The first two months of regulated online gambling in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan have brought solid results as the residents placed bets worth almost 32 million dollars on PlayNow.com, the only legal website in the province.
The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) was given exclusive rights to set up and operate the first regulated online casino in the province, which would offer the residents casino games and sports betting. SIGA turned to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation for help, and their cooperation resulted in the launch of PlayNow.com in Saskatchewan in November.
The first month attracted bets worth 14.8 million dollars in the province, while in December 2022 that figure grew to 17 million dollars. The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority also revealed that the website had 8,015 registered users at the end of 2022, which means that the average spend was almost 4,000 dollars per user in the first two months of operation.
Michael Bellegarde, the Director of iGaming at the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA), revealed that the total amount wagered also includes winnings that were bet again but also promotions, bonuses and free bets which were offered by PlayNow.
After removing those, the average deposit per registered user on the website was around 460 Canadian dollars over the first two months. Moreover, SIGA announced that users made 55,000 total deposits amounting to $3.7 million over November and December.
After player winnings were paid out, the online casino netted 1.6 million Canadian dollars over the first two months of operations. Under an agreement from 2021, half of the revenue generated from the online gambling website goes to First Nations communities and the other half to the Saskatchewan government.
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