The ability to wager, bet, gamble, whatever you wanna call it has never been easier, with the proliferation of online gambling that is now available, your next game is just a click away.
If there is one word that can accurately describe the rules and regulations involving online gambling and casinos, it is cryptic; though it can all seem a little bit fishy at first glance, and any answers, even from authoritative sources still tend to involve the phrase "grey" area there are now certain ways to gamble legally within the law.
The legality of online gambling & casinos, is much like the more traditional casino in that laws on gambling tend to be regulated at a local level, not only of course by individual country but typically by state, province, etc.
Much like the United States where the issue of online casinos is looked at on a state to state basis, online casino legislation in Canada is governed by the 10 individual provinces and the 3 territories (which are governed by the federal government of Canada) that make up the country, it makes sense then that the rules between provinces can be quite different.
One commonly found online casino type, yet to be mentioned is the offshore based online casino; for a long period of time the only way to bet outside of a legal casino, was with a bookie and while that was certainly an interesting experience, many were turned off by the criminal element often associated with bookmakers.
Enter the internet, like it was for practically every other industry, the internet was groundbreaking for gamblers, no longer did you have to leave your home to bet/gamble, you could now play from the comfort of your home.
In addition to the convenience of the whole process, the number of games, bets , you could play/make increased infinitely.
Lax laws in European countries like: Britain and Italy, as well as Caribbean and Central American countries like Aruba, Antigua, and Panama that facilitate
The tricky part about these offshore gambling casinos, involves you guessed it, legality. Another grey area exists even with the laws and regulations placed on Gambling at casinos outside of Canada, what we do know for certain as understood from basic Canadian law is that any gambling site that is, or claims to be located in Canada must be issued a government issues gambling license, but besides that the law is relatively hazy.
Some other important things to note when considering the topic of, online casino legalization in Canada are:
It is legal to visit online casinos from within Canada, even if it happens to be an offshore casino.
There are also several offshore gaming servers which are actually physically located within Canada, albeit they are technically located in Quebec legally speaking they are within the sovereign territory of the Kahnawake Tribe, interestingly enough the Kahnawake are one of the world's biggest online gambling providers, formally operating under the name the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, until they ceased operations in 2015 - they now operate through an undisclosed ownership group on a revoked treaty provide by the Kahnawake.
Regardless the of the shape of the current ownership, the group under the Kahnawake charter operates the notable gambling site which offers an online casino, sports wagering, poker, and specialty games; a kind of gamblers eden.
It should be noted that while this is technically illegal, due to the Kahnawake tribe not being subject to provincial or even territorial gambling laws, it is not persecuted, which as mentioned already, forms the weird gray fog that crowds online gambling in many countries, including Canada, as such the government now operates its own online gambling casino (more to come later).
The government operated casino has the added positive of keeping revenue in the country, to be used for the public good, as opposed to the sometimes mysterious sometimes shadowy owners of offshore gambling casinos.
The Canadian government's online gambling site can be found at this url- https://www.playolg.ca/ - the site allows users to purchase lottery tickets with a click and also provides regular updates on the results of the frequent lottery drawings.
They've integrated with a number of top tier game suppliers and you'll find titles from providers like IGT and SG Digital available.
Another section of the site titled the "casino" offers slot games, table games, video poker, and horse racing that can be accessed via computer or the site's own app, available on Android, and IOS.
If you are looking to be completely clean, and use a regulated, federally legal gambling site in Canada this is where you go.
