Emergency department visits for gambling disorders in Ontario were nearly twice as high as expected by mid-2025 following the expansion of the province's online gambling market, with males aged 10 to 29 showing the sharpest increase, researchers reported on 16 September 2026.

An ICES study found gambling-related ER visits 154 per cent higher than expected in that group by mid-2025, after single-event sports betting and privatised platforms spread. Ontario opened its regulated market to private firms in April 2022, eight months after Canada legalised single-event sports betting in August 2021.

Sharp Rise After the 2022 Market Opening

The legal market now lists 83 gaming and betting sites run by 43 private companies. In 2024–25, Ontarians wagered C$82.7 billion that converts to £44.1 billion ($59.0 billion) through 2.6 million active player accounts.

Researchers examined every eligible resident aged 10 or over, more than 17 million people, using interrupted time-series methods.

Over 14 years they recorded 952 emergency department visits by 757 people in which a gambling disorder was the main or a contributing reason for care.

Seventy-two per cent of those patients were male, and the mean age was 41.8 years. Visits were stable before liberalisation and did not jump when the market opened. They then rose by about 7 per cent each quarter.

By April to June 2025 the overall rate was 99 per cent higher than the path expected without expansion. Mean quarterly rates were 1.28 visits per million before liberalisation and 1.68 per million afterwards, a 31.3 per cent increase.

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Young Men Drive Gambling-Related ER Visits

The increase was concentrated among males aged 10 to 44. Visits ran 154 per cent above expected levels among males aged 10 to 29 and 116 per cent higher among men aged 30 to 44.

Rates in females did not rise. More than 70 per cent of visits involved another mental-health condition or heavy substance use, and almost one-third ended in hospital admission.

First author Ryan Forrest, a public health doctoral student at the University of Toronto, said the concentration among younger males was 'particularly concerning given the rapid growth and promotion of online sports betting, which target this demographic'.

Senior author Daniel Myran, an ICES scientist and University of Toronto associate professor, said most people with gambling problems never seek care, so emergency presentations 'may be revealing much larger increases in gambling-related harm'.

Helpline Data and a Caution for Other Provinces

A related ConnexOntario analysis also found a substantial rise in gambling-related helpline contacts after Ontario's private online gambling market opened, with men accounting for most contacts.

Gambling advertisements and websites are required to display ConnexOntario contact information, which could contribute to higher helpline contact volumes.

Emergency departments are not promoted through gambling advertisements or betting websites as a source of gambling support, making the ED findings a complementary indicator of severe gambling-related presentations.

Alberta allowed private online operators in July 2026. Myran said data from Ontario offer an important caution about harms that can follow a rapid expansion of online gambling.

Provinces weighing similar markets, he added, should consider tighter marketing limits and better treatment if they proceed. The visits remain rare in raw numbers. Hospital coding still captures only the most severe presentations.

Researchers say gambling-related ER visits among young Ontario men now sit far above the pre-2022 trend, while licensed sites continue to take tens of billions in annual wagers.

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