iGaming Ontario Withheld Pre-Launch Study Showing Elevated Problem Gambling Rates

iGaming Ontario commissioned a study on problem gambling rates before the regulated online market opened but withheld the results after they proved higher than anticipated. The agency had pledged to release the findings to establish a baseline and shape responsible gambling programs. Instead, internal records show executives questioned the data and weighed damage-control steps, including a possible gag order on the researchers.

Records obtained by the Toronto Star through freedom of information legislation, and reported by Yogonet International, were released only after delays and a successful appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner. They arrived heavily redacted, with the actual research findings withheld. iGaming Ontario cited potential harm to the province’s economic interests as grounds for secrecy.

Study Execution and Points of Dispute

The Responsible Gambling Council won the bid for the two-year longitudinal project, which was to track the same group across three data collection rounds. Iris Balodis of McMaster University and Michael Wohl of Carleton University joined the effort on the explicit condition that findings would be published. The first round occurred in February 2022, two months before the April 2022 market launch.

Meeting notes described the baseline results as “unexpected” and significantly different from other research. Debate focused on the reliance on online survey panels, a method known to generate higher problem gambling estimates. Martha Otton, then executive director, and Melissa Ball, senior manager for responsible gambling, discussed adding a telephone sample and limiting internal distribution of the initial data. By December 2022, Ball directed a colleague not to share the findings widely. The parties parted ways after failing to resolve differences on how to proceed.

Persistent Concerns and Provincial Context

Records reflect continued anxiety into March 2025 that the researchers might publicly criticize the agency. In 2023, iGaming Ontario retained a public relations firm for strategic planning and reactive messaging tied to the study. Balodis and Wohl later co-authored a piece in The Conversation that flagged the lack of reliable problem gambling data despite Ontario’s online gambling expansion.

Ontarians wagered more than $82.7 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year, directing nearly $3 billion to provincial coffers. Preliminary figures for 2025-26 and the first quarter of 2026-27 show increases of more than 25 percent. The Responsible Gambling Council stated that its contract gave iGaming Ontario ownership and control over publication. Neither side has disclosed the taxpayer funds spent on the research. iGaming Ontario maintains the study did not meet the standard required to inform policy.

Reporting: Yogonet International

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