Offshore sites took CAD 712 million in bets, nearly CAD 230 million more than every licensed site in the country put together, new CasinoCanada research finds
TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The most valuable online gambling brand in Canada is not licensed to take bets in any Canadian province. New research published by CasinoCanada.com, which looked at all 301 gambling brands active in the country, puts Stake – an offshore site that lets players deposit in cryptocurrency – at an estimated CAD 2.50 billion ($1.8bn), ahead of every licensed operator Canadians can legally play with.
Stake is one of four offshore brands in Canada’s top ten, and it points to a wider pattern in the research: the minority of Canadians who play offshore are spending far more than the majority who don’t. Blask’s August 2026 figures show 66.47% of Canadian players now use licensed sites, against 33.53% who play offshore – yet offshore platforms took CAD 712 million ($512m) in wagers, compared with CAD 484 million ($348m) on licensed ones.
Where a player lives makes a striking difference. Ontario keeps around 91% of online gambling within its licensed market, a figure regularly held up as a success. Outside Ontario the picture flips: an estimated 93% of online gambling in Saskatchewan goes to sites with no Canadian licence, along with 88% in Alberta and Manitoba and 83% in Quebec, where Loto-Québec has run an online site since 2010. British Columbia, home to BCLC’s long-established PlayNow, sits at roughly 49%.
On why players leave, CasinoCanada points to things licensed sites are not permitted to offer. Ontario’s rules require player balances to be held in Canadian dollars through an authorised financial services provider, which keeps cryptocurrency out of the regulated market by design, while prediction markets sit largely outside provincial rules altogether. Both are growing quickly offshore: Rainbet has grown its Canadian business by 621% year-on-year, and offshore prediction market activity is up 161%.
Playing offshore also means playing outside the safeguards built for Canadian players, including provincial self-exclusion tools such as Ontario’s BetGuard, which only covers sites licensed in the province. The research links offshore play to the players least able to absorb it. A 2026 Toronto Metropolitan University study of more than 1,800 bettors in Ontario and Alberta found men under 30 report 50% more gambling-related harm and 44% higher anxiety than bettors generally, with 60% saying responsible gambling messaging has little or no impact on them. Norwegian account-level data cited in the research found problem gamblers made up 2.1% of players but 46% of the money staked offshore.
Eugene Ravdin, Head of PR at CasinoCanada, said: “Very few players sit down to make a regulatory decision. They pick the site that has the game they want, the payment method they use, or the market they’re looking for. That’s how a brand with no licence anywhere in Canada ends up as the biggest in the country.
“What should concern people is who that pulls in. The players heading offshore are often the ones the data says are already at most risk, and they’re taking their money to sites that answer to no Canadian regulator and sit outside the protections built here. Better safer gambling messaging alone won’t bring them back – not while the products they’re going for aren’t available on licensed sites.”
The full research article can be read here: https://casinocanada.com/blog/channelisation-in-canada-is-not-finished-it-s-a-race-igaming-regulators-risk-losing/
If gambling is affecting you or someone you know, free and confidential support is available 24/7 in Ontario from ConnexOntario on 1-866-531-2600 or at connexontario.ca. The Responsible Gambling Council publishes a directory of gambling helplines for every province and territory.
Editor’s Notes
About CasinoCanada
CasinoCanada.com publishes news, interviews and data-led analysis on Canada’s iGaming market, with a focus on regulation, safer gambling, player behaviour, operator activity and market performance. The site tracks developments across Canada’s provincial gambling frameworks, including Ontario’s regulated market, Alberta’s market transition and the continued role of offshore operators, while featuring commentary from industry participants on how online gambling is changing across Canada.
https://casinocanada.com/
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