CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Danielle Bush and Matthew Kelleher, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
1. Introduction 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes Currently, Ontario remains the only province in Canada to have a developed a regulatory framework to allow private sector gaming operators to provide internet gaming services to people located in the province of Ontario. Ontario’s igaming market is regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), the longstanding provincial agency responsible for regulating the alcohol, gaming, horse racing and cannabis retail sectors in Ontario. Since the Criminal Code requires a Provincial Gaming Operator to ulti- mately conduct and manage all gaming activity in a province, the Ontario government established iGam- ing Ontario (iGO) to be the legal provider of online gaming in Ontario, which can engage private sector operators to deliver games and other operational ser- vices. Alberta will soon join Ontario in permitting private gaming operators. The Alberta government introduced Bill 48 (iGaming Alberta Act) in March 2025, paving the way for a private-sector online gaming market. The Act creates Alberta iGaming Corporation as the regulator and conduct-and-manage body, similar to Ontario’s model. Market launch is expected in early 2026, with consultations ongoing on tax rates, adver- tising standards and responsible gaming protocols. The status quo remains for the rest of the country, with government monopolies in both land-based and online gaming remaining in place in every other prov- ince. By most measures, the generally prevailing view is that Ontario’s initiative has been a success, many major offshore gaming operators have become reg- istered under Ontario’s regime, and the meaningful revenue for the province continues. Industry focus is shifting toward responsible gaming advertising standards. The Canadian Gaming Asso- ciation recently unveiled a new Code for Responsible Gaming Advertising which was created in conjunction with Ad Standards.
2. Jurisdictional Overview 2.1 Online Gambling
Pursuant to the gaming provisions of the Criminal Code, all activities that would fall within the catego- ries enumerated in the Criminal Code (pay-to-play games, slots, betting, casinos, lotteries, poker) are illegal throughout the country. However, Section 207 of the Criminal Code provides an exception to the blanket prohibition that allows the governments of the provinces to provide a range of gaming products and services (with some exceptions) to individuals located within their respective jurisdictions. The Criminal Code stipulates that no provincial gov- ernment can provide gaming services in another prov- ince. The analysis of situations where, for example, province A allows players from province B onto a gam- ing website run by province A is less clear. The one significant case to consider the legality of one prov- ince offering online gaming services to residents of another province involved a charity that was licensed by the provincial gaming regulator to run an online interprovincial lottery. The Prince Edward Island (PEI) Court of Appeal held that the province of PEI did not have the authority to offer services to players located outside of its jurisdiction. In any event, the Criminal Code resulted in the estab- lishment of a series of provincial government lotteries that were each able to provide any and all gaming products to individuals located in its province. The Criminal Code also permitted the provinces to license charities to provide gaming products and services in their sole discretion. The Criminal Code does not state that provinces cannot license third parties to provide gaming services to the residents of their respective jurisdictions. Rather, it has been assumed that this would be the finding of a Canadian court if required to consider the matter. It follows that those products that fall into the gaming sectors listed above (namely, betting, bingo, casino, poker and lotteries) are illegal unless provided by a Provincial Gaming Operator in its home jurisdiction. Fantasy sports products, depending on the manner in which they are structured, may or may not fall into
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