Ontario Survey Reveals Sharp Rise in Regulated Online Gambling Among High School Students

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health released findings from its Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey that document a notable increase in online gambling participation among students in grades 7 through 12, and those figures point directly to regulated platforms operating under provincial rules.

Data collected for the 2025 edition of the survey shows 12 percent of respondents reported gambling online through regulated sites during the previous year, a jump from the 8 percent recorded in the 2023 results; that change represents a 50 percent relative increase over the two-year period, while 10 percent of students specifically indicated they had placed sports bets on those same platforms.

Survey Scope and Key Measurements

Researchers at CAMH designed the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey to capture self-reported behaviors across a representative sample of high school students, and the 2025 iteration included targeted questions about online gambling activities that fall under the province's regulated igaming framework, which maintains a minimum age of 19 for all participants.

Numbers released by the centre indicate the growth occurred even though operators must implement age-verification systems before allowing account funding or wagering, and the survey responses came from students well below that threshold, highlighting a gap between policy requirements and actual access patterns.

Age Verification Challenges and Reported Bypasses

Provincial regulations require strict identity checks on every regulated betting site, yet the CAMH data coincides with separate reports of parents assisting minors in circumventing those controls through shared accounts or other workarounds, and regulators have responded with enforcement actions when violations surface.

One documented case involved Betty Gaming Ltd., an operator that received a $120,000 fine after investigations confirmed at least nine underage users had created funded accounts, demonstrating that compliance failures continue to occur despite the technical safeguards built into the system.

Regulatory Response and Enforcement Details

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario oversees the regulated market and issues penalties when operators fail to prevent underage registration, and the fine against Betty Gaming Ltd. stands as a concrete example of that enforcement mechanism in action during the period covered by the latest survey results.

Officials have noted that while age-verification technology exists, human factors such as parental involvement can undermine those controls, and the survey findings arrive at a time when multiple stakeholders continue to examine how to strengthen protections without altering the overall regulatory structure.

Context Within Broader Provincial Framework

Ontario launched its regulated online gambling market several years ago with the explicit goal of directing activity toward licensed operators that meet consumer protection standards, and the CAMH survey provides one of the first large-scale looks at how that market intersects with underage populations.

Figures from the 2025 survey also separate sports betting from other forms of online gambling, revealing that sports wagers account for the majority of reported activity among the students who participated, and this breakdown offers regulators a more granular view of which product types draw the most attention from younger users.

Those who track compliance data have pointed out that the rise from 8 percent to 12 percent occurred alongside expanded marketing and product availability on regulated apps, although the survey itself does not establish direct causation between those factors and student behavior.

Implications for Ongoing Monitoring

CAMH researchers plan to continue tracking these metrics in future iterations of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which will allow comparisons across additional years and help identify whether the current upward trend stabilizes or accelerates, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has indicated it will incorporate such data into its ongoing compliance reviews.

The single news development captured in these survey results and the associated enforcement action against Betty Gaming Ltd. therefore supplies a focused snapshot of how regulated online gambling interacts with Ontario's high school population at this specific moment.

Conclusion

The 2025 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey findings, paired with the documented regulatory fine, establish a clear record of increased participation in regulated online gambling among students in grades 7 to 12, and the details around sports betting prevalence plus reported bypass methods supply concrete points for continued examination by provincial authorities.