Canada’s online gambling scene can seem a little confusing at first glance. That’s because legislation varies from province to province. For instance, Ontarians can enjoy a wide variety of safe and legal online casinos, thanks to the province’s competitive online gaming market that permits private operators. Just a short trip over the border to Quebec, and the only official platform is the government-owned Espacejeux.
In Nova Scotia, online gambling is legal. The province provides one betting and gaming site with legal oversight. Residents can legally access offshore casino sites, although doing so brings its own risks. The grey market is not regulated, and so casinos can vary considerably when it comes to security, fairness, and safer gambling protections.
Two main organizations oversee gambling in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation is responsible for overseeing all gambling activities in the province. This is a Crown corporation that was created under the Gaming Control Act. The NSGC is tasked with managing revenues, setting policy, maintaining responsible gambling standards, and reporting directly to Nova Scotia’s government.
The NSGC is not to be mixed up with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which operates Nova Scotia’s only regulated online casino platform available to residents, ALC.ca. While it is the only offering in Nova Scotia with official oversight, it does host a wide range of slots, table games, lottery products, and sports betting offerings.
ALC is jointly owned by the four Atlantic provinces and provides digital products via a collaboration with Evolution Gaming. This partnership is striving to compete with offshore operators and has upgraded its products in recent years. This includes the creation of live-dealer games streamed from studios. Despite ALC’s best efforts, a single online casino platform is unlikely to feel satisfactory to many Nova Scotians who enjoy gambling online.
Offshore gambling sites are widely used by Nova Scotians, and they are not breaking the law by doing so. The province does not have a pathway to provide private operators with licenses to operate. However, access and payments to offshore sites are not restricted, and residents are allowed to use these platforms at their own discretion. The provincial government has shown little intention of changing the status quo and blocking grey market sites.
Without local oversight, residents are at risk of falling victim to scam sites and are vulnerable to experiencing gaming harms. Player protections differ, depending on where the site is licensed. Black market casinos are those that have no operating license at all, and these sites should be strictly avoided.
There are some steps that users can take to avoid running into problems. Choosing a casino that is licensed in a trusted jurisdiction with stringent regulations is a good strategy. Checking that the website address begins with “https://” and is preceded by a padlock symbol is another basic security tip.
The best way to avoid untrustworthy grey market sites is to check out user reviews and industry guides. Casino.ca provides up-to-date info on the best online casinos available to Canadians, as well as which to steer clear of. Readers will also find useful guidance on new games, where to find the best bonuses, and different types of casinos.
As it stands, there is no indication that anything is going to change anytime soon in Nova Scotia. No plans have been announced, nor any legislative efforts made to introduce a licensing regime that would allow private online casino operators to obtain provincial licenses. That is not to say that Nova Scotia’s ministers are not aware of how consumer trends are changing and the growing demand for safe and accessible online gambling.
For now, residents can continue to use the ALC platform, alongside offshore casino sites.
If Nova Scotia were to consider launching its own competitive online betting and gaming market, this would mark a significant policy shift. Public consultation would first be necessary, as would readings of draft legislation, before any bills would become law.
Lawmakers would likely have to amend the Gaming Control Act and any other relevant regulations to forge a path to license private operators. Early last year, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Finance confirmed that the province is “monitoring developments in other jurisdictions” but gave no further indication that the present model would change.
At present, the government is more focused on creating improvements to its existing ALC platform. We have already seen the partnership with Evolution Gaming offer a range of live-dealer games to the platform. An agreement with NetEnt at the end of 2024 also saw a number of popular slots added to the site.
Recent years have seen the site’s sports betting section expanded, as well as improvements to the progressive jackpot games. All these tweaks show that the Atlantic Lottery Corporation does recognize the need to keep up with the offerings available at offshore casinos. However, it is falling short of the mark, as its portfolio does not compare well with those of other casinos. Neither would its bonuses be considered competitive in the wider marketplace.
In its current state, ALC does not really offer enough to ward consumers off the grey market. This poses a problem for Nova Scotia, one that is being faced by other provinces that do not regulate privately run gambling sites. Revenue generated by offshore sites does not benefit Nova Scotia. Instead, it flows out of the province and often out of Canada.
A competitive regulated online gambling market could provide benefits to the local economy through job creation, licensing fees, and taxation. However, it has been pointed out that it could be hard to offset the administrative costs of establishing a new system due to the size of the province’s population.
In Ontario, which launched its own competitive iGaming market in 2022, the financial rewards are already being reaped. The second year of its market saw revenue of $2.4 billion, a 72% increase on the previous year. Ontario serves as a useful model to provinces that are interested in changing their online gambling regulations.
Alberta has taken the plunge and is expected to start offering players access to regulated private operators sometime next year. At the time of writing, no other provinces are in the process of changing their legislation to follow Ontario and Alberta. Time will tell, though, as these two trend-setting provinces have certainly caught the attention of government officials across Canada.
