TORONTO - Insiders say there is no shortage of interest in the Ontario single-game sports-betting market ahead of the industry fully opening up on April 4th.
Greg Warren, who covers sports betting in this country for Sportshandle.com and USBets.com, says 14 operators already have licenses to launch when the market opens in the province, with the list potentially growing to 30.
A report by Deloitte Canada estimated the legalization of single-event sports betting in Canada could grow to close to 28-billion-dollars within five years.
By comparison, there were only four operators fully licensed -- Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetRivers.com, which is owned and operated by Rush Street Interactive -- when single-game sports betting became legal January 8th in New York.
That number has since increased to nine, with mobile sports betting becoming big business in New York.
State sportsbooks collected 1.5-billion dollars U-S in wagers through the first 27 days of February, according to data released by the New York State Gaming Commission, following the state's 1.7-billion dollar debut in January.
Ontario's population is around 15 million people, and is expected to generate about 800-million dollars in gross revenue this year.
When the Ontario market opens fully, there will be no shortage of sports for fans to wager on.
The NCAA men's basketball final is slated for April 4th with The Masters starting April 7th.
Opening day for the Toronto Blue Jays is April 8th when they host the Texas Rangers, and there's the NHL and NBA playoffs involving both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, along with a full array of other European and world sports events for interested parties to wager on.