Who Regulates Gambling in Ontario & Canada
Canada splits gambling oversight between the provinces. Ontario is the standout: since 2022 it has run the country's only open, competitive, privately-operated internet-gaming market, overseen by two distinct bodies.
The two Ontario bodies
AGCO — the regulator
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is the provincial regulator. It registers operators and suppliers, sets and enforces the Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming, and can investigate and penalize misconduct. Being "regulated by the AGCO" is what separates a legal Ontario site from an offshore one.
iGaming Ontario — the conduct & manage body
iGaming Ontario (iGO) is the agency that establishes the commercial relationship with registered operators and "conducts and manages" the market on behalf of the province. iGO also publishes the market-performance data — wagers, revenue, operators, player accounts — that this site tracks.
The rest of Canada
Outside Ontario, legal online gambling is generally offered through a provincial monopoly — a single government-owned platform per province (for example OLG's own site in Ontario's pre-2022 model, Loto-Québec in Quebec, BCLC in British Columbia, and the ALC in Atlantic Canada). Ontario's 2022 reform broke from that model by licensing many private operators to compete, and other provinces — Alberta among them — have signalled interest in a similar open framework.
The legal essentials
- Minimum age: 19 in Ontario (and most provinces); 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec.
- Legal online play: in Ontario, only through operators registered with the AGCO and contracted with iGO; elsewhere, generally only the provincial platform.
- Oversight: the federal Criminal Code sets the frame; the provinces conduct, manage, and regulate the activity.
Reference, not advice
This is a plain-language overview, not legal advice. For the authoritative rules see the AGCO directly.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-29.