Online Gambling Sees Growth in Canada

Canada has seen a steady growth in online gambling over the years. new online casinos 2020 sites first entered the Canadian community during the 1990s. Though they did become immensely popular, this all happened pretty much without the enthusiasm or support of any provincial or federal government. In fact, it could be argued the governing bodies did their part to stall the process. While citizens were allowed to play and enjoy online gambling and reap the benefits such as huge prize pools of money, they could only do so by playing at foreign sites. It was illegal for Canadians or any Canadian entity to run or operate an online gambling site.

This edict didn’t necessarily affect players, but it eventually impacted on government officials. Over time, it became obvious that by only allowing play through sites in other countries the country had missed out on an amazing and lucrative opportunity for a new revenue stream. Many officials at the provincial level gradually came to question if Canada was mistaken. Perhaps it should be in the online gambling business.

British Columbia was the first to dip its toes in the waters. PlayNow.com was Canada’s first regulated online gambling website. It is now three years old. Set up through the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, PlayNow offers the chance to purchase state lottery tickets, play casino games like poker and bingo, and sports betting. The venture saw enough success that it wasn’t long before Quebec set up a site for sports betting, table games and poker.

The recent launch of Playnow Manitoba gives Canada three home grown online casinos. Ontario may be the next province to regulate online gambling. That will give the majority of Canadians access to locally regulated Internet gaming sites. While no plan for the Ontario objective is set, it is likely they will offer online poker and the purchase of lottery tickets. It’s highly unlikely that growth of online gambling will stop with these three venues.

All of Canada has yet to embrace online gambling. Notably, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Labrador and Newfoundland have all made it quite clear they have no interest in regulating online gambling. This won’t prevent Canadians in those provinces from enjoying a variety of sports betting, bingo, poker and other online spinning games though. The majority of online gambling sites is ready to trade in Canadian currency and will happily accommodate Canadian players. And regardless of whether local government has an interest in the practice, Canadians can legally access these sites regardless of their residence.