Understanding the legal gambling landscape in Canada can be a bit complex, as each province has its own regulations and legal gambling age limitations. Despite gambling not being illegal across the entire country, individual provinces have the authority to establish their own rules and guidelines for gambling activities and operators.
While some provinces allow national or provincial lotteries and bingo halls, other provinces may impose stricter restrictions, making most gambling activities illegal. This decentralized approach enables the provinces to choose their gaming policies.
As a result, the minimum legal gambling age can vary from one province to another. This is why online and offline casino gamblers should be aware of the current laws in their province/city or other provinces as well if they use to travel around. This rule works for most gaming platforms, from best $1 deposit casino to sports betting sites, let alone land-based facilities.
The table below shows the minimum legal gambling age in Canadian provinces at the time of writing this post.
| Alberta | 18 |
| British Columbia | 19 |
| Manitoba | 18 |
| New Brunswick | 19 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 19 |
| Nova Scotia | 19 |
| Ontario | 19 |
| Prince Edward Island | 19 |
| Quebec | 18 |
| Saskatchewan | 19 |
| Northwest Territories | 19 |
| Nunavut | 19 |
| Yukon | 19 |
Checking Player’s Age At Land-Based Casinos
Checking the visitors’ age at land-based gambling facilities such as casinos, sports betting venues, and bars that have slot machines spread across different locations, the process is relatively straightforward.
Generally, all visitors are required to present their ID documents to the responsible personnel as proof of meeting the legal gaming age in Canada. Once they are verified as eligible, they can freely play games and make bets in this facility.
Legal offline activities for eligible players include
- Land-based casinos & gaming machines
- Poker rooms
- Bingo halls
- Horse racing
- Lottery
- Betting on sports
- Scratch cards
- Charitable gambling events
Players who are allowed to gamble in the facilities are also allowed to consume alcohol there because the age for gaming and the age for alcohol consumption allowances are the same per province.
Why The Online Gambling Age Rules Are Different
One may be wondering why online gambling ages are different across the country, but the answer is basically almost the same – each province has its own rules and regulations, and its own gray areas and blind spots as well.
While online gambling is technically illegal in most provinces, the reality is more of a “grey market” scenario. Residents face no legal repercussions for engaging in online gambling activities at internationally licensed online casinos. The majority of provinces still follow outdated legislation that neither effectively regulates online gaming nor blocks access to illegal operators.
This situation results in a permissive environment, where people can try and play at online casinos as soon as they are 18, regardless of the province. However, Ontario stands as a significant exception to this prevailing norm. In April 2022, the province enacted new regulations, enabling the effective licensing of private online casinos operating from within Ontario or abroad. This legislation also came with extra safety measures to check the players’ age.
Checking Player’s Age At Online Casinos
Adequate online casinos that provide services to Canadian players follow “Know Your Customer” policies, which involve identity verification procedures for customers before real gambling becomes accessible. To maintain compliance with regulations, the casinos make verification an obligatory procedure.
Whether during the registration phase or when players are ready to make their first withdrawal, proof of age is requested. This process involves providing copies of valid identification documents such as passports, driver’s licenses, or ID cards during registration.
The casino carefully checks and verifies the provided information, which usually takes around 24 hours. Given the varying gaming age limitations among neighboring provinces, geolocation software is used by most casinos to prevent the registration of underage users on platforms from other provinces.
Ontario and other provinces that have updated legislation are very cautious about geolocation and their gamblers’ age, so online casinos that are allowed to operate in these areas are obliged to use geolocation software. Underage players are blocked at the stage of age verification, while players from an ineligible location are not allowed to register or even open the casino site.
Some players who are eligible in terms of age and location but are located close to the borders may experience geolocation software glitches and be unable to register or even open their already existing accounts. In this case, they have to contact Customer Support.