Canadians have been gambling online for decades without much consideration. It was easy, it was fun, it was right there at your fingertips. If you had a problem, it was probably between you and some guy somewhere that you never met and never would meet. Much of what you knew, or remember, is changing.
Key Takeaways
- The groundwork has been laid for significant change to online gambling in Canada, much of which has historically happened via offshore and unregulated entities
- That change includes regulation in Alberta, legal action in Manitoba, and legislation in Ottawa
- At some point, every Canadian sports bettor is going to feel it, like it or not
In 2021, for example, Ontario estimated around 70% of all online gambling in Canada's most populous province took place "on unregulated, grey market” sites. These sites were perhaps licensed abroad or outside the province, but not by the province itself.
More recently, research done by Ipsos for the Canadian Gaming Association suggests (and it's outlined more in-depth here) that around three-quarters of online gamblers in Alberta have only ever used similar, unregulated sites. In British Columbia, the ratio is more like six out of ten online gamblers.
So online gambling is with us in Canada, and in many places it’s happening without the say-so of local governments. But change is happening, and Canadian gamblers may soon find themselves forced to think about things they've never really thought about.
Such as: is this online sportsbook I’m using legal? Why does this internet casino suddenly want a picture of my driver’s license? Oh, and is there something better I could be using?
The short of it is that Canada sports betting sites and online casino Canada platform gambling is being disrupted, and by entities that usually are on the receiving end of disruption: government, government-owned entities, and government-appointed regulators.
These forces are working to add more friction in places where there perhaps was no friction previously, to make Canadians think twice before making a bet.
This work is being done through the courts, through legislatures, and by provincial regulators and gaming operators who want to make Canada’s grey market black or white - nothing in between.
No more play for Mr. Grey
The perfect illustration of this sweeping effort is the agenda of this week’s Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto (brought to you by SBC and the CGA!).
Wednesday's schedule includes remarks from Alberta's de facto iGaming minister, a panel on "developing iGaming in the rest of the country," and a discussion of the Canadian Lottery Coalition's legal battle against offshore sportsbook Bodog.
It's Canadian Gaming Summit week (aka SBC Toronto). On Wednesday, we've got remarks scheduled from Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey and Alberta iGaming Minister Dale Nally, so bound to be some good gaming-related CanCon this week. Will have you covered at, uh, @Covers. pic.twitter.com/dI55E0BPuv
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) June 16, 2025
If none of that rings a bell, then what plays out over the coming months and years could give you a jolt, because it all spells C-H-A-N-G-E.
Let’s start with Alberta, where the provincial government plans to launch a competitive market for online sports betting and casino gambling, which is expected to go live in the next six to nine months.
This market, modeled after the one Ontario rolled out in 2022, will allow the likes of bet365, DraftKings, and FanDuel to come under Alberta-based regulation and authorize them to take bets from residents of the Western Canadian province. While there is a provincially owned and regulated site available for Albertans, Play Alberta, by its own admission, it accounts for less than half of all online gambling there.
Some of the participants in the new Alberta sports betting market are already taking bets there, competing with Play Alberta for business. However, those operators will have to make some changes before they can join the provincially regulated fray.
Indeed, if the province continues on its Ontario-like path, then at some point between now and launch, users could find themselves having to verify or reverify their identities with operators. They may even find that futures bets they’ve placed have been voided, to allow the operator to start fresh under provincial regulation.
The disrupted have become the disruptors
I’d call this disruption, albeit disruption that is supposed to better protect bettors and allow the province to get its arms around widespread iGaming already happening in its backyard. It’s a change, and it would make Alberta the second province in Canada, after Ontario, to try this kind of iGaming model.
The Ontario sports betting model is tried and tested at this point, with 50 operators offering online sports betting, casino games, bingo, and poker. That doesn't include government-owned OLG's iGaming platform, either. All told, more than 80% of online gambling in the province now happens through provincially regulated operators.
Ontario’s iGaming market also survived a court challenge that could have undone the whole thing. Instead, a judge agreed the province is maintaining sufficient control to comply with Canada’s Criminal Code.
In other words, it’s legal. And that helped nudge Alberta toward launching something similar.
Alberta sports betting news: key elements of the iGaming Alberta Act are now in effect.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) June 9, 2025
These include sections establishing the "Alberta iGaming Corporation," which will be similar to @iGamingOntario and permit private-sector participation:https://t.co/lVNTw0ZUC3 @Covers
Efforts are also underway to get other provinces to adopt a competitive iGaming market, such as in B.C., which is about to have an Ontario-like iGaming market next door in Alberta.
That has prompted some concern from the B.C. lottery, which has complained about advertising for Ontario-regulated iGaming operators spilling over into its jurisdiction. Some of this advertising, the BCLC alleges, is nudging residents toward international sites with which they can gamble.
This hasn’t just irritated the B.C. lottery. Other provincially owned gaming and lottery corporations have felt the same kind of irritation. What’s more, they are set on doing something about it.
With a little help from my friends
The Canadian Lottery Coalition has emerged as the main vehicle for these frustrations. The CLC, whose members include government-owned lottery and gaming corporations in Atlantic Canada, B.C., Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, has been on a mission to raise awareness about grey and black market bookmakers.
Manitoba Lottery Gets Court Injunction Against Offshore Sportsbook Bodog https://t.co/qD3xU2rQVM @Covers
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) May 27, 2025
The CLC has also gone beyond the airing of grievances in public and before lawmakers. It took its fight to the courts, intervening in a reference about international liquidity in Ontario and seeking an injunction against Bodog in Manitoba.
Bodog offered no defence for itself in Manitoba, and the CLC was granted its injunction.
"This court orders and declares that the Respondents have no lawful authority to offer online gambling products and services, whether through bodog.eu, bodog.net or any other related successor or replacement websites, or to advertise such online products and services to persons located in Manitoba, as such activities are contrary to sections 201, 202, and 206 of the Criminal Code," the court order said.
That dog won't hunt
Put differently, a Canadian judge has declared it’s not legal for Bodog to offer online gambling in Manitoba.
“We haven’t quite seen this before,” wrote gaming lawyer Ron Segev on LinkedIn. “Canadian judge orders offshore gambling site Bodog to cease operations. Specific reference is made to .Net advertising. If you're offshore, take notice!”
Now, as of Tuesday, Bodog has yet to add Manitoba to its list of restricted regions, as it has done with Nova Scotia and Quebec. There are also questions about what the injunction means for Bodog or others like Bodog in Canada. But the impression given by the injunction is arguably not good.
“We don’t yet know how ‘applicable’ the injunction is, both within Manitoba for other iGaming sites, and outside of Manitoba, where the injunction is persuasive but not binding on provincial courts,” wrote lawyer Jack Tadman, of GME Law, on June 3. “However, if you are advertising for Bodog (.eu or .net) in Manitoba, you may want to reconsider that approach.”
Where the CLC goes from here is worth watching. If other provinces do not follow in the footsteps of Alberta and Ontario, and choose the carrot, they may instead opt for the stick and go the route the lottery coalition has in Manitoba.
Time will tell, but it’s also worth noting the Atlantic and B.C. lotteries are pursuing what could become a single sports betting platform for all of Canada outside of Alberta and Ontario. Then, the lotteries outside those two provinces would have a single brand to point to and say, “This is it, this is the only legal sportsbook you're supposed to use in most of Canada.”
Brace for impact
When you consider all of the above, it’s clear the foundation has been laid for big change in Canada.
Even Ontario, which has already disrupted online gambling in Canada, is trying to disrupt it a little further. The province is doing so by asking a provincial appeals court if it can let its online gamblers play against rivals outside the country. A decision in that matter is pending, but it could resuscitate paid daily fantasy sports contests in the province and expand the size of online poker games. It would also give the other provinces something else to think about with their gambling operations.
We haven’t even gotten to the federal government yet (we haven't touched on prediction markets like Polymarket either, even though the exchange remains available everywhere in Canada but Ontario).
Yet it was at the federal level where single-game sports betting was decriminalized in Canada, allowing the provinces to decide how exactly they wanted it offered.
It’s also federally where lawmakers are beginning to stir again, specifically on the subject of advertising. Another attempt to impose national restrictions on those ads is underway, which could have Canada-wide consequences. Again, time will tell.
But, for decades, Canadians gambled online without much difficulty, and with the operator of their choosing. Now, governments more and more want that iGaming done on their terms, whether in a regulated, competitive market or with their lottery and gaming corporations.
Bettors are bound to feel this shift at some point, no matter where they are in this country. It’s only a matter of time.
