Canada can be weird.
Case in point: People in certain provinces can’t buy Kentucky bourbon right now because of ongoing tariff troubles with the United States. They may not be able to buy Alberta whisky directly from a distiller there either, because ... reasons?
Then, on Tuesday, nine provinces agreed to allow direct-to-consumer sales of booze, “building a more open and united Canadian economy by removing a major trade barrier within Canada.” Progress there, I suppose. No bourbon, but a fine B.C. red wine could soon be yours for the ordering to your front door.
And hey, while we’re talking about interprovincial cooperation on various vices, might I suggest that the premiers have a frank discussion at their annual gathering in Charlottetown this week about online sports betting in Canada? They might discover they have a lot to talk about there.
- Ontario and Alberta have opened competitive markets for online sports betting and iCasino, while most other provinces rely on government-owned platforms, creating major differences in regulation and revenue.
- A Supreme Court of Canada case this fall could decide whether Ontario can link its regulated gambling market with international player pools, with several provinces arguing the move could undermine their own gambling systems.
- Canada's premiers could use their annual get-together to discuss a more coordinated approach to online gambling.
To start, there are now two provinces in Canada that have opened their doors to the online sports betting industry.
Alberta (as of July 13) and Ontario now permit multiple private-sector operators to offer online sports betting and internet casino games to their residents. Dozens of operators and sites have taken the provinces up on this offer, too, including 22 immediately in Alberta. Meanwhile, most other provinces permit only government-owned iGaming sites.
However, Alberta and Ontario launched their competitive iGaming markets because they were fairly certain the majority of online gambling wasn’t happening with the lone operator they had actually authorized. These were the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) and the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC).
Both Alberta and Ontario believed around 70% of iGaming was happening with entities that may be regulated abroad or outside the province. This is so-called “grey” market gambling, which includes offshore sportsbooks and casino sites.
Noteworthy slide in the latest International Betting Integrity Association report. Based on data from H2 Gambling Capital, Ontario has gone from 5% of online sports betting revenue generated via provincially regulated sites to ~90%. Alberta now projected for similar path. pic.twitter.com/Wu3YWjVL2G
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) July 22, 2026
Ontario then launched its iGaming market in 2022, and some data suggests it has been successful in migrating players onto provincially regulated sites.
A recent report from the International Betting Integrity Association, citing data from research firm H2 Gambling Capital, said more than 90% of online sports betting revenue in Ontario is now generated via provincially regulated sites. Before the province launched its competitive iGaming market, only around 5% of OSB GGR was being captured by provincially regulated sites.
Changing the channel(ization)
The same IBIA report projected that Alberta's channelization rate should shoot up to around 70% by this time next year, compared to approximately 5% right now. This is exactly what lawmakers and regulators in the province are shooting for, and the percentage of Alberta sports betting done via provincially regulated operators is projected to increase in the years to come.
However, the report forecast that the rest of Canada was expected to continue on its current path, with the vast majority of online sports betting revenue earned by entities that do not heed the regulation or taxation requirements of those eight provinces.
Looks like a Manitoba court has granted the local lottery and gaming corporation an injunction against offshore sportsbook Bodog. Potentially precedent-setting development in Canada, which has a large "grey market" for online gambling: pic.twitter.com/052Js8ZBzf
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) May 27, 2025
So, as Canada's premiers chit-chat this week, it might be worth some discussion about the goals of provincially regulated online gambling and whether current regulations are accomplishing those goals.
It's pretty clear that Ontario and Alberta believe their approach is more effective, while the other eight provinces are doubling down by improving their sole regulated sports betting sites and targeting grey- and black-market operators.
These dual approaches are leading to conflict. So much so that there is a contentious legal matter happening right now that involves online wagering and that has provinces pitted against each other.
There wasn't enough going on today, so the Supreme Court of Canada announced a hearing date for the big Ontario DFS/poker iGaming liquidity appeal.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) July 14, 2026
On Oct. 7, then, Canada's highest court will hear arguments for and against Canadians playing DFS or poker against Americans. pic.twitter.com/us1m1n4lOA
In October, the Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear arguments on this case, which is currently titled Atlantic Lottery Corporation, et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario.
It all started seemingly innocuous enough, with the Ontario government referring a question to its Court of Appeal in 2024. That reference asked if it would be legal to let Ontario's online gamblers wager in games and contests involving people living outside of Canada.
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The more the merrier
Ontario wants to know if this would be legal because it wants to try to channel even more online gambling onto provincially regulated sites, namely peer-to-peer wagering via games like poker and daily fantasy sports contests.
Those two verticals took a hit when Ontario launched its regulated iGaming market in 2022, as the rules of the market require all players to be in the province. This shrunk the size of the player pool for poker and made DFS uneconomical for operators.
While Ontario believed connecting its iGaming scheme with others abroad would be legal, as it would manage its online gamblers and those other jurisdictions would manage theirs, not everybody agreed. In particular, a coalition of government-owned lottery corporations (those of the Atlantic provinces, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec) opposed the proposal.
So, when a majority of Court of Appeal judges sided with Ontario last November, the coalition sought to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court in late 2025.
One of the main reasons why is that the lottery and gaming corporations believe that Ontario is licensing operators that are then trying to drum up business for themselves in provinces where they are not yet authorized to do so.
Users are already well aware but just duly noting that Underdog has shut down its DFS contests in Alberta.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) July 17, 2026
UD did the same in Ontario when that province launched a regulated iGaming market in 2022. Alberta launched its market on Monday, hence the UD exit from there. pic.twitter.com/1yENgTAWea
The coalition alleged in a factum to the Supreme Court that these operators are using their Ontario licenses “as springboards to promote illegal international websites to Canadians outside Ontario.”
“Although Ontario baldly asserts that Canadians outside Ontario would somehow be barred from participating under its hypothetical scheme (and the Court of Appeal majority predicated its opinion on that claim), no evidence supports it,” the coalition argued in February. “To the contrary, the record shows the opposite is true today.”
Ontario fired back that the coalition’s submissions about “alleged unlawful gambling in their jurisdictions” are not relevant to answering the reference question and also would not be a problem.
“Contrary to the appellants’ bald assertion, Ontario does not intend to partner with operators who have been proven to conduct unlawful lottery schemes in other provinces,” the province’s factum to the Supreme Court said. “In fact, as Ontario’s affiant testified in cross-examination, Ontario could expressly prohibit linkages with International Sites conducted by those operators.”
There are other interveners in the case that are adding their two cents as well. One of them is Alberta, which, given its recent overhaul of online sports betting and iGaming, is interested in the outcome of a case it claims will have a “significant impact” on its new market for online gambling.
Furthermore, because Alberta has adopted an Ontario-like iGaming framework, its rules also prohibit out-of-province participation. This means Alberta's regulated iGaming market is basically devoid of online poker and DFS, so its online gamblers may still seek out those games on sites the province does not regulate.
This is a pretty heated disagreement among the provinces, or at least one province and several provincially owned corporations. It might be worth a conversation or two among premiers this week, because whatever the outcome, there could be hard feelings.
Why can't we be friends?
It may also be worth discussing whether there are some other interprovincial solutions here for sharing online gambling liquidity (or gambling money, in other words). Lottery coalition-related provinces already do this, and Alberta and Ontario have apparently had some talks between themselves as well.
But when the Supreme Court ultimately rules on the liquidity case, all provinces will have to live with that ruling. They'll also have to live with each other and their different approaches to online gambling. Surely there has to be some way they can all get along, right?
Another related issue to all this is the advertising of online gambling in Canada. Ads for apps and sites licensed in Ontario or Alberta are spilling over into other parts of the country that do not authorize those apps and sites to take bets. This is another source of irritation for those provinces.
Moreover, there is proposed legislation making progress in Ottawa right now that aims to put some federal guidance in place for sports betting-related advertising. This could also step on some provincial toes, because it could inject federal policy into gambling regulation, something that has chiefly been the domain of provinces for four decades.
“While we recognize the efforts behind the bill in generating a national conversation on responsible and effective advertising standards, we respectfully submit that Bill S-211 would encroach on an area of well-established provincial jurisdiction and does not reflect the appropriate approach to addressing this policy challenge,” the Canadian Gaming Association warned in a submission to a House of Commons committee in June.
The CGA added that if the bill advances further (it already passed the Senate), “a broad federal framework will neither address the root challenges of illicit and unregulated gambling advertising nor account for the responsibilities of provincial and territorial governments in this area.”
This flew under my radar last week, but Polymarket has restricted access in several other Canadian provinces, namely Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec. Ontario has been on PM's restricted list since 2023, after provincial securities regulators intervened. pic.twitter.com/fSyvWSqyw2
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) July 13, 2026
So, another thorny issue that might be worth a bit of banter between the premiers. There’s other stuff, too.
It could be worthwhile to discuss some kind of nationwide self-exclusion system that would allow Canadians to ban themselves from online gambling wherever they are.
Alberta and Ontario have this for their competitive markets, but you could still travel to another province and keep betting. With single-game sports betting legalized in Canada since 2021, strong responsible gambling measures are a must across the entire country.
Let's have a chat
There are also the hits that the horse racing industry has taken in Canada lately, such as racetrack closures in B.C. and Ottawa. Horsepeople are calling for tax relief to help keep them competitive.
And then there are prediction markets; heard of them? The exchanges are blowing up in the U.S. right now and are beginning to make a few very limited inroads into Canada.
Prediction markets are causing all kinds of headaches south of the border, with lawmakers particularly angst-y about people in government trying to use inside information to make a quick buck.
Some states have already explicitly forbidden government employees from insider trading. While Canada has rules of its own, it might be worth reminding our federal and provincial bureaucrats that they shouldn’t get any ideas just because prediction markets are a thing.
There is just generally a lot of gambling stuff going on in Canada, even if it doesn't typically make the front page. Furthermore, this gambling stuff is happening as Canada and its provinces are trying to come together in a time of economic turmoil.
Having fights over online gambling clashes with that spirit of togetherness. So, while we’ve got all the premiers together, a few chats about same-game parlays and DFS probably wouldn’t hurt.
