iGaming Ontario Shelved Its Own Problem Gambling Study After Rates Came In Higher Than Expected, Records Show; Officials Discussed a “Gag Order”

The provincial agency that runs Ontario’s regulated online gambling market, including every licensed online poker room, commissioned a study to measure problem gambling in the province and then decided not to release it. Internal records obtained by the Toronto Star show the decision followed baseline results that came in well above what officials expected, and that staff discussed a “gag order” to stop the researchers from criticising the agency. The Star’s investigation, by reporter Brendan Kennedy, was published on Friday, October 16, and syndicated across Metroland papers.

iGaming Ontario has said the study was flawed. In an unsigned statement to the Star, it said concerns about the methodology meant “the study did not meet the standard required to inform policy development.” It declined to make anyone available for an interview and did not answer the newspaper’s detailed questions.

A Promised Baseline

iGaming Ontario commissioned the research in the months before the regulated market opened in April 2022. The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), a charity that also runs the responsible gambling accreditation program required of every Ontario operator, won the contract. The plan was a two-year longitudinal study that would follow the same group of people across three waves of data collection.

The agency said publicly that it would share the results. “We look forward to receiving the final study results and sharing them with the public,” communications adviser Josh Elliott told the Star in 2024.

The first wave was collected in February 2022, two months before launch, to set a baseline. Undated meeting notes quoted by the Star read: “Baseline came back with unexpected PG [problem gambling] rates that deviate significantly from other research.” The researchers’ findings were withheld from the records released to the newspaper, so the actual rates remain unknown.

A Dispute Over Method

The records point to the use of online survey panels as the main point of contention. Online panels are an accepted method but tend to produce higher problem gambling rates, likely because respondents spend more time online than the average person. Notes say iGaming Ontario’s then executive director, Martha Otton, was “very concerned” about the results, “not confident in the research,” and wanted a telephone sample added to the second wave “to demonstrate rates are influenced by the methodology.” Ms. Otton, who retired in February, did not respond to the Star.

In December 2022, Melissa Ball, the agency’s senior manager for responsible gambling, asked a colleague not to circulate the first-wave data. “You may be aware that there has been a lot of internal discussion on the results of the baseline study so please do not share these results widely,” she wrote.

Two academics brought in by the RGC, Iris Balodis of McMaster University and Michael Wohl of Carleton University, appear to have opposed changing the method midway. In a joint statement to the Star, they said they were not paid and that “our participation was based on the explicit condition that we publish the findings of the study.” They said they “parted ways” with the RGC and iGaming Ontario after the first wave.

“Is There a Gag-Order?”

The most striking passage comes from undated meeting notes written around September 2023, as staff considered how the academics might react. “The risk is OGRS disavow the research,” the notes read, referring to the Ontario Gambling Research Society, the group to which Dr. Balodis and Dr. Wohl belong. “What are the researchers going to say when it comes out? Do we need to acknowledge OGRS’ involvement in the project? Is there a gag-order? … If we give them the data, maybe they won’t bad mouth.”

The Star found no sign that either academic leaked the data. They later co-wrote an article in The Conversation warning about the lack of an independent body to monitor gambling harm in Ontario.

January 2025 notes say iGaming Ontario gave feedback on the final draft that “was never fully incorporated,” and that “in September it was decided that we would hold off on doing any more work related to the report” and “that we wouldn’t be releasing it.” One bullet reads “Upcoming election considerations,” with everything beneath it redacted. The Ford government won its third consecutive majority the following month. The RGC told the Star that iGaming Ontario owns the findings and decides whether to publish. Neither organisation would say what the study cost.

Why It Matters for Poker

iGaming Ontario conducts and manages every regulated online poker room in the province, from GGPoker Ontario to PokerStars on FanDuel. Poker is a small share of the market, at about 1 per cent of wagers, but poker players use the same accounts, limits and self-exclusion tools as everyone else. The agency’s own campus outreach with the RGC and its BetGuard self-exclusion system are meant to show it takes harm seriously. A shelved prevalence study undercuts that case.

The story also lands amid mounting outside evidence. Emergency department visits for gambling disorders have doubled since the market opened, according to an ICES study we reported last month, and calls to the province’s helpline have risen sharply, as our August report on ConnexOntario showed. The Star says the province has not conducted any public study of how legal online gambling has affected problem gambling rates.

The Star has appealed to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for fuller disclosure. iGaming Ontario argued that releasing the records could harm the province’s economic interests. Ontarians wagered more than CA$82.7 billion in 2024-25, with nearly CA$3 billion going to the province, according to the agency’s annual report. OntarioPoker.com will report any further disclosure or official response.

Reporting draws on the Toronto Star investigation by Brendan Kennedy, published October 16, 2026, and syndicated by Metroland Media, and on prior OntarioPoker.com coverage. Quotations from internal records and statements are as reported by the Star. OntarioPoker.com has not seen the underlying records. The illustration is AI-generated for editorial purposes. Online poker in Ontario is limited to players aged 19 or over who are physically located in the province. Free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day from ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600.