The world of online casino gaming usually has a lot of grey areas for players in the Great White North. Even when it comes to established casino brands, there are many legality questions for players.
Perhaps the biggest confusion of all — all Canadian provinces manage their betting scenes individually, so different things happen within different borders. That leads to complexities over what is legal and what is not.
A constant flow of visual marketing
The gambling industry in Canada as a whole is expected to reach around US$16.37bn in 2025 and the revenue is projected to increase annually by around 3% through 2029. A high volume of marketing material is helping to drive online gambling popularity since it makes its way onto users’ phones and devices through in-app and on-site advertisements.
Advertising of gambling products, such as a DraftKings Casino new player offer and other promotional bonuses designed to attract new customers, are also commonly seen in conjunction with sporting events as well. So there’s a lot that gets put in front of people’s eyes — and all that marketing encourages tremendous growth.
Ontario
Ontario has to be looked at as a separate case — the fairly new online gaming market, called iGaming Ontario, oversees all online gambling. From casino sites to sportsbook platforms that offer betting on sports from the NHL to the NFL, operators within Ontario are regulated after being awarded a contract by iGaming Ontario.
At the end of the 2023/24 financial year, there were 47 licensed operators in Ontario, running a combined 77 online gambling sites. It all helped to generate around $2.4 billion in revenue for the financial year.
It is the only Canadian province that has taken such a forward step in growing and regulating its online gambling industry. The move also gives players greater peace of mind since they are using proven sites that meet integrity and gaming fairness standards.
The rest of Canada
Online gambling isn’t specifically prohibited in Canada, which is why a lot of confusion arises. The law does, however, prohibit players from gambling at an operator that isn’t owned or licensed by a provincial government.
Ontario has already established licensing for operators within its borders, but other provinces are yet to follow suit in opening the doors of the industry wider. Players in other provinces, such as Manitoba, only have access to the popular PlayNow platform which is a government site operated by the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation.
The only legal gambling site in the province runs the lottery, casino, and sports betting without any direct competition. A Manitoba resident who travels to a different province won’t have access until they are back within its borders. PlayNow is one of the biggest online gambling platforms in Canada as it spreads its wings to incorporate other provinces like British Colombia.
Available products
Another grey area comes from the available types of products. A sportsbook in Alberta may not have the same types of sports bets like parlays available to players from the wider market in Ontario.
This also impacts the variety of online casino games and it’s the area where Ontario’s progressive gambling approach brings another huge asset to the table. Their open, yet regulated market, gives players a choice where they want to gamble, and that potentially leads to a wider variety of games like bingo, roulette, and lottery products.
Other sites
That’s not to say that players don’t have options for other online gambling platforms. What frequently happens is that players look for off-shore sites that will accept them. Those are platforms that are not licensed within Canada, but typically with other governing bodies from around the world.
Nova Scotia, for example, doesn’t have any provincially owned gambling platforms, so users there lean heavily on off-shore platforms that accept them. No legislation specifically prohibits online gambling by individuals. Instead, existing gambling laws are focused on illicit operations and not individuals.
Due diligence
The gambling picture shifts and changes a lot within Canada and as Ontario has shown, it generates big revenue. Offshore hosted sites give players access, but due diligence by the player is necessary — the same level of player protection is not going to be on such sites, compared to what Ontarians receive from their provincially governed options.
It’s worth checking fully into exactly what the options are within your province of residence first, because of registration and verification of accounts. Sticking with in-province casino options where possible is the best way forward as those are licensed, regulated, and don’t cross over into any legal grey areas.
