Canada SERP Research Protocol

Legal context that shapes the results

Section 207 of the Criminal Code allows "the government of a province, either alone or in conjunction with the government of another province" to conduct and manage lottery schemes, including computer-based ones. Each province therefore decides how online gambling works.

• Ontario: the AGCO says the internet gaming framework "was launched on April 4, 2022". Operators must be "private gaming operators, registered with the AGCO and under contract with iGO". iGaming Ontario publishes the directory of authorized operators and sites. The minimum age for iGaming sites is 19.
• Alberta: the provincial government's January 2026 factsheet says the iGaming Alberta Act names AGLC as regulator, creates the Alberta iGaming Corporation, and sets "the minimum age to place bets online at 18 years". Trade reports say the competitive market went live on July 13, 2026; we could not confirm that date on a provincial page, so check before quoting it.
• Québec: Loto-Québec states that its site is the only fully legal and local online casino and sports betting site in the province, for players 18 and over.
• Other provinces: generally a provincial lottery corporation's online site, alongside unregulated international sites in results.

Sampling protocol

1. Location: one sample per province you report on, with Ontario as the primary open-market series and Alberta tracked separately while its market settles.
2. Language: English everywhere; French and English for Québec as separate cohorts. The Office québécois de la langue française says a website used by a business established in Québec to market goods or services there must be in French.
3. Devices: mobile and desktop separately.
4. Keyword groups: casino, slots, live casino, sports betting, brand, informational and policy context, with province names where searchers use them ("online casino ontario").
5. Calendar: annotate NHL playoffs and other major events for sportsbook queries.

Check brands against provincial lists

For Ontario, record whether each ranking brand appears in iGaming Ontario's directory of registered operators. For other provinces, record whether a domain is the provincial lottery site, a regulated private operator (where a province licenses them) or neither. Ontario's rules also restrict inducement advertising and athlete endorsements, which changes what ranking pages contain compared with other provinces.

Safer gambling

In Ontario, ConnexOntario is available 24 hours a day on 1-866-531-2600. Use the help resources of each province you publish for.

Questions

Spotted an error? Tell us with a link to the source. Corrections are logged on the page they affect (corrections policy).