04 Mar Number of Young Men Seeking Help for Gambling Problems Skyrockets in Ontario After Online Gambling Introduced Through Government Website
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ryan Forrest
Ryan Forrest
Public health doctoral student
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Over the past decade, there have been major changes to the gambling landscape across North America, including how accessible gambling is, what products are available, and how aggressively gambling is marketed and promoted.
Our study focused on Ontario, where several key policy changes created a natural opportunity to examine potential health impacts. Online gambling was introduced through a government-run platform in 2015. In 2021, federal legislation legalized single-event sports betting, enabling new gambling formats. Then, in April 2022, Ontario became the first and only jurisdiction in Canada to open a competitive private online gambling market, allowing private companies, including some large multinational operators, to offer and heavily advertise gambling products. Many Ontarians experienced a rapid increase in gambling advertising and visibility following this shift.
To understand whether these changes were associated with health harms, we examined contacts to ConnexOntario, the province’s mental health and addictions helpline, for gambling-related problems.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We found that gambling-related contacts increased by 95% over the study period, with significant increases following both the introduction of online gambling and the opening of the privatized market. Importantly, these increases occurred almost entirely among young men aged 15–44, with nearly a 350% rise in contacts in this group.
MedicalResearch.com: Was the gambling conducted primarily through cell phone use? Was substantial debt incurred by the gamblers?
Response: Our study didn’t capture device-level data or individual financial outcomes, so we can’t say definitively whether gambling occurred primarily through phones or how much debt individuals accumulated.
However, it’s worth noting that the gambling market’s digital transformation in recent years, coupled with the widespread use of smartphones, makes gambling accessible anywhere and at any time; like having a casino in your pocket 24/7.
Further, financial harms like debt are well documented consequences of gambling, but they weren’t directly measured in this dataset.
MedicalResearch.com: Was significant tax revenue raised because of the new regulations?
Response: We know that the establishment of the iGaming (private) market has generated substantial revenue for the province. iGaming Ontario’s 2024-25 Annual Report cites that Ontarians wagered $82.7 B in 2024-25, producing $2.9B total in revenue, a 30% increase in both figures compared to the year prior (source). Revenue generation was certainly a central policy objective for the Ontario government.
What has been largely missing from the public conversation, however, is systematic evidence on health impacts. Our study helps fill that gap by showing that alongside economic growth, there may also be measurable increases in gambling-related health harms and help-seeking.
It’s worth noting that the harms of gambling are also associated with costs to individuals and society, for example through lost productivity or through the provision of healthcare and treatment for individuals experiencing gambling harms, though our study did not directly measure these.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: There are real risks associated with gambling, including financial distress, mental health challenges, relationship strain, and in severe cases, increased risk of self-harm or suicide.
The number of people seeking help for gambling-related problems in Ontario increased after the introduction of online gambling through a government-run website and rose further following market privatization. These increases were concentrated in young men, who may be most at risk of harm from online sports betting and advertising.
Policymakers should ensure that safeguards including advertising limits, product protections, and treatment resources keep pace with the scale and intensity of modern online gambling environments. Just as revenue is carefully tracked, health impacts should be monitored as well.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a results of this study?
Response: Future research should compare Ontario with jurisdictions that did not introduce privatized online gambling markets to better understand which specific factors are driving the observed increases in help-seeking. Several changes occurred simultaneously in Ontario including the introduction of single-event sports betting, higher-risk formats such as in-play betting, expanded accessibility through online platforms, and intensified marketing and promotion. Comparative and longitudinal studies may help disentangle the relative contribution of these factors.
More broadly, there is a need for improved surveillance systems that monitor gambling-related harms across health, financial, and social domains so that policymakers can better understand the full public health impact of gambling expansion.
We have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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Last Updated on March 4, 2026 by Marie Benz MD FAAD
