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Ontario Poker Slips Again as Wider iGaming Market Stays Near Record Highs
- Ontario poker wagers fell 19% YoY in August, revenues dropped 18%
- Casino sector remains strong, poker lags behind with just 1% share
- Supreme Court review on liquidity sharing could reshape poker's future
Ontario’s regulated poker market is moving against the current, and in the opposite direction to the rest of the province’s blooming online gaming industry.
Newly released August figures show peer-to-peer poker wagers fell to C$122 million, down 19% from C$151 million a year earlier. Poker revenue followed the same slope, dropping 18% year-over-year to C$5.6 million.
That makes August the second consecutive month in which poker has shrunk compared with 2025, even as Ontario’s broader regulated market continues to operate close to record levels.
Poker Wagers Fall 19% From Last August
The latest numbers from iGaming Ontario put poker at the smaller end of the province’s three main online gaming verticals.
| August Market Data | 2026 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poker Cash Wagers | C$122M | C$151M | -19% |
| Poker NAGGR | C$5.6M | C$6.8M | -18% |
| Share of Total Wagers | ~1% | - | - |
| Share of Total Revenue | ~1% | - | - |
Poker accounted for roughly 1% of both total wagering and revenue during August. The year-over-year decline is an eye sore because Ontario’s overall online gaming market remains stronger.
Total cash wagers across all regulated products reached C$9.74 billion, only 1% below July’s record C$9.884 billion. Total non-adjusted gross gaming revenue came in at C$396.3 million.
Casino play remained dominant, accounting for roughly 90% of all wagers at C$8.776 billion, while casino revenue rose 2% month-over-month to C$336.3 million.
August Was Better Than July for Poker
While the annual comparison is unmistakably on the weaker side, poker did show some improvement from the previous month.
Cash wagers increased 5% from July, while poker NAGGR rose 6% month-over-month. That would suggests the sharper summer slowdown may have eased slightly, even though the vertical remains well below where it was this time last year.
The wider market also saw fewer active accounts. The number of active player accounts fell 11% from July to 1.208 million, while average revenue per active account rose 8% to C$328.
In other words, Ontario had fewer active accounts in August, but those still playing generated more revenue per account.
Poker Has Now Lagged for Two Straight Months
The August figures are just a continuation of a trend that made its mark in July. Poker was the only major product category to post a year-over-year decline that month, and August has now followed with another drop.
That's a big hit for Ontario’s regulated poker market since the player pool is already isolated from the wider international poker ecosystem.
Ontario operators compete for players inside a ring-fenced market, which limits liquidity compared with global poker networks and can make sustaining larger cash-game pools and tournament fields more difficult.
September Gives Poker a Chance to Bounce Back
All these facts in mind, the next set of numbers could still look a lot different. September includes two significant online tournament series aimed directly at Ontario players.
GGPoker.ca is running the latest WSOP Online Ontario bracelet series, while PokerStars on FanDuel Ontario has its Dynasty Series underway.
Tournament traffic alone won't necessarily reverse the wider poker trend on its own, but the extra series volume gives operators a stronger month to work with before iGaming Ontario publishes its next update.
Liquidity Case Could Matter Much More
Tournaments aside, the bigger issue for Ontario online poker arrives in October.
The Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear arguments on October 7 over whether Ontario’s regulated poker market can share liquidity across provincial borders.
A broader player pool could mean larger tournament fields, more cash-game traffic and a wider range of games available at any one time. The current model keeps Ontario players fenced inside the provincial market.
Ontario’s broader iGaming market is still close to record territory. Poker, however, is becoming the exception and the question of how large its player pool is legally allowed to become may soon matter more than any single monthly report.
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