What records should I keep throughout the year to accurately report my online gambling activity to the CRA if needed?

The tax question that shapes everything

Lottery and most gambling winnings are non-taxable in Canada — but if the CRA determines you are in the *business* of gambling, the proceeds and losses must be considered for income tax purposes. That distinction is the whole game. Canadian courts have established that gambling "with a view to profit is an intention shared by all who gamble," so simply wanting to win doesn't make you a professional gambler carrying on a business. What does matter is the systematic, commercial character of your activity. The CRA looks at factors like the frequency and systematic nature of your play, whether you applied a consistent method or system, and whether gambling was your primary occupation. For most recreational players in Toronto — someone who logs into a registered Ontario platform on weekends for entertainment — winnings are a windfall and not reportable income. But if your play starts to look more like a structured, methodical pursuit of profit conducted with regularity and discipline, the CRA could characterize it differently. That's the line worth knowing. When in doubt, talk to a tax professional familiar with Canadian gambling law.

Records worth keeping regardless of your situation

Even if you're confident your gambling is recreational, keeping a clean record protects you. The CRA has noted that taxpayers often recall wins but have to be prompted to recall losses — which is exactly the kind of asymmetry that looks bad during a review. A contemporaneous log eliminates that problem. Here's what to track throughout the year:

• Session logs: Date, platform name, game type, amount wagered, result (win or loss). Even a simple spreadsheet updated after each session is far more credible than a year-end reconstruction from memory.
• Deposits and withdrawals: Online gambling involves deposits and withdrawals through credit cards or e-commerce accounts — keep every confirmation email, bank statement entry, and payment processor record that shows money moving in and out of your gambling accounts.
• Account statements from the operator: Registered Ontario operators maintain transaction histories. Download or screenshot these regularly — monthly is a sensible habit. You are responsible for making information about transactions available when the CRA asks for it, and third parties may not keep records for the period required by law.
• Bank statements: These independently corroborate your deposit and withdrawal records and are often the first thing a CRA auditor cross-references against your gambling activity.
• Screenshots or PDFs of large individual wins: If a single session or jackpot result is unusually large, save a contemporaneous record of it — the platform's win confirmation, the account balance before and after, whatever the operator provides.

If your activity could be classified as a business

If you play with high frequency, use a systematic approach, and gambling represents a meaningful share of your income, the record-keeping bar rises considerably. The CRA will consider proceeds and losses for income tax purposes in that scenario, which means you'd need records sufficient to support a net income or loss calculation — essentially, the same discipline expected of any self-employed person. If you carry on activities over the internet, you're responsible for keeping records of those internet-based transactions, which can include web logs, confirmation emails, and electronic records produced during transaction processing.

How long to keep everything

The CRA's general rule for individuals is to keep records for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. That's the safe floor. Don't delete old account statements just because a year feels closed.

One practical step specific to Ontario's regulated market

Because you're playing on registered Ontario platforms — sites that display both the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard logos as markers of legitimacy — you have an advantage: those operators are required to maintain detailed account-level transaction records. Use that. Log into your account history quarterly and save it somewhere you control (a folder in cloud storage, a local drive). Don't rely on the operator's servers being your only copy. One last thing: this is genuinely complex tax territory, and the business-vs-windfall line is fact-specific. A Canadian tax accountant who knows this area is worth consulting if your play is regular or significant. If gambling ever starts to feel less like a leisure activity and more like a compulsion, ConnexOntario (1-866-531-2600) is available 24/7 — and you'd need to be 19+ to be on a regulated Ontario platform in the first place.