Canada and the world of double-edged gambling: advances in technology have made video games and online gambling a popular pastime, involving nearly 20 million people. The country of North America is thus ranked eighth in the world in the online gaming industry. According to a report by the Canadian Gaming Association, the industry provides 135,000 full-time jobs and is worth more than $15 billion. Among Canadians’ favorite activities are by far lotteries and video games: half of the citizens surveyed have participated in a lottery in the last year and over 61% of Canadians consider themselves players. Sports betting is at the bottom of the popularity list, accounting for only 3.1% of the market. Gambling halls and horse racing have a percentage of 3.5% and 3.6%.
Right behind the lotteries, scratch cards are a favorite pastime, closely followed by physical casinos and online casinos for those interested to find best online casinos that payout like Casino Joy, Genesis Casino, Playerz, and Casoolaa. From a demographic point of view, however, men and women are quite close when it comes to participating in online gambling, with males accounting for 57% and females for 43% of the market. Interestingly, female gamblers are more likely to use mobile devices than males (55%). As for age groups, the 18-34 age group is the largest, representing 16% of the total. All other age segments have one-digit percentages.
How game and tourism are connected?
The turnover in 2020 was $2.65 billion, with over $1.2 billion coming from the online industry. It is also estimated that annual revenue could rise to $4 billion if Canada took a similar approach to its UK counterparts. Per capita spending at online casinos in Canada is even higher than in the US and UK: $824.68 per year. All this translates into a wide spread in the population and, above all, an increase in tourist flows related to gambling.
One phenomenon that has been observed is in fact the one that concerns the increase in tourism related to gambling, in particular in those locations in the country where there are physical casinos. The gambling halls in Canada are about a dozen; among them all stand out in particular: the largest in Montreal, which is already the second most populous city in the country and welcomes visitors from all over the world every day; then there is the Niagara, built near the homonymous waterfalls, is a perfect combination for those who love the game and, at the same time, nature tourism; the Caesar Windsor Hotel & Casino, which is also one of the most popular hotels in Canada, located in Ontario, and with strong references to the atmosphere of Las Vegas. And again: the River Rock in Richmond, which has about ten thousand visitors a day and an induced tourist for the city of enormous importance; the Rama, in Toronto, which also includes a hotel of almost three hundred rooms, full almost every day, and that has seen over the years perform dozens of artists of the international music scene: among all we mention Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, Michael Bolton, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Alicia Keys and Laura Pausini.
In short, landscape, music, events and discoveries of all kinds, accompanied by the passion for gambling, which really finds its maximum expression here. Visiting Canada means all this: combining the different aspects that characterize a holiday to be able to turn it into a real dream. Live the days without the sun ever setting, see a bear, an elk, a glutton behind the curve of a path, canoeing in a wildlife reserve: Canada is the country of all extremes.