Gambling Statistics in Canada

In the past decade, Canada has amended its gambling legislation and now gaming is much more accessible. Today we will explore interesting gambling statistics to see how land-based, as well as online sportsbooks and online casinos in Canada are doing. Read this article to find out more about gambling in the North American country.

Canadian Gambling Laws

We thought it was a good idea to start this article by briefly explaining the legislation concerning online gambling in Canada. The legal landscape in Canada is generally favourable to gambling. The main gambling law in the country is the Canadian Criminal Code which has been amended a few times in the past.

One such amendment from 1970, limited the power of the federal government by allowing individual provinces and territories to regulate their own gambling markets. Many land-based casinos and sportsbooks popped up all around the country following this change.

More recently, in 2021, the Canadian federal government passed Bill C-218 which served to give the provinces and territories even more regulatory power, allowing them to launch and regulate online gambling on their own.

Still, there is one exception to that rule. Federal law bans commercial Canadian-based online operators. What this means is that a Canadian gambling business cannot apply for a remote gambling licence. The only Canadian online casinos and sportsbooks allowed to operate are those owned by the government (provincial, not federal government).

However, federal law does not ban overseas online gambling operators. This allows Canadian to legally play at offshore casinos and sportsbooks.

Gambling Statistics in Canada

In this section, we will discuss various interesting statistics about gambling in Canada.

Legal Gambling Age in Canada

Did you know that the 1970’s amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code also allowed provinces and territories to pick their own legal gambling age? Yes, the legal gambling age in Canada differs in different provinces and territories.

The legal gambling age in most provinces and territories is 19, but there are three provinces, namely Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, where the gambling age is 18. 65w

Taxes on Winnings in Canada

Perhaps our favourite fact about gambling in Canada is that your winnings are not taxable. Yes, that’s right! No matter where you gamble in Canada, once you win the money you get to keep all of it; this applies to both land-based and online gambling, whether it’s sports betting, casino-style gaming, bingo or lottery.

There are, however, two exceptions. Professional gamblers are taxed on winnings because the winnings are considered business income, but players can also deduct gambling losses from the taxable amount. Additionally, gamblers who invest the winnings are taxed in accordance to the federal/provincial tax law concerning investments.

Number of Land-based Casinos in Canada

Canada is the second-biggest country in the world, but it’s very sparsely populated, so despite the fact that the gambling legislation makes it easy for land-based gambling operators to open new locations, there are not that many.

Currently, in all of Canada, there are 110 land-based casinos. Most of them can be found at the more-populated provinces such as Ontario (25 physical casinos), Alberta (24 physical casinos), and British Columbia (18 physical casinos).

Number of Commercial Online Operators in Canada

As we previously said, federal law prohibits Canadian-based online casino sites from operating unless they are state-run. However, with the passage of Bill C-218, Canadian provinces and territories were allowed to open their market to commercial online operators, provided they are based abroad.

Ontario became the first province to make use of the change, opening its doors to commercial online casinos in 2022. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (the main regulatory body in the province) has so far licenced 69 online casinos and sportsbooks. We expect more provinces to follow suit and introduce commercial online gambling soon.

Success of Commercial Online Operators in Numbers

To continue our previous section, Ontario’s coffers filled up soon after the province started licencing and regulating overseas commercial online operators. iGaming Ontario, a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, reported that the legal online gambling industry made $1.4 billion in total gambling revenue in the first year since the launch.

iGaming Ontario also shared that Ontarians wagered $35.6 billion (the total value of wagers made in online sportsbooks and online casinos) in 2022. Canadians are already allowed to play at offshore casino sites, but now a province can finally regulate them and profit off them, allowing Canadian money to remain in Canada.

Number of Active Gamblers in Canada

According to research conducted by Ipsos, six in ten Canadians or 60% of the population partake in at least one form of gambling (sports betting, casino gaming, bingo, lottery).

Another research finds that 19.3 million Canadians gamble online. This includes gambling at both online casinos and sportsbooks regulated by a Canadian province and those based abroad regulated by other gambling authorities.

Distribution of Gamblers Based on Gender

We were curious to find out what the gender distribution is in terms of gambling. Much like other countries, Canada reports that men gamble more than women, but the difference is not that great. Supposedly, 63% of men and 57% of women gamble every month.

In regards to online gambling, the division becomes greater as 56% of men and 43% of women self-reported to have gambled online.

Distribution of Gamblers Based on Province or Territory

Next, we wanted to see which province or territory had more gamblers per capita. Quebec takes the first spot with 69% of Quebecois saying they have gambled. Ontario may soon change the ranking since they have a legal commercial online gambling industry.

In terms of provinces and territories least likely to gamble, Manitoba and Saskatchewan report the lowest numbers but they are still pretty high in comparison to other places. Allegedly, 50% of Saskatchewanians and Manitobans have gambled in the past.

Distribution of Gamblers Based on Age

Lastly, we were interested to learn what the distribution of gamblers in Canada is based on age. Surprisingly, younger people are less likely to gamble; 55% of Canadians aged between 18 and 34 report to have gambled, while 64% of people aged between 35 and 54 share to have gambled in the past and/or continue to gamble.

Money Spent on Gambling in Canada

We looked at the available figures reported by various Canadian gambling authorities to find out how much money on average is spent every month. Based on that, we found that the average Canadian spends $6.75 every month on gambling.

Still, based on player data, the majority of Canadians, or 43%, report spending between $1 and $20 a month on gambling, while 14% of people spend between $20 and $100 a month, and around 2% to 4% report spending over $100 per month.

Again, older gamblers (in the 35-54 age group) are more likely to spend more on gambling.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed reading our article on gambling statistics in Canada. Were you surprised by any of the stats we showed you? Let us know!

FAQ

Thank you for reading this article exploring gambling statistics in Canada! We hope you enjoyed the read and learnt something new today. Below you can also find the most popular questions regarding gambling in Canada: