Sports betting
Is sports betting legal in Canada?
Yes. Single-event sports betting became legal across Canada in 2021, and every province offers it in some form.
What differs is who runs it. Ontario licenses private operators through iGaming Ontario; elsewhere the provincial lottery corporation runs the sportsbook, and international sites operate on offshore licences.
The two models
Ontario has an open registered market: private operators apply, get registered, and compete. That is why the choice of apps is wider there than anywhere else in the country.
Every other province runs a crown option. Alberta has legislated toward opening a private market as well; check whether that has actually gone live before assuming an app is licensed there rather than operating offshore.
Age, and it is not the same everywhere
Nineteen in Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces. Eighteen in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec.
Apps check this at registration and again at verification. Getting it wrong does not usually mean a refusal, it means a locked balance.
What changes on your phone
Store listings are geo-fenced. An app you saw in Toronto may simply not appear in the store when you are in Halifax, and the operator has no obligation to explain why.
We count that per province: how many are listed, how many are Android sideloads, how many are a browser bookmark with an icon. Start at /where/ and pick yours.