Canada has no single national casino regulator. Under the Criminal Code, provinces are responsible for conducting and managing gambling, which means each of the ten provinces has its own rules, its own agencies and its own approach to online play.
For a reader in the United States who is curious about how the system works north of the border, the patchwork can look confusing at first. A broader look at the best gambling sites in Canada appears in a Toronto Star feature, and this article explains why the picture varies so much from one province to the next.
The federal Criminal Code sets out which forms of gambling are illegal, and it allows provinces to run or license gambling within their borders. In practice, that means each province designs its own system.
Some use a provincial lottery corporation to operate online casinos directly. Others license private operators under a regulator. The result is a mix of models under one flag.
