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Canada’s online gambling market is expanding even as national participation in gambling remains below levels seen two decades ago, a sign that regulated digital platforms ar drawing more revenue from a more engaged pool of customers rather than simply attracting more people to gamble.
Statistics Canada’s latest national gambling study found that 64.5% of Canadians aged 15 or over gambled in the previous year in 2018, while iGaming Ontario reported that Ontario’s regulated market generated CAD$82.7 billion in wagers and C$2.9 billion in gaming revenue in 2024-25, both up by more than 30% from the prior year.
Ontario, which opened Canada’s first competitive private-operator online gambling market in April 2022, remains the country’s benchmark for legal online casino and sports betting growth. At the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year, the province had 50 active operators, more than 80 gaming websites and about 2.6 million active player accounts, although iGaming Ontario notes that accounts are not the same as unique individuals because one player may
hold accounts with several operators.
The pattern points to a market shaped by intensity rather than blanket participation. Statistics Canada said lotteries and raffles were still the most common form of gambling in 2018, while Ontario’s regulated online data shows casino products have become the main source of digital wagering and revenue, ahead of sports betting and peer-to-peer poker.
Momentum has continued into 2026. Ontario players wagered C$9.46 billion through regulated operators in June 2026, up 30.3% from a year earlier, while gross gaming revenue reached C$400.6 million, up 30.6%, according to iGaming Ontario figures reported in August. The June total ranked just below the C$9.59 billion record set in March 2026 and marked another month above C$9 billion in handle.
Sports betting was boosted by the men’s football World Cup, with sports, esports, proposition and novelty markets and betting exchanges generating C$1.033 billion in June wagers, up 6% from May and about 35% from June 2025. But online casino remained the larger engine of the market, with June casino wagers estimated at about C$8.3 billion and casino revenue at roughly C$316.8 million, underscoring how slots, live dealer tables and
other casino products continue to dominate digital gambling economics.
Regulation is another driver. Ontario’s model channels private operators through operating agreements with iGaming Ontario and oversight by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, while most other provinces have historically relied on government-run platforms. Alberta became the second Canadian province to open a regulated private iGaming market on July 13, 2026, with 22 operator sites going live on day one and the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission serving as regulator.
The shift has also made payment speed a competitive battleground. Casino.ca now routinely compare the best fast payout and instant withdrawal casinos, with Interac, e-wallets and internal approval times often determining whether players can cash out within 24 hours or less. Such comparisons say payout speed depends on identity checks, casino review procedures, banking rails and whether bonus conditions have been met, meaning “instant”
withdrawal claims can vary materially by operator and user circumstances.
Operators have an incentive to improve cash-out times because user experience is no longer limited to odds, game libraries or introductory offers. Some Ontario-focused reviews list Interac as one of the fastest routes for withdrawals and cite same-day or sub-24-hour payouts at several licensed operators, although they also warn that first withdrawals may be slowed by know-your-customer checks and compliance reviews.
The marketing environment is tighter than in many other gambling markets. The AGCO prohibits advertising that targets minors, high-risk players or self-excluded individuals, bars misleading marketing, and restricts public advertising of gambling inducements, bonuses and credits unless presented on an operator’s site or through direct marketing after active player consent.
Those rules have encouraged operators to compete more through product design, mobile performance, banking convenience, customer support and brand trust rather than public bonus-led advertising. AGCO standards also require marketing to avoid portraying gambling as a solution to financial or personal problems, while Alberta’s new framework requires operators to integrate with centralised self-exclusion and provide activity statements, limits and problem gambling interventions.
The public-health caveat remains significant. Statistics Canada estimated that 1.6% of Canadians who gambled in the past year in 2018 were at moderate-to-severe risk of gambling problems, equal to about 304,400 people, and said risk increased with the number of gambling activities played.
The agency also found that lower-income households were less likely to gamble than higher-income households but more vulnerable to gambling- related problems.
For regulators, the central question is whether competitive legal markets can keep players away from offshore sites while controlling harm. iGaming Ontario reported an 83.7% channelisation rate for 2024-25, meaning most surveyed players said they used regulated sites, and Alberta has said its newly opened model is intended to move players away from unregulated grey-market operators towards licensed platforms with consumer protections.
The result is a Canadian market that appears smaller in broad participation than it was a generation ago but far larger in digital revenue.
If Ontario’s 2026 trajectory continues and Alberta follows even part of the same path, Canada’s online gambling sector is likely to become more competitive, more tightly regulated and more focused on retention, speed, payments and player safeguards than on simply signing up new gamblers.
