Canada Gambling Statistics 2026

According to Statistics Canada's 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey – Gambling Rapid Response, nearly two-thirds of Canadians aged 15 or older — 64.5%, or 18.9 million people — gambled in the past year, and 1.6% of past-year gamblers (304,400 people) were at moderate-to-severe risk of gambling-related problems.

Canada Gambling Market Overview

Gambling is widespread in Canada, and most people who gamble do so without harm. But as gambling technologies — online poker, sports betting apps, and iGaming platforms — have expanded, monitoring the minority who experience gambling-related harm has become more important.

Key drivers of the current landscape include:

• Growing access to online and mobile gambling platforms
• Legalization of single-event sports betting under the 2021 Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act
• The April 2022 launch of Ontario's regulated iGaming market
• Provincial variation in access to casinos, VLTs, and lotteries

Gambling Participation Statistics

Participation by Age

People aged 45 to 64 were the most likely to gamble, while those 15 to 24 were the least likely.

Participation by Sex

Men (68.8%) were more likely than women (60.4%) to have gambled in the past year, a pattern that held across every age group.

Participation by Province

Participation by Income, Immigration Status, and Identity

• Income: participation rose with household income — 53.8% in the lowest quintile versus 71.5% in the highest.
• Immigration status: non-immigrants (69.7%) were more likely to gamble than immigrants (51.9%), and likelihood rose the longer an immigrant had lived in Canada (43.1% at ≤10 years vs. 58.5% at 10+ years).
• Racialized groups: White respondents (69.1%) reported higher participation than South Asian (39.8%), Chinese (45.6%), and Black (56.6%) respondents.
• Indigenous identity: Indigenous people (72.4%) gambled at higher rates than non-Indigenous people (64.2%).

Gambling Activity Statistics

Lottery and raffle tickets remain both the most popular and most frequently played form of gambling in Canada.

Men were substantially more likely than women to bet on sports, play casino table games, or trade in speculative financial markets, while women were more likely to play bingo and instant/scratch tickets. Playing more types of activities is itself a risk factor: 27.3% of past-year gamblers played just one activity, while 5.2% played four or more — and risk of problem gambling rises sharply with each additional activity played (the "dose-response" effect).

Problem Gambling Statistics

Using the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI), most gamblers show no signs of harm, but a small share are at moderate-to-severe risk.

Vulnerable Populations

Gambling Risk Factors in Canada

Associated with higher gambling participation

• Higher household income (top quintile: 71.5% participation)
• Being married or living common-law (67.6% participation)
• Non-immigrant status (69.7% vs. 51.9% for immigrants)
• Indigenous identity (72.4% vs. 64.2% for non-Indigenous)

Associated with higher problem-gambling risk

• Playing multiple types of gambling activities (dose-response effect)
• Being single, separated, or divorced
• Lower household income (bottom quintile: 2.7% at moderate-to-severe risk)
• Fair or poor self-perceived mental health (5.0% at moderate-to-severe risk)
• Daily smoking (4.3%) and heavy drinking (2.1%)
• Indigenous identity (4.5% vs. 1.5% for non-Indigenous)

Who Is Most Vulnerable

Even after adjusting for other factors in a multivariable analysis, several characteristics remained independently linked to problem gambling:

• Sex: men had significantly higher odds than women.
• Region: residents of Quebec and the Prairies had higher odds than Ontario.
• Income: the lowest 40% of household incomes had higher odds than higher-income households.
• Marital status: single, separated, or divorced people had higher odds than married/common-law people.
• Indigenous identity: Indigenous respondents had roughly double the odds of non-Indigenous respondents.
• Mental health: fair or poor self-perceived mental health more than tripled the odds.
• Smoking: daily smokers had over double the odds of non-smokers.
• Number of activities: playing four or more types of gambling activities raised the odds nearly 18-fold compared with playing just one.

No significant differences in problem-gambling risk were found by sexual orientation, immigration status, age group, or racial background once other factors were controlled for — though sexual-minority men showed elevated odds in sex-specific analysis.

Regulatory Context

1. 2002

   Last national gambling survey prior to CCHS-GAM (CCHS Mental Health)

2. Jul–Dec 2018

   CCHS–Gambling Rapid Response module collected

3. 2021

   Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act legalizes single-event sports betting

4. Apr 2022

   Ontario iGaming market launches

The 2018 CCHS data pre-date two major regulatory shifts: the 2021 Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, which legalized single-event sports wagering nationally, and the April 2022 launch of Ontario's regulated iGaming market. Both are expected to expand access to sports betting and online casino products, making continued monitoring important.

Outlook

Because gambling opportunities and technologies continue to expand — particularly online sports betting and iGaming — Statistics Canada's 2018 findings serve as a pre-legalization baseline. Future surveys will help determine whether increased access to sports betting and online platforms is associated with rising rates of problem gambling, especially among men, lower-income households, Indigenous people, and those with multiple gambling activities.

Key Takeaways

• Statistics Canada's 2018 CCHS–Gambling Rapid Response found 64.5% of Canadians aged 15+ (18.9 million people) gambled in the past year.
• About 1.6% of past-year gamblers (304,400 people) were at moderate-to-severe risk of gambling problems.
• Men were more likely than women both to gamble (68.8% vs. 60.4%) and to be at moderate-to-severe risk (2.0% vs. 1.2%).
• Lottery and raffle tickets were the most common and most frequently played activity (51.8% of Canadians).
• Indigenous people reported higher gambling participation (72.4% vs. 64.2%) and higher problem-gambling risk (4.5% vs. 1.5%) than non-Indigenous people.
• Lower-income households gambled less often but were more vulnerable to problems: 53.8% participation with 2.7% at moderate-to-severe risk, versus 71.5% participation and 1.1% risk in the highest-income quintile.
• Playing more types of gambling activities sharply raised risk, from 0.5% (one activity) to 7.3% (four or more activities).
• The 2021 Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act and 2022 launch of Ontario's iGaming market post-date this survey and are expected to reshape the market going forward.

Methodology

Sources