Online gambling among Ontario students rose to 12% in 2025 from 8% in 2023, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey.

The increase comes as Ontario’s privately operated regulated iGaming market continues to grow. The survey does not show that regulated operators gave underage students access. It also does not establish that advertising caused the increase.

The findings measure youth gambling and advertising exposure, but they do not show where the activity occurred or which companies students encountered.

  • 12% reported online gambling during the previous year.
  • 10% reported online sports betting.
  • 7% reported other online gambling, including poker and casino games.
  • 20% reported taking part in any form of gambling.
  • 23% said they saw or heard online gambling advertising daily.

Online gambling participation increased

The rise from 8% to 12% represents a 50% increase in the reported share of students who gambled online. Sports betting accounted for most of the reported online activity, at 10%.

The 2025 survey covered students in grades 7 to 12. Data were collected between December 2024 and June 2025 from 11,108 students in 246 schools across 42 school boards.

The survey represents students in Ontario’s publicly funded school system. Students in private schools and schools in First Nation communities were among the groups excluded from the sampling frame, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health report.

The results place online gambling within a broader pattern. One in five students reported gambling in any form during the previous year. That measure includes activities beyond internet betting and casino play.

Advertising exposure adds pressure on regulators

Nearly one-quarter of students said they saw or heard online gambling advertising every day. The finding raises questions about how gambling marketing reaches young people through sports, entertainment and digital platforms.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario prohibits regulated gambling advertising from targeting underage people. Its standards also restrict themes, language, media placements and public figures likely to appeal primarily to minors.

Those rules do not eliminate youth exposure to gambling content. The survey measures whether students noticed advertising. It does not identify the companies, platforms or media channels involved.

How Ontario’s private-market system works

Ontario launched its regulated online gaming market on April 4, 2022. Under the model, iGaming Ontario conducts and manages internet gaming for the province. Private operators act as agents for iGaming Ontario, while the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario registers and regulates operators and suppliers, according to the Government of Ontario.

Players must be at least 19 years old to participate in internet gaming products conducted and managed by iGaming Ontario. Regulated sites use age and identity checks, geolocation, player-protection measures and anti-money-laundering controls.

iGaming Ontario’s directory listed 48 regulated operators and 83 gaming websites as of August 6, 2026. Its 2024-25 annual report recorded:

  • More than $82.7 billion in total wagers.
  • $2.9 billion in total gaming revenue.
  • More than 2.6 million active player accounts.

Wagers and gaming revenue are different measures. Neither figure measures youth participation. The operator figures come from iGaming Ontario’s directory and its 2024-25 annual report.

The unresolved gap between market access and youth exposure

Ontario’s private-market system was designed to move players from unregulated websites to platforms with enforceable consumer safeguards. The survey highlights a limit of that approach.

Protections inside the legal market cannot by themselves prevent minors from seeing gambling promotions, using informal betting arrangements or attempting to access unregulated services.

The survey does not determine whether reported activity occurred on a regulated Ontario site, an offshore service, a private bet, a sports pool or another platform.

That distinction will shape the policy debate as Ontario reviews its gambling framework. The focus will extend beyond market growth to advertising controls, age checks, school-based prevention and early support for young people at risk of gambling-related harm.