The History and Development of Ontario Casinos

Compared to the most famous casino centres in the world, the Canadian casino scene has a much lower profile, but most would be surprised at how big it is. Ontario has been a big player in this, both along the American border and further in, and today we’re looking at how the industry has developed locally and where it may go in the future.

Early Casinos

Like many parts of Canada, casinos in Ontario were established fairly recently compared to the ones south of the border. For well over 100 years, the only permitted form of gambling anywhere in Ontario was horse racing, and even this was somewhat informal. Other than this, lotteries were popular but there was no set establishment in place.

The first proper casino within the province was Caesars Windsor, originally Casino Windsor, set up in different temporary locations from 1994 onwards, before finally getting a permanent home in 1998 very close to the Detroit skyline along the American border. This was followed by a number of other locations around Ontario including some at Niagara Falls, not to mention competitors across the river.

Current State

Right now the casino industry within Ontario is going extremely strong, both with the traditional land casinos as well as the newer market of online casinos. For physical casinos, the number is now close to 28 across the province with 5 including Caesars Windsor mentioned above alongside the huge Casino Niagara and the towering Fallsview Casino Resort.

On the online side, the growth across both Canada and Ontario has been staggering. A large part of this growth has been through the introduction of pre-built iGaming solutions, packages of software, and systems that have allowed even small, independent casinos to start competing quickly with larger groups. By covering complex things like payments, game hosting and more, local operators have started to spring up incredibly quickly.

A Tech Future?

Over the past decade, we’ve already seen most of the biggest venues get a major overhaul in their facilities and games on offer, meaning that even the most traditional casinos are fairly heavy on the tech now. Given that the value of the online side of casinos hit $2.4 billion for Ontario alone within just a few years, however, it’s fair to say that this side is a big focus for operators going forward.

As technology advances, the opportunities to expand these casino sites also increase. Many providers are now actively investing in technologies like cryptocurrency and virtual reality to upgrade the experience. For the latter, igaming as an industry is leading the way in crypto acceptance, and for VR, it’s now possible to play remotely from home as if you’re in a real casino. Multiple ancillary companies are also emerging within Ontario, making it extremely likely that any future casino projects in the province are going to have a major tech focus.

Overall there’s nothing to say that, as long as investment continues, Ontario couldn’t be a major force in the casino industry of both Canada and the wider world. With how fast things are evolving as well, we could see the results in a matter of years rather than decades.