I’m not a big sports person. And yet even I can’t escape the barrage of advertisements for sports betting. When I check my favourite websites and social media apps, I get blasted with invitations to gamble with companies like FanDuel and DraftKings. Walking around downtown Toronto, giant billboards from Sportsnet beseech me to place bets.
This is a relatively new phenomenon. In 2021, the feds passed legislation that paved the way for single-game sports betting, which largely takes place via smartphone. In 2022, Ontario dove in with iGaming Ontario, which now has nearly two million player accounts—almost one for every eight Ontarians. In two years, the industry has become a multi-billion-dollar behemoth, conquering leagues, franchises and sports media.
Anthony Milton, in his first feature-length article for Maclean’s,investigates how legal sports betting has changed sports fandom irrevocably. He writes: “The dozens of competitors now crowding Ontario’s sports-betting marketplaces are leveraging AI and big data to keep players entertained, engaged and ready to place the next bet. As their offerings proliferate, and as other provinces look to emulate Ontario’s online sports-betting model, people are being pulled into the vortex and getting stuck.”
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
