How to check if an online gambling operator is actually licensed
"Licensed" gets used loosely. What actually matters in Canada is whether an operator is registered with your own province's regulator -- Ontario's AGCO (through iGaming Ontario) and Alberta's AGLC are the only two provinces that register private operators at all. A licence issued by another country, or a listing on any comparison site, is not the same thing and does not carry the same protection.
When an operator is registered in your province, the regulator holds it to real rules: how it handles your deposits and withdrawals, what responsible-gambling tools it has to provide (deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion), and where you can file a complaint if something goes wrong. An operator with no provincial registration answers to none of that -- if it delays a withdrawal or ignores a self-exclusion request, there is no Canadian regulator holding it to account.
How to check it yourself
This is the one habit worth building before you sign up anywhere: go to the official register and search the operator's name. It takes under a minute, and it is the only check that actually matters -- more durable than trusting any comparison site, including this one.
- Ontario: search the operator on iGaming Ontario's public register of registered operators: igamingontario.ca/en/operator/operators. We last checked this register on 2026-09-06.
- Alberta: search the operator on the AGLC's gaming registrants list: aglc.ca/gaming-registrants. We last checked this register on 2026-09-17.
- If your province runs its own government platform instead of licensing private operators (see below), the check is simpler: that platform is your only regulated online option.
Registers change -- operators are added and removed. The official register is the authority, not this site or any other comparison site. If an operator isn't on the register the day you check, treat it as not registered, even if it appears on a comparison page somewhere, including here. We keep our own operator listings dated for exactly this reason -- see any operator's registration date on our comparison pages.
What this means where you live
Regulated online gambling is decided province by province in Canada -- there is no single national answer. Ontario and Alberta residents can check a private-market register directly (above). Residents of British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador have one regulated option: their province's own government platform. Residents of Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut currently have no regulated online gambling option at all.
See regulated options by province, or pick your province below.
Provinces with a government platform
These provinces run online gambling through a single government-operated platform instead of licensing private operators. That platform is the only lawful place to play online in these provinces -- there is no private-market register to check.
- British Columbia: PlayNow.com
- Manitoba: PlayNow.com (MB)
- Saskatchewan: PlayNow.com (SK)
- Quebec: Espacejeux.com
- New Brunswick: alc.ca / proline.ca
- Nova Scotia: alc.ca / proline.ca
- Prince Edward Island: alc.ca / proline.ca
- Newfoundland and Labrador: alc.ca / proline.ca
Provinces and territories with no regulated online option
Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut do not currently license or operate a regulated online gambling platform. There is no register to check and no government platform to point to in any of them -- if that changes, this page will be updated to reflect it.
What does it mean for an online casino or sportsbook to be registered in Canada?
Only two provinces register private online gambling operators at all: Ontario, through AGCO/iGaming Ontario, and Alberta, through the AGLC. A registered operator has agreed to follow that province's rules on player funds, responsible-gambling tools, and complaint handling. Every other province either runs its own single government platform (like PlayNow.com or Espacejeux.com) or currently has no regulated online option -- there is no third category of "licensed" that applies in those provinces.
How do I check if an operator is registered with AGCO or iGaming Ontario?
Go to iGaming Ontario's public register of registered operators at igamingontario.ca/en/operator/operators and search the operator's name. We last checked this register on 2026-09-06. If the name isn't on the list on the day you check, treat it as not registered in Ontario, regardless of what any comparison site (including this one) says.
How do I check if an operator is registered with the AGLC in Alberta?
Go to the AGLC's gaming registrants list at aglc.ca/gaming-registrants and search the operator's name. We last checked this register on 2026-09-17. As with Ontario, the register itself is the authority -- if an operator isn't listed, it isn't registered in Alberta that day, no matter what any other site claims.
Why does provincial registration actually matter to me as a player?
A registered operator answers to your province's regulator: it has to follow rules on how it handles deposits and withdrawals, what responsible-gambling tools it provides (deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion), and where you can complain if something goes wrong. An operator with no Canadian registration answers to none of that -- there is no provincial regulator to complain to if it delays a withdrawal or ignores a self-exclusion request.
Does a government platform like PlayNow.com or Espacejeux.com count as regulated?
Yes. In provinces that run a single government-operated platform instead of licensing private operators, that platform is the province's own regulated option, and currently the only one -- there is no private-market register to check in those provinces.
Is online gambling regulated in the territories?
No. Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut do not currently license or operate a regulated online gambling platform, so there is no register and no government platform to check in any of the three.