Ontario 19+. Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly. Alberta 18+. If gambling is affecting your mental health or well-being, 211 Alberta is here to help. Call or text 211 or visit ab.211.ca
Canada does not have one betting market. It has ten provincial ones, each with its own rules, and since the summer of 2026 two of them work the same way: Ontario and Alberta now let private sportsbooks operate under provincial licences, while the rest of the country bets through a government lottery site such as PlayNow, Loto-Québec or PROLINE.
This guide explains where you can bet legally online today, who regulates each market, the minimum age in every province, how Interac deposits and withdrawals work, and what the Canada Revenue Agency says about tax on winnings. Every sportsbook we list is either on iGaming Ontario's regulated-market list or on the Alberta iGaming Corporation's approved-sites list. Offshore sites are not.
If you already know your province, go straight to our guides to Ontario sports betting sites and Alberta sportsbooks. Racing fans will find tracks, pari-mutuel rules and platforms in our Canadian horse racing betting guide.
Best for in-play odds and live streaming
bet365 has one of the deepest in-play menus in Canada and a large live-streaming catalogue. It is licensed in Ontario and went live in Alberta on the market's first day.
Features: Live streaming · Bet Builder · Ontario and Alberta · Age: 19+ ON / 18+ AB
Best for same-game parlays on NHL and NBA
FanDuel's same-game parlay builder is quick to use on hockey and basketball nights. It is licensed in both Ontario and Alberta.
Features: Same-game parlays · Live betting · Ontario and Alberta · Age: 19+ ON / 18+ AB
Best for player props and parlay building
DraftKings carries a broad range of player props and lets you combine them in same-game parlays. Live in Ontario and Alberta.
Features: Player props · Same-game parlays · Ontario and Alberta · Age: 19+ ON / 18+ AB
Best for stats and news in the same app
Built by Toronto's theScore, the app puts scores, news and betting in one place. A natural fit if you already follow games in theScore.
Features: Integrated scores and news · Canadian-built · Ontario and Alberta · Age: 19+ ON / 18+ AB
Best for payment choice, including PayPal and Amex
Rush Street Interactive's BetRivers keeps its layout simple and runs sportsbook and casino from a single balance. Licensed in both provinces.
Features: One wallet · Interac · Ontario and Alberta · Age: 19+ ON / 18+ AB
Best for a long-standing Canadian brand
Sports Interaction has served Canadian bettors since 1997 and is now owned by Entain. Licensed in Ontario and live in Alberta since July 2026.
Features: Canadian focus · Interac-first banking · Ontario and Alberta · Age: 19+ ON / 18+ AB
The six brands below are licensed in both provinces with an open market. Each one appears on iGaming Ontario's list of regulated sites and on the Alberta iGaming Corporation's approved-sites roster, so you can use the same brand whether you live in Ottawa or Edmonton. Your account, though, is province-specific: you sign up on the Ontario or Alberta version of the site, and geolocation checks that you are inside that province every time you bet.
We rank them by what they do well for Canadian bettors, not by any incentive. Full rankings, including brands available in only one province, are on the provincial pages.
| Sportsbook | Best for | Ontario | Alberta |
|---|---|---|---|
| bet365 | In-play odds and live streaming | Yes (19+) | Yes (18+) |
| FanDuel | Same-game parlays on NHL and NBA | Yes (19+) | Yes (18+) |
| theScore Bet | Stats and news in the same app | Yes (19+) | Yes (18+) |
| DraftKings | Player props and parlay building | Yes (19+) | Yes (18+) |
| Sports Interaction | A long-standing Canadian brand | Yes (19+) | Yes (18+) |
| BetRivers | Payment choice, including PayPal and Amex | Yes (19+) | Yes (18+) |
Gambling in Canada is a criminal-law matter with a provincial twist. The Criminal Code bans betting in general, then makes exceptions. The most important is section 207, which lets a province "conduct and manage" lottery schemes, a term that covers casino games and sports betting, on its own or through an agency it controls. That is why every legal betting site in the country traces back to a provincial government.
For decades, provinces could only sell parlays: tickets where you had to pick at least two outcomes. That changed when Parliament passed Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act. Single-event betting, such as backing the Oilers to beat the Canucks on a Tuesday night, became legal on 27 August 2021. Horse racing was left out of that change and remains under the federal pari-mutuel system.
Provinces then chose different models:
Here is where each province stood in October 2026. The age shown is the legal minimum for online betting.
| Province or territory | Legal online sportsbooks | Who runs or regulates it | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | Dozens of private sportsbooks, plus OLG's PROLINE+ | AGCO registers operators; iGaming Ontario conducts and manages the open market | 19 |
| Alberta | Private sportsbooks since 13 July 2026, plus PlayAlberta.ca | AGLC registers operators; Alberta iGaming Corporation signs operating agreements | 18 |
| British Columbia | PlayNow.com | British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) | 19 |
| Manitoba | PlayNow.com (Manitoba) | Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, on BCLC's platform | 18 |
| Saskatchewan | PlayNow.com (Saskatchewan) | SIGA and SaskGaming, on BCLC's platform | 19 |
| Quebec | Mise-o-jeu on lotoquebec.com | Loto-Québec | 18 |
| New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador | PROLINE on alc.ca | Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) | 19 |
| Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut | No territorial online sportsbook | Retail lottery products only | 19 |
Two things are changing. Alberta's open market ended its transition period on 13 October 2026, when sites without provincial approval had to stop taking bets from Albertans. And in New Brunswick, the government said in October 2026 that it is reviewing how other provinces regulate private operators. No decision or timeline has been announced.
Ontario opened its market to private operators on 4 April 2022. Operators must register with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and sign an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario, the provincial agency that conducts and manages the market. On 1 September 2026, iGaming Ontario's public list showed 49 operators running 84 gaming websites, many of them with a sportsbook.
The numbers are large. In August 2026, according to iGaming Ontario's monthly data, players wagered C$9.74 billion across all regulated sites. Sports and event betting accounted for $843 million of that, a quiet month between the end of the World Cup and the start of the NFL season. July 2026 set the record at $9.88 billion.
Ontario's rules are among the strictest in North America. Operators must verify identity and age (19+), confirm by geolocation that you are in the province, offer deposit limits and time-outs, and honour BetGuard, the centralized self-exclusion program that went live on 14 May 2026. Ads cannot feature athletes, and third parties cannot advertise inducements.
Our guide to legal sportsbooks in Ontario ranks twelve brands, starting with bet365 Ontario, and compares apps, streaming and payments.
Alberta passed Bill 48, the iGaming Alberta Act, in spring 2025 and opened its regulated market on 13 July 2026. Twenty-two sites went live on day one, including bet365, FanDuel, DraftKings, theScore Bet, BetRivers, Caesars and DAZN Bet. Sports Interaction followed in July, Betway on 28 September.
The structure mirrors Ontario's. The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) registers operators and writes the rulebook, the Standards and Requirements for Internet Gaming. The Alberta iGaming Corporation (AiGC) signs the commercial operating agreements and publishes the list of approved sites. When the three-month grace period closed on 13 October 2026, roughly 50 sites were on that list.
PlayAlberta.ca, the province's own site since 2020, still operates alongside the private brands. The minimum age is 18, and a centralized self-exclusion system at selfexclusion.ca covers every approved site.
Read our Alberta sportsbooks guide for the full list of approved brands and how they compare.
PlayNow.com is run by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and has carried single-event sports betting since the 2021 law change. Manitoba joined the platform in 2013 through Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries. Saskatchewan's version launched in November 2022 and is run by the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) with SaskGaming. Your account is tied to your province, and the minimum age follows provincial law: 19 in BC and Saskatchewan, 18 in Manitoba.
Loto-Québec sells sports betting under the Mise-o-jeu name, both online through lotoquebec.com and at retail. Quebec is the only province besides Alberta and Manitoba with a gambling age of 18. There is no private licensing regime in Quebec.
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation is owned jointly by New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Its PROLINE sports betting product is sold online at alc.ca and through retailers. Players must be 19. New Brunswick's October 2026 review of private licensing could change this in future, but the ALC remains the only legal online option for now.
Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have no online sportsbook of their own. Residents can use retail lottery products sold in the territories.
Yes, when the site is authorized by your province. A site licensed in Malta or Curaçao is not authorized by any Canadian province, however professional it looks. The practical test is simple:
Betting on horse racing works differently. The 2021 single-event change specifically excluded horse races, which remain under federal pari-mutuel rules overseen by the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA). That is why racing bets are usually pooled (win, place, show, exactor, triactor) rather than fixed-odds. Our horse racing guide explains the details.
Each province also limits what can be offered. Ontario, for example, does not allow bets on amateur events where most participants are under 18, and operators must be able to verify the result of any market they post. If you can't find a market, that is usually why.
Most licensed sportsbooks carry the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, CFL and major soccer. The differences are in the details. Here is what to compare before you open an account.
Interac is the standard way Canadians fund betting accounts. Two versions are common. Interac e-Transfer works like sending money to a friend: you approve the payment in your banking app, and the funds usually land within minutes. Interac Online (sometimes shown as online banking) logs you into your bank from the cashier page.
Most licensed books also take Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards, and some accept PayPal, Apple Pay or bank transfer. Accounts are held in Canadian dollars, so there is no conversion charge on deposits from a Canadian bank.
Withdrawals take longer than deposits. Operators run identity and anti-money-laundering checks first, and most send winnings back to the method you deposited with where possible. Expect anything from same-day to three to five business days, depending on the brand and method. Make sure your account details exactly match your bank's records, as a mismatch is the most common cause of delays.
Canadian sportsbooks usually show American odds by default and let you switch to decimal in settings. Decimal is easier to read because it includes your stake.
Those are examples, not live prices. Odds move with team news, injuries and the weight of money.
Racing has its own rules. Bets on Canadian horse races are pari-mutuel, pooled with other bettors, under the oversight of the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency. Woodbine Entertainment's HPIbet is the best-known national platform, and Ontario bettors can also find racing through some iGaming Ontario sportsbooks and OLG.
For most people, no. The Canada Revenue Agency treats winnings from betting and lotteries as windfalls rather than income, so recreational bettors do not report them on their tax return. The CRA's guidance, set out in Income Tax Folio S3-F9-C1, makes an exception where gambling amounts to a business, which courts have rarely found.
Two points to keep in mind. Interest or investment income earned on winnings once they're in your bank is taxable in the normal way. And if you bet on a US-licensed site while visiting the United States, US withholding rules can apply. If your situation is unusual, speak to a tax professional.
Sports betting should cost you only what you've set aside for entertainment. Set a deposit limit when you open an account, keep track of time as well as money, and never bet to recover losses or to cover bills.
Offers, codes, fees and state lists are checked against the operators’ own pages and state or federal regulators. Last checked .
