A new Canadian study says gambling-related help requests in Ontario rose after the province expanded online gambling, with the biggest increases seen among young men. The research links that rise to two major market changes: the launch of PlayOLG in 2015 and the opening of Ontario’s private online gambling market, including single-event sports betting, in April 2022.
By looking at contacts made to “ConnexOntario”, a free mental health and addiction helpline, the study adds a public-health angle to a market that is often discussed mainly in terms of growth and revenue. The clearest message from the research is not simply that more people asked for help, but that younger males accounted for the sharpest increase.
What does the study say?
Researchers reviewed gambling-related ConnexOntario contacts from January 2012 to September 2025. They found that the number of gambling-related contacts stayed steady before PlayOLG, then increased after 2015 and rose again after the private market opened in 2022.
The study says the average monthly rate was 13.4 before PlayOLG, 17.0 after its launch, and 26.2 after the private market expansion. That does not mean every extra contact reflects addiction on its own, but it does show that help-seeking increased as legal online gambling became easier to access.
Why younger men were most affected
The rise was not spread evenly across all age groups. The biggest jump was among boys and men aged 15 to 24, where gambling-related contacts were estimated to be 144% higher than they would have been without the private market, and 337.8% higher than they would have been without either PlayOLG or the private market.
This makes the findings more specific than a general warning about market growth. It suggests the strongest pressure is falling on a younger group that may be more exposed to sports betting and other forms of online gambling.
How this fits Ontario’s wider story
Ontario’s regulated market has continued to expand since 2022, which makes the study harder to ignore. The same concern has also been reflected in earlier reporting on rising calls to the Ontario gambling helpline, while the researchers in this study take a more cautious view, saying the market expansion was associated with substantially higher help-seeking, increased gambling problems, or both.
The researchers stop short of saying market growth alone explains every change. Their conclusion is more careful: the expansion was associated with substantially higher help-seeking, increased gambling problems, or both.
Why these numbers matter
The study adds a clearer layer to the discussion around Ontario’s growing online gambling market by showing where help-seeking has increased most, rather than simply focusing on overall contact growth.
While it does not present a final judgment on the market as a whole, it suggests that younger males have been more affected than other groups. This gives regulators, operators, and support services a clearer indication of where attention may be needed as the sector continues to grow.
