Is Online Gaming Legal In Canada?

When the biggest online poker series’ take place, you’ll see the Maple Leaf flag flying on most leaderboards. When Black Friday struck almost a decade ago, hundreds of poker players took refuge north of the 49th parallel separating the USA and Canada. The ‘Great White North’ is an online gamblers paradise, and here’s why…

While online players in the US suffered greatly from the 2011 crackdown, Canada flourished – the grey area that encompassed online poker and casinos left pretty much t its own devices by the authorities.

Not that it meant a complete free-for-all, but as long as you weren’t an actual Canadian company providing online services, you could happily go about your business.

For the Kahnawake Gaming Commission – which is one of the world's largest online gambling hosts – it meant they could direct players to PokerStars, partypoker, ACR, 888poker and many more besides.

Likewise, those who prefer the table games of online casinos weren’t short of choice – if you can’t find your favourite game in Canada, it probably doesn’t exist.

Naturally, that led to great deals for players – websites springing up all over the place to help you navigate through the Canadian online gaming world.

Looking for the safest poker sites to play on? No problem. Want to find the best online casino bonus in Canada? It’s just a click away. Want to play a big online tournament series? Just hop across the border – and there are even sites that will relocate you to beautiful Canada if you want to get really serious about things.

Are things likely to change for the worse at some point? Almost exactly the opposite would seem to be the answer – provinces themselves getting involved in setting up online portals.

In a bid to rival the First Nation Mohawk tribe’s Kahnawake hosting, British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario have all dipped their toes in the online portal waters.

More choice for players, tax revenue for the authorities – it’s the argument that’s been made across the globe for legalising and regulating online poker and casino gaming, and in Canada it seems to have found a permanent home.