iGaming Ontario (iGO) has released its FY23-24 Q2 market performance report, revealing a 8.3% decline in total gaming revenue for the three-month period.

The report covers the second quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal year, July 1 – September 30, and includes information on all operators with gaming websites that had trading activity during the period.

According to the report, $14.2bn was wagered in Q2 (excluding bonuses), up 132% YoY (FY23-24 Q2: $6.04bn) and up slightly on the $14bn wagered in the prior quarter, which was a record.

However, while Q1 generated $545m in gaming revenue, Q2 recorded a slightly lower figure of $540m, though this still represents a 105% increase over Q2 last year where the market was still in its infancy.

Speaking at G2E earlier this week, Martha Otton, Executive Director of iGO, shared her verdict on the report before its official release.

“The Q2 results are very consistent and stable with what we saw in Q1,” said Otton, according to Gaming News Canada. “When you take into consideration the months we just covered, which you know is slow sports (period), we’re very pleased.”

The report also noted an increase in the number of operators, from 46 to 47, while the number of gaming websites remained at 71.

The number of active player accounts also jumped from 920,000 in Q1 to around 943,000, with the average monthly spend per player account decreasing from $197 to $191.

Otton added: “One of our challenges is just the quality of data that we’ve been getting from operators. When you deal with 47 operators, a number of them who have never operated in Canada or in Ontario…I’ll be honest, that’s been a challenge for us. We want to ensure the data is accurate before we go public on it.”

Casino games including slots, live and computer-based table games and peer-to-peer bingo accounted for nearly $11.9bn (84%) of total wagers and $407m (75%) of gaming revenue in Q2, compared to $28bn (78%) and $940m (67%) in Q1.

Betting, including on sports, esports, proposition and novelty bets, as well as exchange betting, accounted for nearly $1.9bn (13%) of total wagers and $118m (22%) of gaming revenue, down from $2bn (14%) and $138m (25%) in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, peer to peer (P2P) poker made up $397m (3%) of total wagers and $16m (3%) of gaming revenue, up from Q1 where it accounted for $350m (3%) and $15m (3%) respectively.

The split is likely to change in the next Q3 report, though, with the NFL, NBA and NHL seasons all well underway during that period.