Casinos in Canada are found almost in all provinces and territories in the country. The only exceptions are New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Canada reportedly has over 100 casinos, around 25 of which can be found in Ontario alone. Regulations for casinos in Canada are administered at a provincial level, with laws pertaining to Canadian casinos varying quite a bit with the province.

For example, in Alberta, casino gambling is allowed only when they are conducted for charitable purposes. The Gaming and Liquor Commission of Canada issues permits for the operation and formal conduction of such events to charitable institutions. The venue for conducting such operations are provided by licensed private operators.

 

Casinos in British Columbia, on the other hand, are operated privately. There are two venues for gambling activity in the province. One is Community Casinos, which has large bingo halls with their licenses extended to operate gaming machines; while the other one is Destination Casinos, which are larger venues inside major resorts and focus mainly on tourists.

‘Racinoes’ are another popular gambling venue in Canada. They operate in a number of race tracks across the country. Apart from horse race betting, racinoes provide slot games, table games and all other types of classical casino games as well. There are plenty of such venues operating across provinces like Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.

Canadian casinos are also operated by Indegenous Americans (more commonly known as Native Americans or Red Indians), referred to as First Nations.There are currently 643 of such recognised First Nations communities in Canada, with almost 50 percent of them residing in various places of British Columbia and Ontario. They are more or less like the Red Indian community in the USA, and have some degree of autonomy under so called First Nations governments. And just like in the United States of America these First Nations have reservations for operating gaming establishments. For example in Saskatchewan, there are 6 gaming establishments that are operated by the First Nations, apart from the two state owned and operated casinos.

There are many other forms of gambling in Canada apart from land based and online casinos in Canada. Even though all gambling in Canada comes under a historic federal blanket ban which is technically in force even today, throughout the 20th century, people have found exceptions and loopholes in the laws regarding the general prohibition, hence facilitating a significant growth in legal gaming. After state run and charity run lotteries were introduced in 1969 as the first form of legal gambling, provincial governments collaboratively persuaded the federal governments to amend the laws related to gambling two decades later in 1985. Currently only 3 provinces in Canada have bans against casinos, with all provinces having legalised some sort of gambling over the years.