Online Gambling in Ontario: Rules, Operators and Tax

Ontario is the exception, not the Canadian norm

Most provinces run online gambling as a government monopoly: one site, operated by a crown corporation. Ontario does not. Since 4 April 2022 it has run an open competitive market in which private operators may register and compete, which is why the choice available in Ontario looks nothing like the choice available in British Columbia or Quebec.

Two bodies sit behind it. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is the regulator and decides who is registered. iGaming Ontario (iGO) is the entity operators contract with in order to offer games. An operator needs both: AGCO registration and an operating agreement with iGO. One without the other is not a legal Ontario site.

As of the AGCO's published list the market holds 49 registered operators running 84 gaming websites. That list is public, it is updated, and it is the only thing worth trusting when a site claims to be legal in Ontario.

How to check a site is actually registered

Registration is not something you have to take on faith. The AGCO publishes the List of Registered Internet Gaming Operators, and a registered Ontario site is required to identify itself as operating under that framework.

This matters more in Ontario than anywhere else in Canada, because Ontario is the province where a site can plausibly claim to be locally licensed. In a monopoly province the test is trivial - if it is not the government site, it is offshore. In Ontario the claim needs checking.

The legal age is 19

You must be 19 or older to gamble on any product conducted and managed by iGaming Ontario. That is the age of majority in Ontario, and it applies to casino games and to sport and event betting alike.

BetGuard: one place to opt out of every Ontario site

Ontario built something no other province has. BetGuard is a centralised self-exclusion tool that lets anyone 19 or older opt out of every regulated online gaming site in the province through a single portal, rather than excluding themselves operator by operator.

Individual operators must still offer their own tools as a minimum - deposit limits, time limits, a short break and a longer self-exclusion. BetGuard sits above them.

The limit is worth stating plainly: BetGuard reaches registered Ontario operators. It does not reach an offshore site, because no provincial scheme can. If you self-exclude and an offshore site still lets you deposit, that is not a failure of the tool - it is the gap between the regulated market and everything outside it.

Do you pay tax on gambling winnings in Ontario?

Gambling tax in Canada is federal, not provincial. Your winnings are treated as a windfall rather than income, and paragraph 40(2)(f) of the Income Tax Act keeps a gambling gain out of the capital gains rules as well. There is no line on your return for it and nothing to declare. That answer does not change when you cross a provincial border, and it does not change depending on whether you played on a provincial site or an offshore one.

So there is no such thing as an Ontario gambling tax on the player. Ontario taxes the operators through its share of the market; you are not part of that calculation.

The one exception is national too: if gambling is genuinely carried on as a business rather than played, the profits become business income. The bar is very high - the Tax Court confirmed in 2022 that even a World Series of Poker Main Event winner did not meet it. Our guide on when gambling winnings become taxable sets out what the courts actually look at.

Where to get help

ConnexOntario is the province's referral service for gambling, mental health and substance use, free and available 24 hours a day. Call 1-866-531-2600, or text CONNEX to 247247. It is confidential and it is not connected to any operator.