By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · August 3, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen · This article discusses gambling harm. If you or someone you know needs support, ConnexOntario is free, confidential and available 24/7 at 1-866-531-2600, by text "connex" to 247247, or via chat and email at connexontario.ca.
Tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2 will open the taped final table of the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event with two Canadians (Rami Hammoud of Montreal and Greg Mueller of Vancouver) among the last nine remaining players. It is the most consequential Canadian representation at a modern-era poker world championship. It is also the day on which the province's mental-health and addictions helpline releases fresh 2025-26 interaction figures that suggest a very different story about Ontario poker: one in which the accessible-and-normalised online market that Ontario built after April 2022 is driving an unmistakable increase in demand at ConnexOntario, and the funding envelope has not kept pace.
The essential figures are these. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, ConnexOntario, the province's free, confidential and 24-hour information and referral service for mental-health, addictions and problem-gambling concerns, handled 92,780 interactions. In 2025-26, that number had climbed to 155,391, a 67.5 per cent increase. Average call length increased from just under eight minutes to nearly 12 minutes. The proportion of live-agent interactions that were specifically problem-gambling related more than doubled: 15 per cent in 2021-22 became 32 per cent in 2025-26. The organisation is funded entirely by the Ontario Ministry of Health at $4.18 million per year following a five per cent increase in 2023-24 and a four per cent increase in 2025-26.
The Numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019-20 total interactions | 92,780 |
| 2025-26 total interactions | 155,391 |
| Percentage change | +67.5% |
| Average call length 2019-20 | Under 8 minutes |
| Average call length 2025-26 | Nearly 12 minutes |
| Problem-gambling share of live-agent contacts 2021-22 | 15% |
| Problem-gambling share of live-agent contacts 2025-26 | 32% |
| Total operating funding 2025-26 | C$4.18 million |
| Funding increases (recent) | 5% in 2023-24; 4% in 2025-26 |
| Sole funder | Ontario Ministry of Health |
Source: ConnexOntario Executive Director Nerin Kaur, quoted in Casino.org (July 14, 2026) and Global News (July 7, 2026), with 2023-24 baseline from ConnexOntario's own Annual Report.
The Age-and-Gender Skew Is Sharp
Ontario Ministry of Health-funded research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in March 2026, isolated the demographic pattern beneath the aggregate numbers. Among boys and men aged 15 to 24, the mean monthly rate of gambling-related contacts per million individuals rose 317 per cent from the period before Ontario's 2015 PlayOLG launch to the period after the 2022 privatisation of online gambling. For men aged 25 to 44, the increase was approximately 108 per cent over the same window. Prior to Ontario's regulated online market opening, the rates had been stable across the 2012-2022 period.
Between April 2022 and September 2025, 76 per cent of all gambling-related contacts to ConnexOntario were for online gambling specifically, per the CMAJ analysis of 745,716 total helpline contacts including 37,087 gambling-related. Adolescent boys and men aged 15 to 44 accounted for 60.3 per cent of total gambling-related contacts across the study period, and for 69.6 per cent of online-gambling-related contacts specifically. Females 15 to 24 saw a smaller but still substantial 92 per cent increase in gambling-related contact rates over the same window; females 25 to 44 saw a 205 per cent increase.
Kaur's Read: Complexity as Well as Volume
Nerin Kaur, ConnexOntario's Executive Director, has emphasised in multiple interviews across 2026 that the shift is not simply a matter of more calls. It is also a matter of more complex calls. Speaking with Global News on July 7, 2026, Ms. Kaur said: "Our staff are seeing more demand on our service. The calls are changing; there's more complexity with the calls. People are requiring more supportive listening, more understanding about the mental health and addiction sector, more education, more ability to follow up with them, as well as help them set clear expectations and what to see when they want to access care." Speaking with Casino.org on July 14, 2026, she added that "online gambling has made gambling more accessible than ever before. People can gamble virtually anywhere, at any time. Combined with increased advertising and the growing normalization of gambling in everyday life, we're seeing more people reaching out for support."
On the funding envelope, Ms. Kaur told Global News: "I think the government needs to invest more in the prevention promotion piece and the supportive piece for the community sector to support the demand in problem gambling. We've definitely seen an increase in gambling-related calls in, and specifically young men ages 15 to 24, and then also the 35-to-45 mark. We want to make sure that there are sufficient resources going for that target population to ensure that they're healthy and safe as they're engaging in these behaviours."
The Market on the Other Side of the Phone
| iGaming Ontario Market Indicator | Latest Value |
|---|---|
| Licensed operators (July 2026) | 47 |
| Registered gambling websites | 81 |
| Active player accounts May 2026 | 1.257 million |
| Active player accounts month 1 (April 2022) | ~277,000 |
| Total online revenue since April 2022 | C$10.6 billion |
| Online casino share of total revenue | 74% (C$7.9 billion) |
| Sports betting share of total revenue | 23% (C$2.45 billion) |
| Online poker share of total revenue | 2% (C$231.5 million) |
| Poker monthly revenue (Jan 2026 example) | C$5.9 million |
| Average monthly revenue per active account | C$329 |
Source: iGaming Ontario monthly Market Performance Reports through May 2026; ConnexOntario funding and interaction figures compiled from Global News and Casino.org, July 2026; iGaming market composition per Ontario Ministry of Finance and iGO reports.
The picture that emerges is not that poker specifically is driving the increase in helpline demand. Poker represents roughly two per cent of Ontario's total regulated online-gambling revenue, and the demographic patterns that dominate ConnexOntario's caseload (adolescent boys and young men, calling primarily about sports betting and online casino play) do not map neatly onto Ontario's regulated online poker player base, which skews older, more male, and higher-income. What emerges is a market-level observation: the online-gambling ecosystem that has driven the rise in helpline demand is the same regulatory framework that governs the regulated online poker rooms Ontario players use.
Bill 107 and the Political Context
The advocacy case for a legislative response to the ConnexOntario data was made through Bill 107, the Stop Harmful Gambling Advertising Act, 2026, introduced by NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky in April 2026. The bill cited a 144 per cent increase in ConnexOntario gambling-related calls after Ontario's April 2022 privatisation, and 76 per cent of those contacts as being for online-gambling specifically. It would have prohibited certain forms of iGaming advertising in the province. It was defeated in second reading on May 6, 2026. AGCO advertising-standards revisions continue through a separate regulatory pathway, though on a materially longer timeline. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts recommendations on gambling-advertising standards, delivered to former Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming Stan Cho in May 2026 and inherited by interim Minister Doug Downey following Mr. Cho's resignation on July 17, have not yet resulted in legislative action.
What ConnexOntario Actually Does
ConnexOntario is not a treatment provider itself. It is a triage and referral service. Its 24-hour phone, chat, text and email service, funded through the Ontario Ministry of Health, connects callers to community-based mental-health, addictions and problem-gambling treatment services across the province. It provides supportive listening, information about available community services, referrals to counselling and crisis support, and follow-up guidance. Callers do not need a doctor's referral. Services are confidential. The service is available in over 130 languages.
For Ontario players who use the regulated online poker rooms and who are concerned that their play has moved from recreational to problematic, ConnexOntario is the front door to the province's harm-reduction system. The AGCO's Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming require operators to display and promote ConnexOntario contact information across their platforms. iGaming Ontario's own Find Help page prominently lists ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600, text "connex" to 247247, and web chat at ConnexOntario.ca. Both are 24/7 services. All are free.
The Sensible Position for Ontario Players Tonight
The ESPN broadcast begins at 9 p.m. Eastern with Rami Hammoud (79 million chips, second in stack) and Greg Mueller (48.5 million chips, fourth) alive for Canada. Ontario players who enjoy the broadcast and who play at Ontario's regulated online poker rooms should feel no additional pressure to play tonight because two of their compatriots are on ESPN. Recreational play is fine. Escalation of stakes because a compatriot is on television is a specific pattern the ConnexOntario data captures.
Set a deposit limit before the broadcast starts. Every regulated Ontario room (GGPoker Ontario, PokerStars Ontario, 888poker Ontario, BetMGM Poker, PartyPoker Ontario, Bwin) permits deposit-limit configuration in the responsible-gaming section of account settings. Consider a session-time limit; the AGCO Standards require operators to offer this. Players who have concerns about their play should contact ConnexOntario at any hour, free and confidentially.
The Larger Question for Ontario's Regulator
Ms. Kaur's argument that funding has not kept pace is now on the public record for at least the third time in 2026 (in March at the release of the CMAJ study, in July in Global News, and again in Casino.org). Whether Ontario Ministry of Health responds with material additional funding, or whether the interim Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, Doug Downey, uses the pending ministerial portfolio to press iGaming Ontario for additional operator-funded harm-reduction contribution, is a policy question that will shape the province's regulated market through 2027. The Ontario iGaming market pays operators' gross-gaming-revenue-based fees to the province via iGaming Ontario; a modest reallocation of a fraction of that operator remittance to ConnexOntario would materially close the funding gap Ms. Kaur has identified without requiring a general-fund reallocation.
The alternative, absent such a policy response, is that the province's helpline continues to answer 155,000-plus interactions per year on a $4.18-million budget, with call lengths growing and complexity increasing, while the market that generates the demand continues to expand.
Coverage on this site continues nightly through the ESPN Main Event final table broadcast weekend, alongside further reporting on the Ontario regulatory calendar.