This week’s GME3 covers Ontario’s iGaming market hitting record highs in May, renewed talk of a TikTok sale ahead of a looming U.S. deadline, and Riot Games officially allowing betting sponsorships for Valorant and League of Legends teams. Read the full stories below!
Gambling
The Jackpot Province
Ontario’s iGaming market hit new highs in May 2025, with gross gaming revenue reaching a record CAD $338 million, surpassing the previous peak set in January by 2.9%. This marked a 40.3% year-over-year increase and an 8% rise over April. Despite a slight 2% dip in the number of active player accounts (down to 1.07 million), both total revenue and player spending climbed to new records.
Online casino activity remained the dominant force, generating $259.8 million – roughly 77% of total revenue – up 45.3% from May 2024. Sports betting brought in $71.8 million (21% of the market, up 26.3%), while internet poker contributed $6.3 million (2%, up 18.9%).
Total iGaming wagers hit an all-time high of $8.07 billion, crossing the $8 billion threshold for the first time. That figure was up 28.9% from the previous year and 3.5% from March’s record. Of this, $6.96 billion was wagered on online casino games (up 30.9% year-on-year), $972 million on sports betting (up 18.5%), and $129 million on online poker (up 11.6%).
Even with fewer players, average revenue per active account rose by 10% to $316, suggesting deeper engagement among existing users and continued growth momentum in Ontario’s maturing iGaming sector.
Media
TikTok on the Clock
President Donald Trump has teased that a long-awaited deal to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations may finally be on the horizon. In a recent Fox News interview, Trump claimed, “We have a buyer for TikTok,” and suggested an announcement could come “in about two weeks.” While declining to name the buyer, he described it as “a group of very wealthy people” and indicated that Chinese government approval would likely be required.
The remarks follow months of uncertainty around the future of TikTok in the U.S., after a law signed under President Joe Biden last year mandated that the app be sold or face a ban due to national security concerns over its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Although the law officially took effect in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement – first by 75 days, then by another 90 days – allowing TikTok to remain operational despite the legal deadline.
Negotiations over a potential sale have repeatedly stalled, most recently in April, when a near-final deal collapsed after Trump imposed new tariffs on China. The Chinese government has maintained that any sale would require its approval and has hinted that TikTok’s algorithm, widely considered its core asset, cannot be part of any deal.
The current deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations is now set for September 17. Whether a deal will be reached and approved by both governments remains to be seen.
Entertainment
LoL Street Bets
Popular video game publisher Riot Games has officially opened the door to betting sponsorships for Valorant and League of Legends teams, marking a major shift in its long-standing policy. The announcement came via an open letter from Riot’s President of Publishing & Esports, John Needham, just days after the conclusion of the VCT Masters tournament in Toronto.
Needham acknowledged that sports betting has long been a controversial topic in esports, but emphasized that betting activity around Riot titles already exists, often in unregulated markets. After years of internal discussion and requests from teams, Riot decided to allow betting partnerships to help bolster financial sustainability across its esports ecosystem.
According to Sportradar, betting turnover for top-tier esports hit $10.7 billion in 2024, with an estimated 70% of that occurring on unregulated platforms. Riot hopes its new policy will help shift that activity into safer, more controlled environments.
The company outlined three goals: (1) open up new revenue streams for partner teams, (2) establish clear integrity and regulatory safeguards, and (3) improve monitoring to detect and prevent betting-related misconduct. Riot will require all betting partners to be vetted and use GRID as the official data provider, while teams must complete integrity training.
Importantly, Riot committed to reinvesting some of the betting revenue into Tier 2 esports, including improving prize pools, infrastructure, and education. This move follows criticism over the state of Tier 2 Valorant, which has faced accusations of underfunding and match-fixing vulnerabilities.
GME Law is Jack Tadman, Lindsay Anderson, and Will Sarwer-Foner Androsoff. Jack’s practice has focused exclusively on gaming law since he was an articling student in 2010, acting for the usual players in the gaming and quasi-gaming space. Lindsay brings her experience as a negotiator and contracts attorney, specializing in commercial technology, SaaS services, and data privacy.
At our firm, we are enthusiastic about aiding players in the gaming space, including sports leagues, media companies, advertisers, and more. Our specialized knowledge in these industries allows us to provide tailored solutions to our clients’ unique legal needs. Reach out to us HERE or contact Jack directly at jack@gmelawyers.com if you want to learn more!
Check out some of our previous editions of the GME3 HERE and HERE, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn to be notified of new posts, keep up to date with industry news, and more!
