Over the past four decades, attitudes towards gambling in Canada have been growing progressively more liberal. In some ways, the journey that the country has taken is similar to that of the US, but Canada began the process earlier.
Canada has developed lucrative markets for both sports betting and online casinos. However, while opportunities are growing, the Canadian gambling regulations remain complex and present ongoing challenges for both users and operators. The laws concerning the use of cutting-edge online casino apps are broadly the same as those for online and offline sports betting. That is good in some ways and bad in others.
Online casino providers need to learn from the problems that sports betting companies have had, while staying within the legal framework.
A Timeline of Sports Betting in Canada
Betting on sports in Canada is an activity that has a long history, but real legal change only began in the 1980s. Most observers regard the earliest examples of Canadian gaming as being the Slahal games played by indigenous peoples. Restrictions on gambling began to take effect when the country was colonized by the English and the French. The only form of sports betting to be exempt from them was horse racing.
This was how the situation remained for almost eighty years, although there were plenty of illegal gambling operations. Then, the government of Canada opted to legalize lotteries across the various provinces, on the understanding that all profits must be donated to charities.
That happened in 1969, and the following decade and a half saw further legislative reforms. These were all part of a slow and gradual move towards a more liberal approach to betting on sports. It was in 1985 that the most important legal change took place, though, when the country’s Criminal Code was altered. This change handed responsibility for gambling legislation to the provinces, making the situation similar to that which now prevails in the US.
In the years since then, the various Canadian provinces have taken strikingly different approaches to offline and online betting. One of them stands out as being by far the friendliest towards the gambling industry though and that is Ontario.
Across the whole of 2024, there was more than CAD 63 billion worth of bets placed in that province. The total profits accrued by the various arms of the gambling industry were around CAD 2.4 billion. The key difference between Ontario and most of the other provinces is that they only permit a single regulated online betting website each, while Ontario allows several of them. That greater competition has led to better quality online gaming – as the sites are forced to battle each other for customers.
As the popularity of gaming via mobile continues to rise, so too has the importance of providers having a designated app for their products. As a result, the market is now flooded with them, so sites like Casino.org review the best apps for online casino so users can find information about the best available before deciding which ones to download to save themselves some time.
Patterns Linking Sports Betting and Casinos
There is no question that the online casino industry in Canada is proving a success, as the figures mentioned above demonstrate. In those provinces like Ontario where access to it is fairly free, the industry is winning new customers and making big profits.
This is leading other provinces – for example Alberta – to consider copying Ontario. Despite this though, it is also encountering some of the same problems that the sports betting industry faced. One of the most notable issues is that the open licensing system can be confusing for customers. Accessing a casino site may be legal in one province but against the law in another – leaving people vulnerable if they are not fully conversant with the laws in their province.
Another issue is that the limited availability of Canadian online casinos in many provinces is leading people to use offshore ones. That is a legal grey area, but it also puts them at risk of playing at an unlicensed site with questionable security and payment protections.
What Can Be Done?
One way for casinos to learn from the historical problems sports betting sites faced is to focus on the most liberal provinces. That would mean more sites and apps launching in Ontario and perhaps Alberta, so while there are lessons for casino sites to learn from Canadian sports betting, many of the problems are legislative and largely uncontrollable for them.
Ultimately, the history of Canadian sports betting highlights the value of adaptability, transparency, and customer trust. Qualities that modern online casino apps must embrace to thrive. By prioritizing user safety, responsible gaming, and smooth app performance, operators can build sustainable growth and provide players with trusted, top-rated gameplay experiences.
