iGaming Ontario shelved problem-gambling study, records show

iGaming Ontario (iGO), the provincial agency that runs Ontario's regulated online casino and sports betting market, decided not to publish a problem-gambling study it had commissioned and publicly promised to share, according to internal records obtained by the Toronto Star. The records, released to the newspaper under Ontario's freedom-of-information law, show that agency executives were concerned when researchers reported problem-gambling rates significantly higher than expected. A final draft delivered in August 2024 has never been released, and the researchers' findings were withheld from the records in full.

iGO told the Star the study "did not meet the standard required to inform policy development", but did not make anyone available for an interview.

What the study was meant to do

iGO commissioned the research in the months before Ontario opened its regulated online market in April 2022. It was designed as a baseline: a first measurement of how common problem gambling was in the province before the market launched, so later changes could be compared against it. iGO said it would also use the results to adjust its responsible gambling program. "We look forward to receiving the final study results and sharing them with the public," an iGO communications adviser told the Star in 2024.

The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), a charity that works to prevent problem gambling and also runs the responsible gambling accreditation that Ontario operators must hold, won the contract. It brought in two academics, Iris Balodis of McMaster University and Michael Wohl of Carleton University. The study was longitudinal, following the same group of people over two years in three waves of data collection. The first wave took place in February 2022, two months before launch.

The dispute over method

According to the Star, undated meeting notes say the baseline "came back with unexpected PG [problem gambling] rates that deviate significantly from other research". The first wave used an online survey panel. Online panels are a common, accepted method, but they have been found to produce higher problem-gambling rates than other methods, likely because people who take online surveys spend more time online than average.

Why that matters, in our explanation: a prevalence figure depends partly on how people are reached: an online panel and a telephone sample can produce different numbers for the same population. Changing the method partway through a study meant to track change over time makes the waves harder to compare with each other.

Unsigned notes in the records proposed adding a telephone sample to the second wave and said iGO's then executive director, Martha Otton, was "very concerned" about the results and "not confident in the research". Documents describing the researchers' role suggest Balodis and Wohl did not support changing the method midway. In a joint statement to the Star, they said they were not paid for the work and that "our participation was based on the explicit condition that we publish the findings of the study." After the first wave, they said, views on the way forward differed and they parted ways with the RGC and iGO.

"Is there a gag-order?"

In 2023, iGO hired the firm Counsel Public Affairs for "strategic planning and reactive messaging support" related to the study, the records show. Notes from a meeting around September 2023 raise the possibility that the researchers might criticise the project and ask: "Is there a gag-order? … If we give them the data, maybe they won't bad mouth." The records show the idea was raised as a question in those notes.

Notes dated January 2025 say feedback on the final draft "was never fully incorporated" and that "in September it was decided" to stop work on the report, spend no more money improving it, and not release it. One bullet in that section reads "Upcoming election considerations"; everything else under it is redacted. The Star notes that the Ford government won re-election the following month.

What the parties say

iGO said in an unsigned statement that Ontario's online market "has some of the strictest standards in the country, and we continue to work with our partners to strengthen responsible gaming and protect players across the province."

The RGC told the Star that under its contract the findings are owned by iGO "and the decision on how and when to publish results rests with them." It gave Gaming News Canada a similar answer: "under our contract with iGO, the data and findings are iGO's property and the decision on how and when to publish rests with them." Neither organisation would tell the Star how much taxpayer money paid for the research.

Ontario's NDP wants the full study released, along with the cost of the public relations contract. "The bare minimum the Ford government should do is be honest about its harms," NDP critic Kristyn Wong-Tam said, as reported by rg.org.

A records fight that is still open

The Star says the records came only after long delays and a successful appeal to Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC), and arrived heavily redacted. One ground iGO gave for withholding material was possible harm to the province's economic interests. The Star has appealed that decision as well.

According to Gambling Industry News, the IPC found iGO in "deemed refusal" on 14 May 2026 because of the delay in answering the request, and set a 22 May deadline for a decision. That finding was about how the request was handled, not about whether withholding the study is lawful.

The market the study was meant to measure is large. iGO's own 2024-25 annual report puts total wagers at C$82.7 billion, generating C$2.9 billion in total gaming revenue. Critics quoted by the Star point to other signs of harm since launch, including more emergency department visits for gambling disorders; we covered ICES research on those visits in Ontario.

What players in Ontario can use now

None of this changes the tools already available to players. iGO's responsible gambling page points players to tips on setting time or money limits or taking a break. iGO's player pages say BetGuard lets you opt out of all regulated online gambling in Ontario. iGO's Find Help page describes ConnexOntario as free, confidential and available anytime; iGO's Find Help page lists its contact options. See also our guide to responsible play with crypto.

For more on Ontario's regulated market, see the AGCO's penalty for theScore Bet over cash-out offers, PointsBet Canada's two-day suspension and Booming Games' move to 93.5% RTP for its Ontario slots.