Does Ontario's iGaming licensing framework cover online poker and sports betting as well as casino games?

Say you're a Toronto player who enjoys poker on Tuesday nights, bets on Raptors games on the weekend, and occasionally spins slots — you might reasonably wonder whether Ontario's regulated framework covers all three, or just the casino side. The answer is all three, and they sit under the same regulatory roof.

iGaming Ontario established a game catalogue policy that determined what offerings would be legal in the Ontario market — and that list explicitly includes peer-to-peer poker, sports betting, casino games, and novelty betting. So the framework wasn't designed as a slots-and-tables-only system; it was built from the start to accommodate the full range of online gambling products Ontarians were already seeking out.

How the three segments actually work

The casino category — which covers slots, live and computer-based table games, and peer-to-peer bingo — is the largest segment by wagers among iGaming Ontario operators. Casino products attracted the most player interest, with casino revenue representing 75% of total gaming revenue in the 2024–25 fiscal year.

Sports betting has its own regulatory layer. Companies that want to offer sport and event betting must be registered with the AGCO and be conducted and managed by either iGaming Ontario or the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. The federal passage of Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, in June 2021 paved the way for single-event sports betting to be introduced province by province — before that, only parlay-style bets were permitted. Betting on major sports including basketball, football, hockey, soccer, and baseball contributed to the increase in wagering activity in 2024–25. The AGCO's standards also cover eSports: players in Ontario can bet on eSports if the event meets the AGCO's standard for acceptable events.

Poker is the smallest of the three segments but arguably the most distinctive. At more than $1.5 billion in total wagering in the market's second year, peer-to-peer poker is the smallest of the three major segments — yet Ontario has become the largest ring-fenced online poker market by gaming revenue in North America. The ring-fenced structure means Ontario players compete against other Ontario-based players; at this time, Ontario players can only participate in games with other players located in Ontario.

One framework, different site specializations

Not every registered operator offers all three product types. Operator sites vary in focus, featuring casino games, sports betting options, and peer-to-peer poker — some run dedicated sportsbooks, some are poker-only rooms, and others combine everything. The iGaming Ontario operator directory at igamingontario.ca tags each site by category so you can see exactly what a given platform offers before signing up.

One thing that doesn't fall under the iGO framework: lotteries. OLG is, and will continue to be, the only entity authorized to conduct and manage all lottery offerings in Ontario — scratch tickets, Lotto 6/49, and the like remain exclusively OLG territory and aren't part of the open private-operator market.

Being a fully registered and authorized operator in the Ontario igaming market means the organization has received registration from the AGCO and, with the exception of OLG.ca, has executed an operating agreement with iGO. When you're on a regulated site, you'll see both the iGaming Ontario logo and the BetGuard logo — those two marks together confirm the site is legitimate. You need to be 19+ to play, and if you ever want to step back from any or all of these products at once, BetGuard (betguard.ca) lets you self-exclude from every licensed Ontario operator in a single request. For support, ConnexOntario is reachable at 1-866-531-2600.