Legal and Regulated Online Gaming in Canada
Welcome to Canada Gaming Review, your home for honest reviews and leading industry news on the Canadian online gambling industry.
The Canadian online gaming market is one of the largest and most dynamic iGaming markets around. In April 2022, Ontario became the first province in the country to launch a regulated online gambling market open to private companies. The rest of Canada still remains a mixture of locally licensed operators (on the provincial level) and international gambling sites.
In Ontario, the market is regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and iGaming Ontario. These two official bodies are in charge of vetting the operators, issuing licenses, and overseeing licensees to ensure their business conduct is in line with the regulation. With the establishment of new online gambling laws, Ontario banned all international sites, requiring them to obtain a local license if they wanted to continue catering to Ontarians.
In the rest of Canada, however, international casinos, poker rooms, and betting sites continue to operate without any problems. While Canada at large remains somewhat of a gray market, there are no laws explicitly preventing international operators from catering to Canadians.
The goal of Canada Gaming Review is to provide an honest, independent analysis of safe gambling options in Canada and give players the tools they need to make intelligent choices about where and how to play. This page will look at the kinds of gambling available to Canadians.
Read on to learn about how and where you can gamble online in Canada. Wherever you live, whether you are interested in online sports betting, taking a spin at an online casino, running your dream team in daily fantasy sports, or playing a few hands of online poker, Canada Gaming Review can help you find the safe and reliable platform to play on.
Exclusive Guides to Canada Online Gaming
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Where is Sports Betting and Online Casino Gaming Legal in Canada?
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offers legal and regulated online sports betting and casino gaming games through regulated, commercial operators.
offers legal and regulated online sports betting and casino gaming through provincially controlled state enterprises and international operators.
offers legal and regulated online sports betting and casino gaming through international operators licensed offshore.
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Types of Online Gaming Available in Canada
Online Casino
All Canadians have access to nice range of safe and reliable options when it comes to choosing online casinos. Players from Ontario get to play on locally-licensed sites, regulated by iGaming Ontario, which provides an added layer of safety and protection.
Elsewhere in Canada, players can choose from a range of international casinos, many of which have proven track records. Some of the best and most reliable offshore casinos accept Canadian players, welcoming them with generous bonuses and colorful gaming portfolios hosted on very safe platforms built using the latest security technologies.
Online Sportsbooks
Canada’s online sports betting market is as exciting as ever, offering plenty of options for serious bettors and casual betting fans alike. In August 2021, the federal government repealed the ban on single-event betting, allowing locally-licensed operators to include the option to bet on just one game or outcome in addition to the parlay betting.
In April 2022, Ontario, the country’s largest province, became the first province to pass local legislation allowing for private companies to apply for a license and set up shop here. This also meant that international operators that did not want to apply for this license had to withdraw from Ontario.
As for the rest of Canada, the market represents an interesting mix of local and international betting sites, both operating legally in the country. While other provinces do not have laws that would allow offhsore sites to obtain local licenses, there is nothing explicitly stopping them from catering to Canadians. Thus, bettors from Canada have access to some of the best, most-reputable online bookmakers, offering competitive odds, quality software solutions, and much more.
Online Poker
Online poker has been hugely popular in Canada for many years now. The latest update to Ontario gambling laws changed the online poker landscape in the country to some extent, although the rest of the country has mainly remained unaffected by these changes.
In Ontario, local regulators have set up rules where all operators wanting to cater to Ontarians have to acquire a license issued by iGaming Ontario. However, new laws have also set up Ontario as a ring-fenced market, meaning that Ontarians playing on regulated sites cannot play with other players in Canada or other countries. For the time being, residents of Ontario can only play online poker with others physically present within the province.
In other parts of Canada, players continue to have access to international poker sites, including some with Ontario licenses. While their Ontario operations remain segregated, these operators still offer their services for other Canadians on their international platforms.
Fantasy Sports
Fantasy sports is a smaller segment of the Canadian market, but one served by at least one of the provincial/regional lottery or gaming sites. The ALC, which serves residents of Canada’s four maritime provinces, NB, NS, PEI, and NL, offers fantasy sports as part of its standard product package.
However, other provincial/regional gaming sites have not yet added DFS to their offerings, so for the moment at least, DFS remains largely unregulated across Canada. Players can access many international fantasy sports websites without any restrictions or legal concerns.
Online Lottery
Every Canadian has access to online lottery play through their provincial or regional lottery/gaming site. Lottery play in Canada tends to be organized regionally, with Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia acting as their own regions.
Prairie provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba combine with the territories under the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC), while the four maritime provinces combine together under the Atlantic Lottery Corp (ALC).
Our guide to online lottery play in Canada will help you find all the information you need.
Responsible Gaming
One of the key requirements for gambling operators in Canada is the promotion of responsible gaming. As with everything else in Canadian Gaming, this is administered provincially through programs like GameSense.
In general, all jurisdictions in Canada have responsibilities to a wide variety of education and prevention initiatives. No matter where you play, you can expect the local regulated gaming provider to:
- Ensure players of legal age in that jurisdiction
- Provide tools to set betting and time limits
- Have self-exclusion and timeouts
- Fund local charity and community initiatives
- Fund problem gambling resources
These tools are great resources that help players manage their gambling funds better, stay within their limits, and seek help in the event things get out of hand.
FAQs
Is sports betting legal in Canada?
Yes. Sports betting is legal across Canada. In Ontario, the activity is regulated by the province, and all sites offering betting services must have a license issued bu the iGaming Ontario. In rest of Canada, players have access to numerous international betting operators.
These sites are not licensed in the country, but many of them are very safe and reputable. Additionally, it is important to mention that betting on these offshore platforms is not against the law so you have nothing to worry about as long as you stick to trusted platforms.
Are online casinos legal in Canada?
Yes. Online casino play is completely legal in Canada. Residents of Ontario have access to a nice selection of locally-licensed online casinos, while the rest of the country can enjoy the benefits of international casinos licensed by bodies like the Malta Gaming Authority. While no other province besides Ontario offers local licenses, playing at offshore sites is not against the law and players from other parts of Canada will not face any legal problems for doing so.
Are US sportsbooks legal in Canada?
No. Sports betting sites in the US are regulated by individual states in the country and are only allowed to cater to players physically present within that state. This means that US bookmakers cannot legaly provide their services even across state lines, much less in a different country.
What is the legal age to place online sports bets in Canada?
The legal gambling age in Canada varies by provincial jurisdiction, so where you live will determine what age you can begin to play. In Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, the legal gambling age is 18, while residents of the rest of Canada must wait until they are 19 to start betting, online or in-person.
What online sportsbooks are available in Canada?
Many of the largeset international sportsbooks accept players from Canada, so Canadians have ample options at their disposal. The only exception to this rule is the province of Ontario, which recently regulated sports betting and other forms of online gambling.
In Ontario specifically, bettors can choose from several sites that applied for and received local licenses, like BetMGM Sports Ontario, BetRivers Sports Ontario, and 888.
Are gambling winnings taxed in Canada?
Generally no. In Canada, gambling wins are considered “windfalls” and as such are generally not taxable. However, for high-volume gamblers, it may be best to seek legal tax help to answer this question, as there are potential scenarios where gambling income may be taxable.
If it can be determined that the gambler is “making a living” from their gambling using a system designed to give them an edge, with tracking and forecasting of results, the activity can be deemed as work instead of gambling, and thus be taxable. Further, money earned through things like sponsorships related to your gambling activity will almost certainly be taxable.