A new national report examines who gambles, bets and buys lottery products in Canada. The Media Technology Monitor report, released on August 25, 2026, also looks at platform use and public views of sports-betting advertising.

The findings could help regulators and operators compare consumer behaviour with provincial market data. MTM has not publicly released the report’s detailed findings, so the available material does not support national participation percentages or province-by-province rankings.

The report measures people and their reported behaviour. Provincial market reports measure wagers, revenue and accounts. Those figures are not interchangeable.

Why the data matters

Provincial market reports show how much money moves through regulated systems. They do not necessarily show how many individual people gamble, why they participate or how often they switch between products.

Ontario illustrates the difference. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, iGaming Ontario reported CA$82.7 billion in wagers and CA$2.9 billion in total gaming revenue.

The figures came from more than 2.6 million active player accounts. iGaming Ontario cautions that accounts do not represent unique people because one person may hold accounts with multiple operators.

  • Online casino products generated CA$2.2 billion in Ontario revenue.
  • Betting generated CA$654 million.
  • Peer-to-peer poker generated CA$59 million.

These figures cover Ontario’s regulated private-operator market. They exclude Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s online offering and pari-mutuel horse-racing wagers from the monthly market performance series.

The market launched on April 4, 2022. It is conducted and managed through iGaming Ontario. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario regulates operators and games.

National behaviour versus provincial revenue

MTM’s report is designed to measure people. It examines how Canadians engage with gambling and lottery products across demographic and platform groups.

Provincial authorities publish different measures, including wagers, gaming revenue, active accounts and market share. A person surveyed nationally may report lottery play, sports betting and casino activity without using a provincially regulated private operator.

Legal products vary by jurisdiction. They may be offered by a provincial lottery corporation, a government conduct-and-manage entity, private operators or Indigenous gaming authorities.

Federal law provides the criminal-law framework. Provinces and territories decide how permitted gaming activity is conducted and managed within their jurisdictions.

Single-event sports betting became available after federal legislative changes took effect in August 2021. The market structure remains province-specific.

What advertising data could add

MTM also measures public perceptions of sports-betting advertising. That connects audience research with the regulatory debate over advertising exposure and player protection.

Advertising exposure does not prove gambling harm. It can help authorities identify which groups see betting promotions, which platforms reach them and whether public attitudes change as markets expand.

Ontario is developing systems intended to strengthen player protection. iGaming Ontario said in its 2024-25 annual report that it was building a centralized self-exclusion program and a data platform to improve anti-money-laundering reporting and monitoring across operators.

What the report can and cannot show

  • It can show: reported participation patterns, demographic differences, platform use and views on advertising.
  • It cannot show by itself: operator revenue, provincial tax receipts, total wagers or the number of unique gamblers.
  • It needs to be paired with: provincial regulator data, lottery-corporation reports and player-protection measures.

MTM’s national spring database included 4,505 adults interviewed between April 7 and June 28, 2026. Its combined 2025-26 national database included 12,875 respondents.

The results were weighted by age, gender, region and language. MTM reports a margin of error of plus or minus 0.9 percentage points for the combined sample, 19 times out of 20.

The release does not add a new revenue total. Its potential value is the ability to match national consumer profiles with province-specific financial and regulatory data.

That comparison could show whether the people driving Canada’s gambling growth are the same people represented in provincial account and revenue statistics. The answer will depend on the detailed findings and how they are matched with official market data.