Gambling in Canada

Historical Background

Long before John Cabot's voyage to Canada in 1497, gambling was popular among Indigenous peoples. Indigenous people used gaming sticks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans and the decks of playing cards they brought with them. (See also Culture of Early Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)

For the past century or so, the most popular gambling games have been the card games of poker and blackjack, and the dice games of craps and barbotte. During the Klondike gold rush, the game of faro, played with a regular deck of cards, was popular. The origins of faro can be traced to the German game of landsquenet, which was played as early as 1400. Faro was introduced by American gamblers in areas such as Dawson City, Yukon, where fortunes were won and lost on the turn of a card. When the gold rush ended, so did the popularity of faro in Canada. (The name has survived in the town of Faro, Yukon.)

Legal Status

Since its enactment in 1892, Canada’s Criminal Code, following English common law, has tolerated gambling under certain conditions. A 1910 amendment allowed pari-mutuel (from "Paris mutuel") betting. In this form of betting, winners divide losers' stakes and a cut of the bet goes to the track, to the horsemen and the state. Pari-mutuel became the official and legal form of betting in France in 1894. Occasional games of chance where the profits went to charitable or religious causes were also allowed. A few games were also permitted at fairs and exhibitions.

Gambling laws remained relatively unchanged until 1969. Sweeping changes to the Criminal Code allowed the provinces to license and regulate gambling, with some exceptions. These changes allowed for specific forms of gambling such as lotteries. This marked a shift in the government’s approach to gambling from prohibition to regulation.

In the 1990s, gambling went online. At first, online gambling companies tended to locate themselves in countries with loose regulations. Early operators believed that moving servers offshore protected them from Canadian gambling laws. (See also Law and the Internet.) However, in 1999, the Vancouver offices of a company named Starnet were raided by police. Starnet pled guilty to hosting a gambling device in their office. The 2001 R. v. Starnet Communications International Inc. decision ruled that companies that housed operations in Canada were still subject to Canadian laws. This legal precedent effectively shut down the offshore loophole used by some Canadian gambling companies.  

In 2021, Parliament amended the Criminal Code with the passage of Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act. It allows the provinces and territories to “conduct and manage single event sport betting in their respective jurisdictions.” The amendment came into force on 27 August 2021. It constituted a major expansion of legal sports betting in Canada.

Multibillion-Dollar Industry

The 1970 changes resulted in the creation of a multibillion-dollar gambling industry in Canada. In 1989, Canada's first commercial casino opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Other provinces soon followed.

In the 1990s, some provinces allowed electronic gambling machines called video lottery terminals (VLTs) in licensed establishments. VLTs proved to be popular. They continue to generate millions of dollars annually for provincial governments.

Provincial governments are also actively involved in operating lotteries. Numerous charities and religious groups have come to rely upon gaming revenues. Annual exhibitions and fairs get substantial profits from gambling activity. Pari-mutuel racetrack betting has also long been a popular pastime. (See also Thoroughbred Racing).

The 2001 Starnet decision showed that online gambling operators with connections to Canada could be prosecuted under the Criminal Code. Since then, provincial governments have managed online gambling. Over the following years, provincial lotteries offered digital gambling products, such as sports betting, casino games and poker.

In 2022, Ontario launched its commercial iGaming market. It allows private companies to legally license and operate sports betting and online casino games. Alberta created its own regulated market for private online gambling in 2026. The remaining provinces do not have commercial markets for private gambling companies. Instead, online gambling is usually offered through each province’s or region’s lottery corporation. The specific regulations vary depending on the province. For example, BC chose to channel all legal online gambling through the PlayNow.com platform. It is run by the BC Lottery Corporation, a Crown corporation.

These changes brought considerable tax revenue to the provinces. They have also provided regulatory oversight to the gambling industry and made deep cuts in illegal gambling income. However, there are increasing concerns that online gambling platforms outside legal formats are at high risk of being used for money laundering. This can include activity that is linked to terrorism. Critics have argued that the expansion of legal gambling, especially with the massive growth in gambling advertising, has considerable public health consequences.

Social Costs

For a minority of people, out-of-control gambling can have devastating repercussions. A 2018 Statistics Canada study found that 95 per cent of respondents who had gambled in the past year scored 0 on the Canadian Problem Gambling Index. It also found that 3.4 per cent were at low risk and 1.6 per cent (some 304,000 people) were at moderate to severe risk of problem gambling.

Researchers and advocates have increasingly used the term “gambling-related harms” to recognize that gambling can have negative “financial, emotional, psychological and relationship harms.” This can happen even with people who are not strictly problem gamblers or who don’t have a gambling addiction. Recent studies of online gambling, especially among younger Canadians, suggest that these new forms of gambling are linked to substantially higher levels of harm. For example, a 2025 study of Canadians aged 18 to 29 found that 32 per cent had gambled online and 23.5 per cent of those people reported high levels of gambling-related harm. (See also Online Games Prove Addictive.)

Gambling advertising, especially for sports betting, has proliferated with the expansion of online gambling markets. Researchers and advocates have raised concerns that the dramatic increase in gambling advertising could worsen gambling-related harms (especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic), promote riskier forms of gambling and “normalize” gambling in Canadian culture.