Is Online Gambling Legal in Canada? Licensing and Provinces Explained

The Federal Framework: Criminal Code and Provincial Authority

Canada's Criminal Code (Part VII, sections 197–207) makes it an offence to operate a gambling business without lawful authority. Section 207 grants each province and territory the authority to conduct and manage lottery schemes — a term that courts and regulators have interpreted to include online casino games and sports betting — within their own borders.

This means there is no single national online gambling licence in Canada. A private operator cannot obtain a federal licence that covers the whole country. Instead, each province decides whether to run gambling itself through a Crown corporation, licence private operators, or do neither. The result is a patchwork: some provinces have robust regulated markets, others have only a provincial lottery site, and the territories have not established regulated online casino markets at all.

The Criminal Code does not make it an offence for an individual player to place a bet. Enforcement has historically targeted operators, not players. However, this is a general observation about how the law has been applied, not legal advice. Your specific situation may differ.

Ontario: Canada's Open Competitive Market

Ontario is the only Canadian province that has opened its online gambling market to licensed private operators. iGaming Ontario, a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), launched the regulated market in April 2022. Private operators must hold an AGCO licence and enter into an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario before accepting bets from Ontario residents.

The AGCO maintains a public register of registered gaming assistants and operators. You can search this register to confirm whether a specific site holds a valid Ontario licence. The register is the authoritative source; an operator's own claim to be licensed is not independent confirmation.

Ontario players who use a site that is not registered with iGaming Ontario are using a site that is not authorised to operate in the province, regardless of what offshore licence that site holds.

Other Provinces: Lottery Corporations and Their Online Sites

Outside Ontario, most provinces channel legal online gambling through their provincial lottery corporation. These are Crown-operated sites, not privately licensed competitors.

British Columbia operates PlayNow.com through the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). Quebec operates Espace-jeux through Loto-Québec. Manitoba operates PlayNow through the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation. Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador) are served by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

Alberta, Saskatchewan and other provinces have their own lottery corporations but have not opened competitive private licensing markets as of the date of this review. Residents of those provinces who wish to use a regulated site are generally directed to their provincial lottery corporation's platform.

This page was last reviewed in October 2026. Regulatory positions can change; check your provincial regulator's website for current information.

Northwest Territories and the Other Territories

The Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon have not established their own regulated online gambling markets. The Northwest Territories Lotteries operates physical lottery ticket sales under a licence from the territorial government, but there is no territorial online casino platform equivalent to PlayNow or Espace-jeux.

Residents of the Northwest Territories who gamble online are not served by a locally licensed operator. The territorial government's published information covers lottery ticket sales and responsible gambling resources, but does not describe a licensed online casino framework.

If you live in the Northwest Territories and want to confirm the current legal position, the appropriate starting point is the Government of the Northwest Territories or the NWT Lotteries directly. This page cannot confirm the current enforcement position for territorial residents using offshore sites, and nothing here constitutes legal advice.

Offshore Licences: What They Mean for Canadian Players

Many online casinos that accept Canadian players hold licences from offshore jurisdictions such as Malta (Malta Gaming Authority), Gibraltar, Curaçao or Kahnawake. These licences are issued by those jurisdictions' regulators and govern the operator's conduct under those regulators' rules. They do not authorise the operator to offer gambling services in a Canadian province.

An offshore licence is not worthless — it may indicate that the operator has met some baseline requirements and is subject to some oversight. However, it does not give a Canadian player the same protections as a provincially regulated site. Dispute resolution, responsible gambling obligations and player fund protections vary significantly between regulators.

The practical difference matters most if something goes wrong: a player disputing a withheld withdrawal from an Ontario-registered operator can escalate to the AGCO. A player using an offshore site has no equivalent Canadian regulatory channel.

When reading a casino's licensing claim, check the regulator's own public register rather than relying on the badge displayed on the casino's website. As the editorial standards at casinos.org note, an operator's statement is not independent confirmation of its licence.

Sources: casinos.org

How to Check Whether an Online Casino Is Licensed in Your Province

The most reliable method is to go directly to your provincial regulator's public register, not to the casino's own website. The steps below apply generally; the exact register name and URL differ by province.

1. Identify your province's gambling regulator. In Ontario this is the AGCO. In British Columbia it is the BCLC. In Quebec it is the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) alongside Loto-Québec. In other provinces, check your provincial lottery corporation's website for the relevant authority.
2. Go to the regulator's official website directly — type the URL or use a government directory. Do not rely on a link from the casino's own site.
3. Search the public register or licensed-operator list for the casino's trading name and any parent company name. In Ontario, iGaming Ontario publishes a list of operators who have signed an operating agreement.
4. If the casino's name does not appear, it is not authorised to operate in that province under that regulator, regardless of what the casino's website states.
5. For offshore licences, visit the issuing regulator's own register (for example, the Malta Gaming Authority's public register at mga.org.mt) and search for the operator there. Note that this confirms the offshore licence only, not provincial authorisation.
6. Check the date of the register entry. Licences can be suspended or revoked; a current listing is more reliable than a historical one.

Does Accepting Interac Mean a Casino Is Licensed?

No. Interac e-Transfer and Interac Online are Canadian payment services operated by Interac Corp. They are widely used for everyday banking and are available to most Canadians with a bank account at a participating financial institution.

A casino that processes Interac payments has arranged access to that payment rail — either directly or through a third-party payment processor. This says nothing about whether the casino holds a provincial licence. Offshore casinos that accept Canadian players routinely offer Interac as a deposit method because it is convenient for their Canadian customers.

Interac Corp. is a payment network, not a gambling regulator. It does not vet or endorse the gambling sites that use its payment infrastructure. The presence of the Interac logo on a casino's cashier page is not a licensing signal.

This site, InteracCent Casinos, is an independent editorial guide. It is not affiliated with Interac Corp. and is not a casino operator. It does not offer account login or gambling services.

Responsible Gambling and Where to Get Help

Online gambling carries financial risk. Provincial regulators require licensed operators to provide responsible gambling tools including deposit limits, session limits, self-exclusion and links to support services.

If you are concerned about your gambling or someone else's, the following organisations provide free, confidential support across Canada:

— Connex Ontario (Ontario): connexontario.ca or 1-866-531-2600

— Gambling Support BC: bcresponsiblegambling.ca

— Jeu: aide et référence (Quebec): 1-800-461-0140

— Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario: problemgambling.ca

— National Council on Problem Gambling (US-based but with Canadian resources): ncpgambling.org

The legal gambling age is 19 in most provinces and territories, and 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. Confirm the age requirement in your province before registering at any site.