Online gambling increased among Ontario teenagers, survey finds

Online gambling rises sharply among Ontario teens, CAMH survey finds

Online gambling has "significantly increased" among Ontario teenagers, according to a new report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), with one in eight students gambling online during the last school year and one in ten betting on sports.

The findings come from the latest Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which included more than 11,000 students in Grades 7 to 12 across the province. The survey found that the share of students who reported gambling online grew to 12 per cent from 8 per cent compared with the last survey two years ago — a 50 per cent jump. In total, one in five students are now engaging in some form of gambling, either online or offline.

Hayley Hamilton, the survey's principal investigator and a senior scientist with CAMH, said the numbers point to a clear problem. "I just look at the numbers, and I think, 'Oh boy. There is an issue,'" she said. Hamilton attributed the rise to increased accessibility and the online format of modern gambling, which has "opened it up to young people more than in the past."

The survey first began monitoring online gambling in 2003 and added questions about internet-based sports betting in 2017. Since then, Ontario's gambling landscape has shifted dramatically: the federal government legalized single-event sports betting in 2021, and a year later Ontario became the first Canadian province to open its online gambling market to private operators. According to iGaming Ontario, the province now has 48 operators running 83 websites offering online casinos and sports-betting platforms, with 2.6 million active accounts wagering more than $82-billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Alberta has since followed suit, opening its market to private operators as well.

The survey also asked students about their exposure to gambling advertisements for the first time. More than 80 per cent said they had seen or heard an online gambling ad in the past month, and roughly a quarter reported encountering them daily.

Harms concentrated among young adults

The increase in teen gambling comes amid broader concerns about the impact of online betting. A Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction study found that 69.4 per cent of online gamblers aged 18 to 29 met the criteria for problem gambling, and roughly a quarter experienced a high level of gambling-related harms, such as debt or strained relationships. Separately, research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that gambling-related helpline contacts among Canadians aged 15 to 24 surged 317 per cent since Ontario legalized online gambling, almost exclusively among boys and young men.

CAMH psychotherapist Megha Vatsya said the clinic has seen the trend firsthand. In the past year, she said, she has started receiving referrals for teenagers — including one as young as 15 — something that never happened when she joined the clinic in 2019. She noted that poker and sports betting are common entry points, and that peer pressure plays a role.

Representatives from iGaming, the agency that manages the private gaming market, have said that regulations are in place to prevent their ads from targeting minors or other vulnerable groups.

Broader trends: screens up, distress down

The survey also captured wider trends in youth behaviour. One in ten students reported playing video games for five or more hours a day, and 17 per cent had symptoms of video-gaming problems — up from 9 per cent in 2007. A quarter of students spent five or more hours a day on social media, more than double the rate in 2013.

At the same time, the survey found some signs of improvement in mental health. The percentage of students experiencing moderate to serious psychological distress declined to 46 per cent from 51 per cent, and those reporting self-harm dropped to 15 per cent from 19 per cent — the first year-over-year improvements since those measures were added to the survey in 2013. CAMH has noted that the 46 per cent figure is still much higher than it was a decade ago, but Hamilton described the improvements as "little wins" in a landscape that remains worrying.

Perspectives

Public health researchers — Experts at CAMH and other institutions emphasize the risks of increased accessibility and advertising, pointing to high rates of problem gambling among young adults and rising helpline contacts.

Gambling industry representatives — Officials from iGaming, the agency managing Ontario's private market, maintain that existing regulations prevent advertisements from targeting minors or other vulnerable groups.