Online Gambling in Canada Explained: Ontario, Alberta and the Provinces

Canada is one country with thirteen gambling regimes. The Criminal Code makes gambling illegal except where a province "conducts and manages" it, and every province has interpreted that phrase differently. The result is a market where the same operator can be licensed and advertising in Ontario, preparing an application in Alberta, and technically unlawful yet widely used everywhere else. This guide explains how that came about, how each model works, what it costs, and what an operator, supplier or affiliate needs to know to enter.

The constitutional starting point

Section 207 of the Criminal Code permits a province to conduct and manage lottery schemes, which the courts have read to include casino games and betting. For decades each province did so through a Crown corporation (a state-owned lottery and gaming company) that ran the land-based casinos and, from the 2000s, a single provincial online site. Private operators could not be licensed to offer gambling directly to Canadians, and offshore sites served the country in a legal grey zone: not licensed, rarely prosecuted, and used by millions.

Two changes opened the market. In 2021 the federal government amended the Code to permit single-event sports betting, which the provinces had been barred from offering (only parlay-style betting had been lawful). And Ontario decided that "conduct and manage" could be satisfied by a provincial agency contracting with private operators under strict rules, rather than by the province running the games itself.

Ontario: the open market

Ontario launched its regulated internet gaming market on 4 April 2022. The structure has two bodies. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is the regulator: it registers operators and suppliers, sets the standards, and enforces them. iGaming Ontario (iGO), a subsidiary of the AGCO at launch and later a standalone agency, is the entity that "conducts and manages" the market by entering into commercial agreements with each operator, which is what satisfies the Criminal Code.

To operate, a company needs AGCO registration as an internet gaming operator and an operating agreement with iGO. Suppliers of games, platforms and critical services need registration as gaming-related suppliers. The standards cover game integrity, responsible gambling, anti-money-laundering, advertising, data and technology, and they are detailed: the AGCO's Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming run to hundreds of requirements, and the AGCO has enforced them with monetary penalties from the first months.

The commercial model: operators pay iGO a share of gaming revenue (20% at launch) rather than a gaming tax, plus the registration fees. Corporate income tax applies on top. Ontario does not cap the number of operators; by the second year more than fifty operators with more than eighty sites were registered, making it one of the most competitive regulated markets anywhere.

Product rules that shape the market: all major verticals are permitted (casino, live dealer, sports betting including single-event, poker with intra-provincial liquidity, and, after a legal process, a reference to the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court on whether Ontario players may be pooled with international players for poker and daily fantasy). Advertising is permitted but bonus and inducement advertising is restricted: operators may not advertise bonuses publicly, only to customers who have opted in, which changed the acquisition playbook completely. Athletes and figures appealing to minors were later barred from advertising.

The AGCO also required operators active in the Ontario grey market to transition: a registered operator had to stop serving Ontarians from its unlicensed site. Enforcement against unregistered operators has grown, and the province has reported channelisation rates well above 80%.

Alberta: the second open market

Alberta passed the iGaming Alberta Act in 2025 to follow Ontario's model. The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) regulates, and a new conduct-and-manage body was created to contract with private operators. The province's existing site, Play Alberta, continues alongside. The regulations, standards and launch date followed through 2026, with the province signalling a market smaller than Ontario's but with the same structure and a similar revenue-share approach. Operators active in Ontario prepared applications; the questions have been about the timetable, the share rate and how strict Alberta's advertising rules would be after Ontario's experience.

The lottery-corporation provinces

Everywhere else, the provincial Crown corporation runs the only lawful online site:

• British Columbia through the BC Lottery Corporation's PlayNow, which also serves Manitoba and Saskatchewan under agreements.
• Quebec through Loto-Québec's Espacejeux, which has argued strongly against Ontario's model and pursued unlicensed operators.
• Atlantic Canada through the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, serving the four eastern provinces.
• Manitoba and Saskatchewan through PlayNow, with Saskatchewan launching its own PlayNow variant in partnership with an Indigenous gaming authority.

These sites offer casino, lottery and sports betting including single-event. They compete with offshore sites and generally hold a minority of the online market in their provinces, which is the argument Ontario made for opening up and the one Alberta accepted.

The grey market

Offshore operators serve Canadians outside Ontario with no provincial licence. The legal position is that they are not authorised, the players are not committing an offence, and enforcement against the operators has been rare, though Quebec has pursued it and the federal position has hardened since Ontario's launch. Payment processors and banks vary in their treatment. For an operator, the risk calculus is that serving the grey market from outside Ontario is tolerated today, may not be tomorrow, and disqualifies a company from Ontario registration if it continues once registered.

Advertising by offshore operators is visible across Canada through national broadcasts, and the mismatch between Ontario-regulated advertising and offshore advertising has been a policy argument for other provinces to open.

Indigenous gaming

First Nations gaming authorities operate in several provinces under agreements with the Crown corporations. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Quebec has licensed online operators since the 1990s from the Mohawk territory, a jurisdiction Canada has never recognised for that purpose and never prosecuted; it remains a licensing base for operators serving the grey market. Indigenous participation in the regulated markets is part of the policy conversation in every province.

Tax and money

Ontario's revenue share (20% of gaming revenue to iGO) replaces a gaming tax; corporate income tax (federal and provincial) applies to profits; and players' winnings are not taxed as income in Canada except for professional gamblers. Suppliers pay registration fees and ordinary corporate tax. Payments run through Canadian banks, cards and Interac e-Transfer, the dominant online payment method, which most regulated operators support; offshore sites have a harder time with Canadian banks.

What an operator or supplier needs

For Ontario: an AGCO registration application with the corporate, financial and personal disclosures a regulator expects; certified games and platform; compliance with the Registrar's Standards, including an independent control assessment; an operating agreement with iGO; and an advertising plan that fits the inducement rules. Timelines run several months. For Alberta: the equivalent under the AGLC and its conduct-and-manage body once the standards were finalised. For suppliers: registration in each open province.

For affiliates: Ontario treats affiliates as marketing under the operator's responsibility, and the inducement advertising ban applies to affiliate content, which reshaped Canadian affiliate sites.

Frequently asked questions

Is online gambling legal in Canada? Provincially run sites are legal everywhere. Private operators are legal only in Ontario (and Alberta as its market launches). Offshore sites elsewhere are unlicensed but players are not prosecuted.

Can an Ontario-registered operator serve players in other provinces? Not under its Ontario registration. It may only serve those provinces through their Crown corporations, which do not license private operators, or by serving the grey market, which Ontario registration conditions restrict.

What is the difference between the AGCO and iGaming Ontario? The AGCO is the regulator that registers and enforces. iGO is the agency whose agreements with operators satisfy the Criminal Code's conduct-and-manage requirement.

Why can't Ontario operators advertise bonuses? The Registrar's Standards prohibit public advertising of inducements; offers may be shown only to customers who have opted in.

Will other provinces follow Ontario? Alberta has. British Columbia and others have studied it; Quebec has opposed it. Expect the map to change province by province.

Related on iGaming Times

The regulatory map tracks each province's position; the country page for Canada carries the latest coverage. Gambling Licensing Jurisdictions Compared sets Ontario against other open markets, and the Market Entry and Licensing course covers the application process in general.

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Regulation, tax and market figures move quickly, sometimes mid-year. Where this guide gives a number, treat it as a starting point and confirm the current position with the named primary source before you rely on it.