Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
July 25, 2025 - 5:00 AM
There seems to be a million ways to gamble nowadays. You can toss a coin, go to the casino, sit in bed on your phone with a bag of Cheetos and put all your money on the Kelowna Rockets, just to name a few.
There are a lot of facts and figures about gambling in B.C. so here's a bit of a sampler.
These are the numbers:
5: Billion bets were placed in the eCasino section of PlayNow.com over seven years.
59: Per cent of British Columbians reported gambling in 2018, or 2.26 million, lower than the national average.
1.2: Per cent of gamblers in B.C. are at risk of developing a gambling problem.
100,000: People played the eCasino section of PlayNow.com.
30: Per cent of gamblers on PlayNow.com, the people playing casino games online, generated 97 per cent of bets placed.
1.5: Billion dollars of gambling revenue in B.C. went to the provincial government in 2023/2024.
147: Million dollars for healthcare came from gambling in 2023/2024.
1,750: People work in B.C.'s horse racing industry.
3: Illegal online bookmakers had odds for the Kelowna Rockets versus Brandon Wheat Kings game on a site that isn't run by BC Lottery Corporation. The Rockets lost by four in case you were wondering. BCLC's PlayNow.com is B.C.’s only legal online sports book.
90: Per cent of video gamers surveyed by UBC said they opened a lootbox, a virtual lottery mechanic in games where people spend real money for a chance to get something in a video game. Kids can buy loot boxes in B.C., but some European countries have regulated them as a form of gambling.
36: Casinos in B.C.
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