Is Online Gambling Legal in Canada? A Province-by-Province Guide

Online gambling is legal in Canada, but there is no national regulator. Section 207 of the Canadian Criminal Code allows each province to control its own online gambling market. That means the specific rules and the local gambling options will vary depending on where you live.

Ontario and Alberta have both rolled out open markets for privately owned online casinos and sportsbooks. Every other province has one government-owned gambling site. Offshore casinos, including crypto casinos, aren’t provincially licensed, but they’re widely accessible to Canadian players.

This guide breaks down Canada’s gambling laws. We’ll explain the federal framework, the current situation in each province, and where offshore sites, crypto, and tax fit in.

Key Takeaways

• Online gambling is legal in Canada when conducted under provincial authority (Criminal Code, Section 207).
• Ontario opened a private-operator market in April 2022; Alberta followed on July 13, 2026.
• All Canadian provinces have government-run gambling sites, but there’s only one of these sites in each province.
• Canadians can access offshore casinos, but they don’t fall under the jurisdiction of federal or provincial authorities.
• No provincially regulated Canadian gambling site supports crypto payments in 2026.
• Recreational gambling winnings aren’t taxable in Canada, but converting that crypto to cash or trading it afterward is a separate CRA taxable event.

How Online Gambling is Regulated in Canada

The Canadian Criminal Code prohibits gambling by default, but Section 207 provides explicit legal exemptions. Provincial governments are allowed to “conduct and manage” lottery schemes within their own borders.

Section 207 defines “lottery scheme” broadly enough to cover sports betting, slots, table games, and poker. The definition also covers online and in-person gambling. Section 207 forms the legal basis for every provincially licensed online casino in Canada.

The federal government sets the outer limits, but each province can decide which forms of gambling to permit and how to regulate them. This is known as the “conduct and manage” doctrine.

Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act

Before 2021, regulated sports betting sites in Canada could only accept parlays with three or more legs. That all changed when the federal government passed Bill C-218 (now known as the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act) in 2021.

The bill gained Royal Assent in June 2021 and came into force two months later. This law removed the parlay-only restriction, allowing government sites like ALC.ca and PlayNow to offer single-game sports betting. It also paved the way for Ontario and Alberta to roll out open markets for privately owned online sportsbooks.

Canada Gambling Laws at a Glance

Province-by-Province: Where You Can Gamble Legally

Every province has its own government-run gambling site. ALC.ca is available in the four Atlantic provinces, while the other six provinces have their own sites.

In most provinces, those government-run sites hold a monopoly over online gambling. The only exceptions are Ontario and Alberta.

Ontario became the first province to roll out a competitive market for privately owned online sportsbooks, casinos, and poker rooms in 2022. This is the current situation:

• There are now over 50 licensed private operators running more than 80 authorized gaming websites in Ontario’s regulated online market.
• Those operators pay a 20% revenue share to iGaming Ontario, a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Annual revenue exceeded $2.5 billion in the 2025-26 financial year.
• The government-owned operator, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, still runs a gambling site called OLG.ca. The site offers sports betting, casino games, and lottery games, but most players in the province use privately owned sites instead.

In July 2026, Alberta followed in Ontario’s footsteps by rolling out its own competitive market for privately owned gambling sites. Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis still runs PlayAlberta, but it now faces competition from a range of privately owned online casinos and sportsbooks. Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis is the regulator, but the Alberta iGaming Corporation is the commercial conduct and manage agency, similar to iGaming Ontario.

Notes:

• British Columbia created PlayNow, but it licenses the site out to Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries and the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority operate the local versions of PlayNow.
• Canadian territories don’t run their own gambling sites. However, there is a sports betting site called Sport Select, which welcomes bettors in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. The Western Canada Lottery Corporation operates Sport Select in those territories.

Offshore Casinos – The Grey Area Explained

Offshore gambling sites exist in a legal grey area in Canada. There are no Canadian federal or provincial laws that make it illegal for players to visit gambling sites based overseas. No Canadians have ever been prosecuted or fined for using offshore casinos.

Quebec’s government once tried to stop players from visiting offshore gambling sites by forcing internet providers to block access to them. However, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled that the move was unconstitutional, and Quebecers have been free to visit them ever since. No other province has attempted ISP blocking since.

Manitoba has taken a different approach. In 2025, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries obtained a court injunction against offshore operator Bodog, the first enforcement action of its kind in Canada. The injunction targeted the operator rather than individual players, but it signals growing provincial willingness to challenge offshore brands directly.

Many offshore casinos actively welcome Canadian players. They offer CAD accounts, and you don’t need to use a VPN to access them.

These sites typically hold remote gaming licenses from regulators such as the Curaçao Gaming Authority, the Malta Gaming Authority, or Anjouan Gaming. The licenses allow them to welcome players from around the world, including Canada.

The regulators require these online casinos to treat players fairly, keep them safe, and uphold their terms and conditions. However, they’re generally less strict than Canadian regulators, and their player protection systems aren’t as robust.

If you play at offshore casinos, you can’t complain to your provincial regulator if something goes wrong. They also aren’t covered by local consumer protection frameworks, such as self-exclusion registries or dispute resolution programs, so it’s worth confirming a site’s licensing and track record before you deposit.

First Nation Regulators in Canada

Some First Nations in Canada have their own regulatory bodies:

• Kahnawake Gaming Commission: This regulator is based in Quebec’s Mohawk Territory. It has been issuing licenses to offshore gambling sites that target Canadians for many years.
• Tobique Gaming Commission: A similar regulator, which the Tobique First Nation runs in New Brunswick.

These regulators are based in Canada, but they issue licenses to overseas gambling sites, which local consumer protection agencies don’t cover.

Crypto Gambling and Canadian Law

The Canadian Criminal Code doesn’t prohibit crypto gambling. However, any Canadian gambling operator that wants to accept crypto needs to jump through several hoops. That includes government-owned operators like the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation.

In June 2021, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) was amended to classify virtual currency dealers as reporting entities. To accept crypto, any Canadian operator would need to comply with full KYC, AML, and FINTRAC reporting requirements, in addition to existing provincial gaming obligations. As of mid-2026, no Canadian provincial operator has addressed that compliance requirement, so their sites don’t support crypto.

Canadian players using offshore crypto casinos remain in the same grey area as any other offshore player; the Criminal Code’s distinction is between operators and consumers, not between currencies.

The Canadian government tightened the regulatory environment for virtual currency in 2026:

• The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework now requires registered crypto service providers to report customer transaction data to CRA. The first filings are due in 2027, although this affects exchanges rather than players.
• PCMLTFA amendments in March 2026 significantly increased FINTRAC enforcement penalties.

Meanwhile, Ontario and Alberta’s gaming standards state that crypto isn’t legal tender, so privately owned gambling sites in those provinces can’t accept it.

Tax on Gambling Winnings in Canada

There’s no gambling tax in Canada for recreational players. Winnings are classified as a windfall, not income, under Paragraph 40(2)(f) of the Income Tax Act.

The only exception is for professional gamblers. However, the CRA doesn’t provide a clear definition of “professional” gambling:

• It acknowledges that “determining the commerciality of gambling can be challenging,” as “gambling is always undertaken in pursuit of profit.”
• In Leblanc v. The Queen, 2006 TCC 680, the Tax Court of Canada stated: “Gambling – even regular, frequent and systematic gambling – is something that by its nature is not generally regarded as a commercial activity except under very exceptional circumstances.”

The CRA has stated that “games of pure chance” aren’t treated as professional. That suggests you won’t need to pay tax on casino winnings. You don’t pay tax on lottery winnings either, but you may need to pay tax if you regularly earn a profit from sports betting or poker. If your gambling activity is substantial or profit-oriented, consult a qualified tax professional.

Note: The CRA treats cryptocurrency as a commodity, not currency. If you win crypto on a gambling site and later sell it, that becomes a taxable event. Interest earned on gambling profits – such as depositing them in a savings account – will also be taxable as income.

Responsible Gambling and Player Protection

All provincially licensed gambling sites are required to offer a range of responsible gambling tools. They let you set deposit, loss, and time limits on your own account. You can also self-exclude temporarily or permanently. In Ontario, the AGCO mandates GameSense as the official responsible gambling support program.

The best offshore operators offer similar tools, but they aren’t universally available. Offshore sites aren’t subject to enforcement by Canadian regulators, so any protections they do offer are voluntary rather than mandated. There isn’t a nationwide self-exclusion registry as of 2026, but a federal harmonization proposal is under discussion.

Next Steps

Want to learn more about online gambling in Canada? Check out these resources:

• Crypto Gambling in Canada – Ranked hub of crypto gambling sites available to Canadian players, with filters by game type and payment method.
• Crypto Sports Betting in Canada – Legal status, provincial availability, and payment options covered.
• Gambling Licenses Explained – How offshore gambling licenses work: what Curaçao, MGA, and Anjouan licenses mean for player protection.
• Crypto Gambling Legality – Global overview of crypto casino legality, discover how Canada compares to other major markets.