Online Casino Regulation Across Canada: A Province-by-Province Reference

Online casino gambling in Canada is legal when a province runs it or authorizes it under its own law, so the answer depends on where you are. Ontario and Alberta let registered private operators offer online casinos alongside a government site. Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan offer online casino games through a provincial or government-run site, and Atlantic Lottery serves New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Minimum ages are 18 or 19. The table at the end of this page sets out each of the 10 provinces and 3 territories from official sources, checked on October 19, 2026.

What does federal law say?

The Criminal Code sets the frame. Section 207(1)(a) makes it lawful for the government of a province, alone or with another province, to conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province under provincial law. Section 207(4)(c) says that for the charitable, fair and licensed schemes in the other paragraphs, a lottery scheme does not include games operated on or through a computer, video device, slot machine or dice game. Those games are therefore left to the provinces under paragraph (1)(a). Section 207(3) makes it an offence to do anything for a lottery scheme that is not authorized under section 207.

In practice this means each province decides how online casino games are offered, and the rules in one province do not carry over to another.

Which provinces allow private online casinos?

Ontario. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) regulates the market and registers operators; iGaming Ontario conducts and manages online gaming through private operators that sign an operating agreement with it. Its directory listed 49 operators and 84 sites as of September 1, 2026. OLG.ca is run separately by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Players must be 19 or older and physically in Ontario. More detail: Ontario’s AGCO, iGO and OLG roles.

Alberta. Since July 13, 2026, operators can run their registered platforms in Alberta if they are registered with Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) and have a commercial agreement with the Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC). The AiGC list of registered sites had 51 entries when we read it, and the government-run Play Alberta continues alongside them. The online minimum age is 18. More detail: Alberta’s rules after the July 2026 launch.

Where is the provincial site the main or only option?

Quebec. Loto-Québec, a Québec Crown corporation, runs lotoquebec.com and states that it is the only 100% legal and local casino and sports betting site in Québec. The Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) issues other gaming licences, such as raffles and video lottery site licences; its site lists no private online casino licences. The age shown on lotoquebec.com is 18+. See Quebec’s rules on Loto-Québec and private sites.

British Columbia. The Government of BC says gambling is legal only when run by the provincial government, that BCLC manages all commercial gambling including online, and that PlayNow.com is the only legal online gambling site in BC. The minimum age is 19, including online. Regulation moved to the Independent Gambling Control Office (IGCO), which replaced the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch under the Gaming Control Act in force April 13, 2026. See British Columbia’s PlayNow rules.

Manitoba. Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries has offered PlayNow in Manitoba since January 2013 under a service contract with BCLC, for confirmed Manitoba residents of the age of majority. The Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA) is the regulator, and it says most gambling sites advertised to Manitobans are not regulated in Manitoba.

Saskatchewan. PlayNow.com in Saskatchewan launched in November 2022. It is managed by SaskGaming, operated by SIGA, regulated by the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority and runs on BCLC’s platform, for players aged 19 and older.

Atlantic Canada. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador described Atlantic Lottery as the only regulated online gaming provider in the region in June 2023. Online gaming reached New Brunswick in 2020, Nova Scotia in 2022 and Newfoundland and Labrador in 2023, and Atlantic Lottery is owned by the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Prince Edward Island’s Lotteries Commission delegates its lottery schemes to Atlantic Lottery; its 2020-21 report said PEI was exploring whether to add online casino-style games.

The territories. The Western Canada Lottery Corporation lists Lotteries Yukon and NWT and Nunavut Lotteries among its partners. We did not find a territorial online casino.

What the table shows

1. Two private markets. Only Ontario and Alberta have registered private operators. In every other province where we could confirm the set-up, online casino games come from a provincial or Crown-run site.
2. One platform serves three provinces. PlayNow runs in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan on BCLC’s platform, each time under that province’s own body.
3. Ages split 18 and 19. Alberta and Quebec are at 18 and Manitoba uses the age of majority; Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan are at 19. Ontario allows lottery and charitable gaming from 18.
4. Official lists exist where private operators do. Ontario and Alberta publish lists of registered sites. Quebec and British Columbia have no such list because no private online operators are licensed there; for the other provinces we could not confirm one.

How we checked

Every cell comes from an official source: a government page, a regulator, a provincial lottery corporation or the federal statute. For some provinces the most recent official document we found is older, and we kept its date, for example the Saskatchewan release of November 3, 2022 and the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries backgrounder of March 20, 2023. We read these sources on October 19, 2026. A cell says Not confirmed when we found only commercial guides and no official source. The date in each row shows when it was last checked.

What we could not confirm

• The minimum gambling age in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut: we found no official page stating it.
• Whether Prince Edward Island currently offers online casino games: the Atlantic Lottery site showed a bot check and was not used.
• Regulators for New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories.

Check your own province

Find your province in the table and read two columns: “Government online casino” and “Official list of operators”. If a site is not run by your province and is not on your province’s own list, a licence from somewhere else does not change that. Our page on Curaçao, Anjouan and Tobique licences explains what those foreign licences do and do not mean.