Ontario launches iGaming market
Ontario launched Canada's first competitive, regulated online gaming market.
On 4 April 2022 Ontario opened a regulated internet-gaming market, letting private operators offer online casino and sports betting once registered with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and contracted with its subsidiary iGaming Ontario. The framework brought previously grey-market operators onshore. Within days more than a dozen operators and over 20 sites had gone live.
The launch followed the federal legalisation of single-event sports betting in Canada in 2021. Ontario's model separated the regulator (AGCO) from the commercial 'conduct and manage' entity (iGaming Ontario), with operators returning a share of gaming revenue to the province. The market grew rapidly into one of North America's largest regulated iGaming jurisdictions and became a template that other Canadian provinces studied.
Ontario proved a competitive, multi-operator online model could work in North America outside the US state-by-state framework.
A teaching summary, not legal advice. Dates and figures are simplified for learning; confirm against the primary sources before relying on them.