What to know
- Ten per cent of Ontario students reported placing an online sports bet in 2025, up from one per cent in 2017.
- One in eight students participated in online gambling, while one in five engaged in at least one form of gambling during the previous year.
- Nearly one-quarter of students reported seeing or hearing advertisements for online gambling every day.
- CAMH experts say warning signs can include chasing losses, borrowing money, withdrawing from family or school activities and becoming angry when access is limited.
Online gambling and sports betting among Ontario students has increased by almost 10 per cent in less than a decade, with experts warning that widespread advertising, easy access and weak age-verification measures are putting young people at risk.
The findings come from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s newly released 2025 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which examines mental health, substance use, gambling and other behaviours among students in grades seven to 12.
The survey, which collected anonymous responses from 11,108 students at 246 schools across 42 Ontario school boards between December 2024 and June 2025, found that 10 per cent of respondents placed an online sports bet at least once during the previous year. This is up significantly from one per cent in 2017, when CAMH began monitoring the activity.
About seven per cent bet money through other online gambling activities, including poker and casino games. Taken together, one in eight students, or 12 per cent, participated in some form of online gambling — an increase from eight per cent in 2023.
The survey also found that 15 per cent gambled through activities such as card games, dice, lotteries or scratch tickets. Overall, one in five students reported participating in at least one form of gambling during the previous year.
These numbers measure participation and do not necessarily reflect the realities of all students; however, CAMH experts say the rapid growth of online betting raises concerns about young people’s exposure and vulnerability.
Advertising and easy access are increasing the risks
Dr. Peter Selby, principal investigator of CAMH’s INTREPID Lab and a senior scientist and senior medical consultant at CAMH, said several factors may be contributing to the increase.
He pointed to the expansion of online gambling in Ontario, constant sports-betting advertisements, celebrity endorsements, weak age-verification systems and round-the-clock access through phones and other devices as key factors contributing to the issue.
He explained that during adolescence, the brain is still developing and remodelling itself, potentially making young people more susceptible to addictive behaviours.
“When gambling and sports betting and these initiatives, which are designed to addict, take hold, then the young person essentially is more likely to get into trouble,” he told Now Toronto.
Nearly one-quarter of students (23 per cent) surveyed said they saw or heard advertisements for online gambling every day. Dr. Selby compared the normalization of betting to strategies previously used to advertise tobacco.
“You normalize it, you make it cool. You have celebrity endorsements. You get peers to do it,” he said. “You flood everything that has to do with actual enjoyment, such as a sport, and attach it to this behaviour.”
He also criticized the systems intended to stop minors from accessing betting platforms.
“Age restrictions in North America are a joke,” Dr. Selby said, explaining that some websites depend largely on users declaring their own age as their sole means of verification.
He is calling for more robust age verification systems, stronger restrictions on gambling advertisements, and greater accountability for betting providers as a means to address the growing rate of students engaging in gambling.
Why sports betting can feel different
Dr. Nigel Turner, a scientist with CAMH’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, said gambling can appeal to young people because it feels thrilling, exciting and adult. Online betting also removes many of the physical barriers associated with gambling because it is accessible from almost anywhere.
“Availability is a key issue in any addictive behaviour,” Dr. Turner said. “The easier it is to gamble, the more people are likely to get engaged in that behaviour.”
He explained that sports betting can create an additional sense of control because some fans believe their knowledge of teams and players gives them an advantage.
“A lot of people who bet on sports think that they’re some kind of sports guru, and they know what the teams are and who’s going to win,” Dr. Turner said, describing it as a form of self-delusion.
Young people may also bet while watching games or spending time with friends, further connecting gambling with an activity they already enjoy.
Dr. Turner said one of the clearest warning signs of a developing problem is “chasing” — the process of continuing to bet in an attempt to recover previous financial losses. Other signs can include repeatedly running out of money, borrowing from family and friends, hiding the reason money is needed or becoming distressed over losses that cannot be afforded.
“It’s often a hidden addiction,” he said, noting that gambling does not have some of the visible physical signs associated with alcohol or drug use.
Dr. Selby said parents may also notice a young person repeatedly asking for money or access to a credit card, spending increasing amounts of time on a device, withdrawing from family or school activities, or becoming highly irritable or angry when limits are introduced.
Both experts said prevention must include educating young people about how gambling works, alongside stronger safeguards and restrictions.
“Gambling is a way to lose money. It’s not a way to make money,” Dr. Turner said. “The odds are set against you.”
