Canada is now the third-largest online gambling market in the world with an estimated CAD 13.15 billion generated in 2025, yet new research from CasinoCanada.com finds it still has no national self-exclusion register and no national licensing framework – meaning a player who self-excludes in one province can continue gambling offshore, or across provincial borders.
Drawing on iGaming Ontario figures, provincial regulatory data, Blask’s 2025 iGaming Landscape Report and peer-reviewed public health research, the analysis traces the gap to a constitutional structure that leaves gambling to the provinces and Ottawa without a national regulator. In effect, there are ten parallel regimes that do not connect to one another.
As a consequence, estimated offshore leakage outside Ontario ranges from 49% in British Columbia to 93% in Saskatchewan, with Alberta and Manitoba at 88%. Offshore platforms also grew 40% year-on-year in 2025 – nearly double the 23% growth of licensed operators.
Most starkly, a January 2026 study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found gambling-related contacts to Ontario’s ConnexOntario helpline rose an estimated 198% after the market opened in 2022, concentrated almost entirely among boys and men aged between 15 and 44.
Ontario remains a success, with channelisation at 91.1% and its new BetGuard self-exclusion tool drawing more than 500 registrations in its first two weeks. But set against 1.235 million active player accounts, and stopping at the provincial border, it underlines how far the country still has to go.
Eugene Ravdin, Head of PR for CasinoCanada, said: “Record wagers and a near-200% rise in helpline contacts are happening at the same time, which tells you market growth and player protection are not the same thing. The tools that work internationally – GAMSTOP, Spelpaus, BetStop – all cover the whole market under a single registration.
“Canada has nothing like it. A national register wouldn’t just protect players, it would also help licensed operators compete against offshore sites. This is a commercial argument as much as a moral one.”
The full article can be read here: https://casinocanada.com/blog/canadas-safer-gambling-gap-why-market-success-doesnt-always-equal-player-safety/
