iN NUMBERS: Gambling in B.C. from your phone to the racetrack

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.