What Canadian Province Is Next in Line To Open Up iGaming?
Posted on: April 6, 2026, 08:42h.
Last updated on: April 6, 2026, 08:42h.
- New Brunswick Finance Minister talks about the province’s interest in regulating igaming
- New Alberta competitive igaming market set to go live July 13
- Ontario’s regulated igaming market hit $4 billion in revenue in 2025
Every time I go to an event and talk to people in the igaming industry in Canada, the message is the same – Ontario, and now Alberta, when talking market regulation, are just the beginning. It’s a matter of time before other provinces follow suit.
New Brunswick Gaming
So, what province or territory is next in line?
Last week there was an article in The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal detailing a growing desire among politicians there to follow in Ontario’s and Alberta’s footsteps and regulate the province’s igaming market.
That was after New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation reported that gaming revenues came in $5.7 million less than the government budgeted last year ($179.6 million). The story quoted Finance Minister Rene Legacy, saying the government is looking at channelling grey market operators into an Ontario-style competitive, regulated market.
Alberta About To Launch
The New Brunswick government has been talking about financial dark clouds – projecting to add $6 billion to the province’s debt over the next three years, according to its latest budget ($13.9 billion to $19.7 billion). The province is looking at a record $1.37 billion deficit at the end of this fiscal year, in large part because of the province’s largest ever investment in healthcare, according to the budget.
Currently, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation oversees legal igaming in the Atlantic Canada provinces – Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nove Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador.
Alberta announced last week its new igaming market will go live July 13. In that province, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis is handling registration and licensing, while the new Alberta iGaming Corporation will oversee the market.
Ontario’s Fourth Anniversary
The Ontario market is well established, four years old as of this past Friday and the numbers speak for themselves. I was there at the market launch event at the Toronto Stock Exchange, after the market went live in the early morning hours of April 4, 2022, with 30 igaming operators up and running that day.
Today? There are 47 licensed operators and 81 gaming websites, with over $98.3 billion in total cash wagers and $4 billion in revenue generated in 2025 (not including the financial performance of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission, the province’s igaming and lottery crown corporation). Ontario has a 20% tax rate off revenue.
I stay in touch with the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition folks and write on them regularly. The Coalition was launched in May 2023 when Betway, Bet99, DraftKings, Entain, Flutter, Games Global, Rush Street Interactive and Apricot Investments coming together, committed to working with the Quebec government and local stakeholders to develop a new regulatory framework for the province, that competes with government-owned Loto Québec, the only legal entity for online gaming.
Quebec Election
But Quebec is going to be the most challenging to turn, an industry source told us. Loto Québec is deeply entrenched. Opening that market up to U.S.-based operators to come in, for example, will be a tougher sell.
As spokesperson Ariane Gauthier told us in the recent past, and again this week, the Coalition, through a steady, incessant drumbeat, has struck a nerve with Loto Québec. And there’s a provincial election coming up this Fall. Gauthier told Casino.org recently in her opinion they have made progress with all the parties, in terms of moving the needle and opening Quebec up to a new igaming regulatory regime.
According to a senior industry source, if you were to rank it, one of the Atlantic provinces – New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia – will likely come next. Newfoundland & Labrador could opt in on that too. British Columbia probably comes in after that, the source said. BCLC will fight it. With Quebec, it will depend on the results of this fall’s election. Whatever the results of the election, the source thinks Quebec is 3-5 years away. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are unknowns. That’s the source’s speculation.
Grey Market Impacts
According to a Blask report, the igaming grey market continues to hold a dominant position in Canadian provinces and territories other than Ontario. In Canada offshore is outpacing domestic in terms of growth (offshore CEB grew 40% year-over-year versus 23% for domestic brands in 2025), with offshore operators added $1.6 billion in volume in 2025, compared to $0.8 billion for domestic. The gap between offshore and domestic is widening, they said, with a current grey market share national average of 66%.
Blask is an AI-driven market analytics platform specializing in the igaming industry, providing real-time insights into market size, competitive landscapes, player demand, and brand performance in countries around the world.
CEB, or Competitive Earning Baseline, is Blask’s new metric incorporating AI-driven analysis of market position, competitive dynamics, and consumer behaviour to evaluate a brand’s revenue expectations in any given market.
Containment in Ontario
A spokesperson from Blask said Ontario is the only province where the regulated market meaningfully contains the grey. Grey market operators account for just 19% of estimated revenue there. Quebec shows the sharpest disconnect: licensed operators hold 62% of consumer demand (Google search intent) but only 11% of estimated revenue. Loto-Québec captures the attention; grey market captures the money.
Alberta and Saskatchewan show the same pattern at smaller scale — grey market CEB share is 91% and 94% respectively, among the highest in the country.
For Atlantic Canada as a whole (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland), grey market revenue share averages around 77%, with Newfoundland being the most balanced of the four at 58%.
H2 Gambling Capital has estimated that BCLC had a 49% market share in fiscal 2024, up against the grey market operators, as a comparable. PlayNow.com is the only legal, regulated igaming site in that province.
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