Comparing Online Gambling Trends in USA and Canada – From Regulation to Popular Choices 

North America’s online gambling sector is vastly different now to even a decade ago. Across the US and Canada multiple new state and provincial markets have opened up since 2018, and consumer demand is stronger than ever. 

But, despite their geographical proximity and somewhat similar cultures, the two countries’ people and governments have approached online gambling differently. This piece will explain the key differences, from cultural and technological factors to regulatory and economic considerations.

The Two Systems are Based Around States and Provinces

Both countries have a somewhat patchwork approach to regulation, although the US had a much more centralized ban for a long time.

In Canada, online gambling is covered by the Criminal Code. It doesn’t criminalize gambling at all, unless it is run by a business located within the country that isn’t approved by the government. This allows room for poker home games, where no-one takes a cut of play for running it, as well as offshore casinos. Canadian players aren’t penalized for gambling, and casinos outside of Canada essentially freely offer them services.

However, offshore casinos pay no local taxes. So some provinces have attempted to address this in various ways. Most provinces have their own government-run online gambling platforms, and have now for a while. In some cases, longer than the US has had legal sports betting.

But only Ontario, and soon to be Alberta, have opened up a regulated market for locally licensed online gambling operators to step in.

Meanwhile, gambling laws in the US are now left up to individual states to determine. Since New Jersey took its case to the Supreme Court in 2018 and won, this has included online sports betting and casinos.

Currently, 31 states have legal online sports betting in the US. Two of the largest economies, California and Texas do not. Only seven states have legal online casinos. Offshore casinos and sportsbooks do serve US players but unlike in Canada state regulators have been known to crack down on them so access in states can vary.

Both Countries Have Seen Massive Growth in Regulated Markets

In the era of broader legalization, the US has become the world’s largest online gambling market. Regulated US online sports betting is now worth some $16 billion a year, while online casinos made about $10.7 billion in 2025.

Canada, partly due to sticking to provincial run operators outside of Ontario, has also seen significant growth but nowhere near on the same scale.

In fact, Canadian online casinos are bigger business than sports betting. Which is absolutely not the case in the US.

The US’ large and influential land-based casino sector has led states to be more restrictive with legalizing online casinos in many cases, whereas Canada has had provincial-backed online casino games for a decade or more now in some cases.

Meanwhile the US has a huge number of popular sports teams, far more than Canada, with the NFL driving lots of sportsbook and now prediction market activity. Surveys suggest some 30% of Americans have placed a sports bet in the past year, while (despite the popularity and value of the NHL) reportedly only 19% of Canadians said the same.

American Gamblers are Quicker to Embrace New Technology

The rapid expansion of legal online sports betting in the US has come with much focus on digital innovations. American firms, influenced by Silicon Valley big tech views on data management, have pushed new features and ways of gambling regularly. Things like in-play betting and same game parlays are far more popular in the US than in Canada, and the new kid on the block prediction markets have seen much more custom in the US.

This is reflected in the Canadian provinces cautious approach to regulated gambling, with most only offering a monopoly provincial backed provider. A route only Rhode Island and Montana have taken in the US, although half a dozen states have, for various reasons, only one commercial operator.

Payment systems are another differentiator between the markets. According to onlinecasino.ca’s gambling business experts, Canadian players feel the biggest benefit of eCheck payments is the security. In a crowded market with lots of innovations available, players look to third party reviewers to assemble info on different casinos so they can choose operators that have payment methods they feel secure using.

For Canadians, eCheck, Interac and other more established options are popular. Americans are often more happy to engage with app-based services and even cryptocurrencies. According to most estimates around 10% of Canadians own crypto, compared to some 30% of Americans.

Cultural attitudes toward gambling are also different on either side of the world’s longest land border. As mentioned, in the United States gambling has long been associated with large casino resort and entertainment destinations like Las Vegas and Atlantic City, or even for some decades now tribally operated casinos.

That just isn’t the case in Canada, meaning America has embraced gambling on a deeper cultural level that their northern neighbors Things are slowly changing with regulated online gambling markets in Ontario and soon to be Alberta, but for now the two countries gaming preferences, attitudes and regulatory frameworks remain quite different.