Ontario’s fledgling online gambling and sports betting industry employed almost 10,000 people, directly and indirectly, and generated $761 million in government revenue in its first year of operation, according to a new report.
That includes items such as fees paid to accounting and legal firms, money spent on advertising and media spots and the revenue collected by companies that supply goods and services to the betting firms. The province’s stated goal was partially to supplant the unregulated “grey” market where Ontarians were already spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year with offshore betting firms, capture a chunk of that money in tax and encourage gambling companies to set up shop here.Those operatorsand, at a tax rate of 20 per cent, paid the province more than $250 million .
Deloitte said the market generated $470 in revenue for the province , plus $238 million for the federal government and $54 million for municipalities .