Is Online Gambling Legal in Canada? A Province-by-Province Guide

Online gambling is legal in Canada when a province runs it or licenses it. The Criminal Code makes gambling an offence in general, then makes exceptions, and the one that matters online is this: the government of a province may conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province, and it is the only exception that covers games played on a computer or other device. There is no federal licence. Each province decides what is allowed, so the answer depends on where you live.

Is sports betting legal in Canada?

Yes. Betting on a single game has been legal since August 27, 2021, when amendments to paragraph 207(4)(b) of the Criminal Code came into force. Before that, provincial sports betting was limited to bets on two or more games at once. Since then, provinces can offer single-event sports betting online and in person. Betting on horse racing is still regulated by the federal government.

Online gambling in each province

• Ontario: legal on OLG.ca and, since April 4, 2022, on regulated private sites. Those companies register with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), sign an agreement with iGaming Ontario and run their sites on the province's behalf. You must be 19 or older to play online casino games or bet on sports online.
• Alberta: legal on PlayAlberta, run by AGLC, and since July 13, 2026 on private sites that are registered with AGLC and have a commercial agreement with the Alberta iGaming Corporation. Ads from approved operators carry the Alberta iGaming Corporation logo. The legal age is 18.
• British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan: legal on PlayNow, the provincial gaming site, which has a separate region for each of the three provinces. The legal age is 19 in BC and Saskatchewan and 18 in Manitoba.
• Quebec: legal on Loto-Québec's online site, from age 18.
• New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador: legal on Atlantic Lottery's site. Atlantic Lottery is owned by the four provincial governments, and you must be 19 or older to play its products.

Outside Ontario and Alberta, then, the only online casino or sportsbook that operates under your province's law is the provincial one. A private site may still accept you, but it is not authorized where you live.

What about offshore sites?

Many sites that take bets from Canadians are licensed somewhere else: in Curaçao, in Malta, or by the Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission, which licenses gambling within and from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke, near Montreal. None of these is a provincial licence. That is why such sites are usually called the grey market.

For you, the practical difference is protection. A site in Ontario's or Alberta's regulated market has to follow that province's rules on identity checks, advertising and player protection, and it has to honour the province's central self-exclusion. An offshore site does not check Ontario's BetGuard or AGLC's Self-Exclusion Program, does not answer to your provincial regulator, and handles complaints under the rules of wherever it is licensed.

Is bet365 legal in Canada?

In Ontario and Alberta, yes. bet365 is on BetGuard's list of regulated Ontario sites, and the bet365 companies (Hillside) are registered with AGLC as iGaming operators for bet365.com. In the other provinces, only the provincial lottery corporation runs online gambling, so bet365 is not authorized there.

Is Stake legal in Canada?

Stake.com is licensed in Curaçao, not by any province, and its own terms list Ontario and Alberta as prohibited jurisdictions. A separate company, Stake Canada Ltd., is registered with AGLC as an iGaming operator in Alberta. Our guide on whether Stake is legal in Canada goes through each province and what it means if you want to stop.

Do you pay tax on gambling winnings in Canada?

Usually not. The Canada Revenue Agency's guidance says that gambling, even regular and systematic gambling, is not generally regarded as a business, so winnings from personal gambling are normally not taxed. The exceptions are rare cases where the courts have treated someone's gambling as a business.

How old do you have to be to gamble online?

18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, and 19 in the other provinces. In Ontario, online casino games and online sports betting are 19 and over, even though lottery and in-store sports betting start at 18.

If you want to stop

Knowing which sites are legal also tells you where self-exclusion reaches:

• In Ontario, BetGuard opts you out of every regulated online site, OLG.ca included, with one sign-up.
• In Alberta, AGLC's Self-Exclusion Program covers every registered online operator, land-based casinos and racing entertainment centres, or both.
• In the other provinces, the provincial lottery corporation runs its own program, such as BCLC's Game Break in British Columbia or Loto-Québec's self-exclusion in Quebec.
• Offshore sites check none of these registries. A blocker on your own devices is the layer that reaches them: BetClear blocks gambling websites with encrypted DNS on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows 11, using a list of more than 500,000 gambling sites, licensed or not, that updates automatically. No blocker is perfect, because new sites appear all the time. If one gets through, you can report it.

If gambling is costing you more than you want it to, free and confidential help is a call away: ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 in Ontario, Gambling Support BC at 1-888-795-6111, 211 in Alberta, Jeu : aide et référence at 1-800-461-0140 in Quebec, the Manitoba Gambling Helpline at 1-800-463-1554 and the Saskatchewan Problem Gambling Help Line at 1-800-306-6789.

Sources

• Criminal Code, section 207, Permitted lotteries, including subsection 207(4) (laws-lois.justice.gc.ca)
• Department of Justice Canada: Government of Canada announces coming into force date of Criminal Code amendments on single event sport betting (August 12, 2021) (canada.ca)
• iGaming Ontario: Ontario's New iGaming Market to Launch April 4, 2022 (igamingontario.ca)
• BetGuard: Frequently Asked Questions, list of regulated operators (betguard.ca)
• AGLC: iGaming, Gaming registrants, and Self-Exclusion Program (aglc.ca)
• The Canadian Press: Alberta launches regulated iGaming market (July 13, 2026)
• PlayNow (playnow.com), Loto-Québec (lotoquebec.com) and Atlantic Lottery (alc.ca)
• Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission (gamingcommission.ca)
• Stake.com: Terms and Conditions, sections 1.1 and 14.3 (stake.com)
• Canada Revenue Agency: Income Tax Folio S3-F9-C1, Lottery Winnings, Miscellaneous Receipts, and Income (and Losses) from Crime (canada.ca)
• OLG: age requirements for lottery, casinos and online play in Ontario (olg.ca)