Canada gambling statistics: participation, regulation, and industry data

Gambling market overview: Canada

Canada's gambling industry is structured around provincial Crown corporations — including the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), Loto-Québec, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) — which operate casinos, lotteries, and electronic gaming machines. In addition, Ontario's open iGaming market permits privately licensed operators. The gambling sector contributed approximately CAD $4.2 billion per month to national GDP in 2025, roughly equivalent to Canada's movie and sound recording industry (Statistics Canada Table 36-10-0434-01, September 2025). For comparison, see our United States gambling statistics.

Ontario's iGaming market has been the single most significant development in Canadian gambling in recent years. Total gaming revenue grew 129% from Year 1 to Year 3, with online casino gaming accounting for approximately 75% of all revenue. In calendar year 2025, Ontario operators handled nearly CAD $98.3 billion in total wagers and generated approximately CAD $4 billion in non-adjusted gross gaming revenue, with an estimated CAD $807 million flowing to the province in tax revenue (iGaming Ontario, 2026). Beyond Ontario, other provinces operate government-run online platforms including PlayNow (British Columbia), Loto-Québec's online site, Play Alberta, and the ALC website in the Atlantic provinces.

How many people gamble in Canada?

The most comprehensive national picture comes from the 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) Gambling Rapid Response, which surveyed 24,982 Canadians aged 15 and older. It found that 66.2% of adults reported gambling at least once in the past year, with lottery and raffle tickets being the dominant activity (Statistics Canada, CCHS 2018; Williams et al., 2021). A new wave of the CCHS gambling module was collected from January to July 2025, with microdata released in February 2026 (Statistics Canada, 2026). Detailed results from this latest wave are pending publication.

Men (69%) were more likely to have gambled than women (60%) in the past year. Participation was highest in the 45–64 age group (76% of men, 68% of women). Those with higher household incomes (71.5%) gambled more frequently than those in lower income brackets (53.8%). Interprovincial variation was notable: participation was highest in Newfoundland and Labrador (74.6%) and lowest in British Columbia (59.0%) (Statistics Canada, CCHS 2018).

Problem gambling in Canada

The 2018 CCHS used the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI), a nine-item validated screening tool developed specifically for Canadian population surveys. Among Canadians who gambled in the past year, 1.6% (approximately 304,000 people) scored at moderate-to-severe risk of problem gambling (CPGI score of 3 or higher). A further 2.7% were classified as at-risk gamblers. Only 0.6% of the total adult population was identified as problem gamblers at the highest severity level (Statistics Canada, CCHS 2018; Williams et al., 2021).

Risk was higher among men (2.0%) than women (1.2%). Other significant risk factors included being from a lower-income household, identifying as Indigenous, reporting fair or poor mental health, being a daily smoker, and participating in multiple forms of gambling activity (Statistics Canada, 2022).

Treatment and help-seeking

Canada does not have a single national gambling helpline. Instead, each province operates its own service. ConnexOntario (1-866-531-2600), the BC Gambling Helpline (1-888-795-6111), and Gambling: Help and Referral in Quebec (1-800-461-0140) are among the most prominent. The national crisis line (Talk Suicide Canada: 988) is also available for those in distress. Greo Evidence Insights, a Canadian research organisation, provides evidence-based resources on gambling harm and prevention.

If you're concerned about your own gambling, you can take our PGSI self-assessment quiz — the CPGI/PGSI is the same screening tool used in Canadian prevalence research.

Canada gambling regulation

Gambling in Canada falls under provincial jurisdiction, as established by the Criminal Code (Sections 206–209). In 1985, Parliament transferred full authority over gambling to provincial governments, allowing them to "conduct and manage" lotteries, casinos, and betting operations through designated agencies. Online gambling was further clarified when Bill C-218 (the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act) received Royal Assent in June 2021, legalising single-event sports betting and empowering provinces to regulate it.

Ontario is the only province to have adopted an open, multi-operator licensing model for online gambling, regulated by the AGCO and operated through iGaming Ontario. All other provinces that offer online gambling do so exclusively through their government-backed Crown corporation platforms.

Online gambling in Canada

Online gambling in Canada operates through two distinct channels. In Ontario, an open competitive market allows privately licensed operators — 50 operators running 84 websites as of March 2025 — to offer online casino, sports betting, and poker (iGaming Ontario, 2025). In all other provinces that offer online gambling, it is exclusively available through government-run platforms: PlayNow (BC), Loto-Québec, Play Alberta, and Atlantic Lottery's online site.

According to an IPSOS study commissioned by iGaming Ontario and the AGCO, 83.7% of Ontario players chose regulated sites in 2024–25 (iGaming Ontario, 2025). However, 20.2% of those playing on regulated sites also continued to use unregulated offshore operators. Nationally, an estimated CAD $4 billion per year continues to flow to offshore gambling sites operating outside Canadian regulation.

Ontario's iGaming model has delivered substantial revenue — cumulative operator earnings have now surpassed CAD $10 billion since market launch in April 2022 (iGaming Ontario, 2026). Other provinces are watching closely: Alberta and British Columbia are widely expected to be the next jurisdictions to consider multi-operator licensing, though no firm timelines have been announced.

Young people and gambling

A 2025 report by Greo Evidence Insights and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) examined online gambling among young Canadian adults and identified this demographic as particularly vulnerable to gambling harm (Young et al., 2025). The 2018 CCHS found that Canadians aged 18–24 had lower overall gambling participation than older age groups but higher engagement in higher-risk activities such as sports betting and online gambling. In Ontario, 70–80% of sports bettors are estimated to be male, with the majority aged 19–45 (industry estimates, 2025).

The legal gambling age is 19 in most provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon). In Alberta and Quebec, the legal age is 18. The AGCO's 2023 prohibition on athlete and celebrity endorsements in gambling advertising was specifically designed to reduce appeal to younger audiences.

Gambling harm and support

Problem gambling in Canada is associated with financial hardship, mental health difficulties, relationship breakdown, and elevated suicide risk. The 2018 CCHS found that Canadians at moderate-to-severe risk were significantly more likely to report fair or poor mental health and to be daily smokers. A 2023 CCHS survey found that 73% of Canadians believe problems associated with gambling have increased in their province (Statistics Canada, 2023).

Support services vary by province. Key helplines include ConnexOntario (1-866-531-2600), the BC Gambling Helpline (1-888-795-6111), and Gambling: Help and Referral in Quebec (1-800-461-0140). Talk Suicide Canada (988) is available nationally for crisis support. Self-exclusion programmes are operated provincially — there is no national self-exclusion register.

For further guidance on recognising and managing gambling-related harm, visit our responsible gambling hub.