing has mastered the art of providing free stuff, as well as putting themselves in the shop window. Online casinos have been doing this for years, long before the pendulum swung in Canada and made the market much more accessible for Canadian gamers.
This meant that international online casinos could master the finer parts of this marketing. So, when Canada allowed online casinos to operate and provided them with new regulatory clarity a few years ago, welcome bonuses and promotions, such as free spins, etc., could translate effortlessly. Ultimately, Canadian gamers have gotten a taste of successful marketing strategies chiseled to perfection for the last quarter of a century, which has played a vital role in injecting popularity into Canada’s growing market. Many iGaming sites have seen the benefit of using marketing tactics, like e-mail marketing or social media channels, to promote their games and bonuses.
Favorable regulatory changes
If we rewound the clock to ten years ago, bosses at casino companies and land-based players throughout North America would be amazed at the industry’s advances (in fact, we could shorten this window to apply solely to the 2020s).
Since the barriers to online casino regulation in the US fell from 2018 onwards, Canadian regulators and provincial powers have followed suit. This isn’t the only reason Canada has experienced such a large surge in casino gamers, and the market has exploded. Still, it goes a long way in explaining how it’s happened so quickly. Not only do these changes provide clarity for casinos looking to launch in Canada, but arguably, an even more important reason is that they give companies the green light to invest in the Canadian iGaming market.
While Canadian regulators have cracked down on foreign investment in the digital media sector, for those who have the capital to invest in Canadian casino gaming—with many of the top providers also operating throughout the US and Europe—the favorable regulatory changes have meant the market has grown exponentially.
Mobile gaming
We won’t claim that mobile gaming is some recent revelation; it’s been around since the late 2000s and established itself as a multi-billion-dollar market long before casino gaming became viable in many parts of Canada. However, just as the sector perfected the marketing angle of online iGaming sites, it also took to mobile gaming like a proverbial duck to water. Online casinos may have started by siphoning off huge chunks of the land-based casino market for themselves, but to stay ahead of the other online competition, they needed to continue innovating.
The growth of mobile gaming made it a no-brainer for online casinos that could move their facilities to a mobile platform. This included iOS and Android, and more recently, tablets and iPads. In gaming, growth and accessibility go hand in hand, and given that Canadian online casinos have been able to match these trends that have been witnessed in other markets and allow gamers to play across a range of devices and platforms, this visibility has again helped to cultivate huge growth. Where typical mobile gaming has seen a flux in player interest and even some studios having to shut down and consolidate, iGaming seems to be moving only upwards.
Changing attitudes
In the mid-20th century, casino gaming on the North American continent focused primarily on Nevada. Gamers would travel from all over the continent, and further afield, to experience Sin City for a few days and sample the casino games. However, there was a more conservative attitude in other parts of the US and Canada, where it was not tolerated. Now that this regulatory capacity has changed, rules and regulations are in place ensuring that those companies operating on digital Canadian shores are paying the right amount of tax, and the public attitude has shifted, making it more acceptable and helping to fuel its popularity (particularly amongst the casual casino gaming market).
Final thoughts
As with so many other countries that have experienced, or are experiencing, an iGaming boom, multiple factors—including societal, regulatory, economic, and accessibility—all result in growth for the sector. How far the Canadian online casino market will grow over the next decade is anyone’s guess. Still, you will be hard-pressed to find economists or experts who believe it will retract anytime soon.
One thing about a rapidly growing sector that has recently undergone regulatory change is that it’s unlikely to revert in the short term. Given the amount of tax revenue the industry generates for each Canadian province, this is often the litmus test for the sector’s viability and longevity. Of course, there needs to be a safeguard for problem gamblers, and they need to have the tools to self-manage, whether through time and deposit limits or self-exclusion periods. On the whole, it feels as though the popularity of the Canadian online casino market is set to grow further in the near future, with no signs of slowing down.