How did Ontario's online gambling market become legal and when did it open?

Ontario's regulated online gambling market opened on April 4, 2022 — and getting there took about a year of deliberate groundwork.

How it came together

In March 2021, the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Finance announced they were seeking feedback to inform the establishment of a competitive internet gaming market in Ontario. The process moved quickly. On July 6, 2021, the Government of Ontario announced the establishment of iGaming Ontario — originally a subsidiary of the AGCO — as a separate and distinct legal entity to conduct and manage internet gaming in the province when provided through private gaming companies, in accordance with Canada's Criminal Code.

Before Ontario's igaming market launched on April 4, 2022, OLG was the only internet gaming site regulated by the AGCO. The scale of what changed that day is hard to overstate: the first of its kind in Canada, Ontario's new internet gaming market allowed people in Ontario to play on world-class gambling sites, with the assurance that those sites are closely monitored for game integrity, player protections and responsible operations.

As of April 4, 2022, online gambling and sport and event betting operators that had completed AGCO's registration process and had a signed operating agreement with iGaming Ontario could begin offering their regulated games and betting platforms to eligible Ontarians of legal age. The regulatory backbone — the Registrar's Standards for Internet Gaming — came into force on that same date when Ontario's new igaming market launched.

The two bodies that run it

The structure is a two-part system. The AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) registers operators and sets the binding standards — covering everything from game integrity to anti-money laundering to responsible gambling safeguards. iGaming Ontario conducts and manages the market commercially, executing operating agreements with each private operator. In 2025, that relationship formalized further: on May 12, 2025, the iGaming Ontario Act was proclaimed and iGaming Ontario became an independent agency.

What it means for players in Ottawa today

For anyone playing from Ottawa, the practical upshot is straightforward: the sites available through this market are legal, provincially sanctioned, and held to enforceable standards — not offshore operations operating in a grey zone. A regulated igaming market means the provincial government has instituted rules to determine what organizations may operate legally; in Ontario, being a fully registered and authorized operator means the organization has successfully received a registration by the AGCO and, with the exception of OLG.ca, has executed an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.

The market has grown substantially since launch. At the end of the 2024–25 fiscal year, dozens of registered operators were active, generating over $82.7 billion in total wagers resulting in $2.9 billion in total gaming revenue from over 2.6 million active player accounts. To verify which sites are currently registered and live, the authoritative source is the operator directory at igamingontario.ca — it's updated in real time.

Regulated sites display both the iGaming Ontario logo and the BetGuard logo; per iGaming Ontario, seeing both confirms the site is managed by iGO and regulated by the AGCO. BetGuard also doubles as Ontario's centralized self-exclusion service — any 19+ player can use it to opt out of all licensed Ontario operators at once. If gambling ever becomes a concern rather than entertainment, ConnexOntario is available at 1-866-531-2600.