Gambling in Canada was restricted for many years, however as gambling laws have been reformed in recent years, the gaming scene has begun to thrive. In fact, the Online Gambling market is projected to reach US$4.61bn in 2025. Gaming in Canada encompasses casinos, bars and lounges with electronic gaming machines, horse racing venues, and lottery ticket outlets. In addition to this, the online gambling scene in Canada is also thriving, with there being plenty of operators for Canadians to choose from.
While gaming in Canada may not be as elusive as that of the casinos of Monte Carlo or Macau, Canada has come a long way and gaming both online and in real life venues is creating a significant revenue for Canada. Statistics also show that nearly two-thirds (64.5%) of Canadians aged 15 or older (18.9 million) reported gambling in the past year,
What’s more, sports betting is incredibly popular across Canada in addition to classix gambling games, with 43% of the population involved in sports betting, according to studies by TGM research.
Below, we will take a deeper dive into the world of gambling in Canada and explore how recent law reforms have allowed the gambling landscape of Canada to thrive.
Recent gambling law reform in Canada
In Canada, the Criminal Code is the primary statute governing gambling, which sets out gaming and betting offences. Gambling is only legal if it is licensed in the local province where the company is operating. This encompasses online gambling too. While Canadian gambling laws have typically always been very restrictive, they have generally started to open up and relax a little in recent years.
The most recent reform in gambling law was Bill C-218 in 2021. Previously Canadians could only place parlay bets, which required players to wager on multiple events simultaneously. However, the new bill has legalised single event sports betting on a nationwide scale.
While bills like the above are helping the gambling scene to thrive across Canada, there is still much reform that needs to happen for Canada’s gambling scene to catch up with other countries. One of the issues encountered by gambling institutions in Canada is that online providers must navigate legally complex waters and grey areas as they provide online services to Canadian residents who may reside in different provinces.
In addition, there is some pushback from parts of the government and the Canadian people when it comes to gambling advertisements. The recent creation of bill 269 aims to provide a framework to cut the number of sports ads and restrict the use of celebrities and athletes to help protect youth and problem gamblers. As such, this bill could significantly impact gambling marketing activity and in return, gambling revenue if such measures were to be widely circulated across Canada.
The first gambling activities in Ontario
Gambling in Ontario is currently worth around $5 billion Canadian dollars. Ontario was the first state in Canada to legalise gambling in many forms, in which it has one of the most thriving gambling markets in Canada.
With the legalisation of gambling in 2022, Ontario has become one of the leading places in Canada for sports betting. As the fifth largest province on the continent of North america, Ontario holds a lot of power when it comes to gambling law and reform as much of the population resides in this province.
In addition the wide range of domestic sports in Canada has also encouraged the sports gaming industry to grow. In fact, Canada now has 2 professional American NBA and NLB teams, creating a wide range of interest for sports bettors to take advantage of.
Is Alberta following in Ontario’s footsteps
While gambling activity is following that of Ontario closely, Alberta follows a different model of gambling using a charitable model. This charitable model utilises charitable organisations, who are given licenses to run casinos and raffle events and to sell tickets for such events.
In addition to this, there are also commercial bingo halls, lottery ticket centres, vit retailers, and horse racing operators. Differentially to gambling activity in Ontario, proceeds from gaming in Alberta are invested back into the community.
Overall, Canada’s gambling landscape has come a long way in recent years. While some regulations are helping the gambling industry to grow nationwide, there are still certain bills in place and certain attitudes within the government that restrict the gambling industry from growing on a level with the likes of some European countries and the United States. With that being said, the Canadian gambling scene is still thriving and it will be exciting to see how it grows in the near future.
