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Key TakeawaysA majority decision by Ontario’s Court of Appeal found that allowing local online gamblers to play peer-to-peer games with players outside Canada would remain lawful.The decision may pave the way for a potential return of daily fantasy sports and larger poker games in Ontario, though implementation could take time due to possible appeals and regulatory agreements.The ruling is a win for Ontario’s iGaming market, which has struggled with limited liquidity and the absence of major DFS operators since 2022.Court Ruling on Ontario’s Proposed ModelOn Wednesday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a long-awaited opinion regarding the legality of letting Ontario-based online gamblers participate in peer-to-peer games with players located outside of Canada. A majority of appeals court judges that heard the reference (four out of five) concluded that online gaming and sports betting would remain lawful under the Proposed Model.The model pitched by the Ontario government to the appeals court would allow provincial gamblers to wager with and against players in other countries, but not in other provinces, unless Ontario first reached an agreement with those other provinces.In summary, the Proposed Model would permit players in Ontario to play peer-to-peer games against players who are physically situated outside Canada, and to bet on the outcomes. Examples of the peer-to-peer games that would be permitted include poker and daily fantasy sports wagering. The players located in Ontario and those in other countries would access these games through different web portals, with players in Ontario using Ontario-regulated sites, and players in other countries using websites or applications accessible in the jurisdictions where they are physically located.This, the majority said, would be legal under Canada's Criminal Code.Implementation Could Take TimeWednesday's majority opinion could ultimately revive, rejuvenate, and expand paid DFS and online poker in Ontario. However, it could still take time before regulated daily fantasy contests and bigger poker games are launched in Canada's most populous province.It's possible, and perhaps even very likely, the opinion is appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. That one appeals court judge dissented is notable. The four-judge majority (which included Chief Justice Michael Tulloch) also noted its opinion is based on several assumptions, such as that players outside of Ontario but within Canada will not be allowed to participate unless an interprovincial agreement is in place.Furthermore, the province will still have to strike acceptable agreements with other jurisdictions or operators to share iGaming-related liquidity. Meanwhile, Ontario-based operators will need to figure out how to offer games that comply with those arrangements.Many practical details about how the Proposed Model would operate remain undetermined. The Attorney General of Ontario has explained that Ontario will enter into agreements with international operators, foreign state gaming regulators, or foreign jurisdictions. However, it is unclear who in the government of Ontario will choose the jurisdictions or entities with which Ontario would enter into agreements and who would negotiate these agreements.Still, a win's a win. And Wednesday looks like a win for anyone who wants paid DFS back in Ontario.Industry ReactionThe Canadian Gaming Association called Wednesday's majority opinion a significant victory for Ontario, bringing back a valuable option for consumers who enjoy pooled gaming activities such as poker and Daily Fantasy Sports.The association said it looks forward to collaborating with both the Province of Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as they begin implementing these changes.The CGA, an intervenor in the court reference, also noted that while there are 30 days for an appeal of the decision to be launched, it believes that the strength of the verdict will encourage a measured response.Ontario's government referred the question to the appeals court regarding shared liquidity back in February 2024. A hearing was held last November that allowed the province and several other interested parties to make their case about how the appeals court should answer the following question: Would legal online gaming and sports betting remain lawful under the Criminal Code if its users were permitted to participate in games and betting involving individuals outside of Canada as described in the attached Schedule, and if not, to what extent?Why it took nearly a year for the court to issue its thoughts about the reference could be due to a few factors. One may be the novel nature of the reference, as no other court in Canada has tried to answer such a question, as well as a Manitoba court's ruling in May against offshore sportsbook Bodog.A footnote to Wednesday's decision said that the Canadian Lottery Coalition, a group of non-Ontario lotteries that intervened in the court reference, wrote to the court to draw the panel's attention to the Bodog case.Ontario’s DFS Drought and Closed LiquidityNevertheless, in Ontario's view, sharing iGaming liquidity with U.S. states or other countries would be legal, as provincial players would remain under local regulation and their foreign counterparts would be overseen by their jurisdictions. There could be, the province suggested, two or more different regulatory schemes involved in one game.The agreements between Ontario and its foreign partners would set the rules for such a game, addressing things like how old someone would have to be to play. In some ways, what the province was asking permission for is similar to what's been done with poker in the U.S., where several states share liquidity for games.The province also believed sharing iGaming liquidity with foreign jurisdictions would help the legal Ontario sports betting and iGaming market. That market is home to more than 80 private-sector sites offering sports betting, casino games, and bingo, but its requirement that all players be physically located in Ontario killed daily fantasy sports contests and limited the size of poker games.Case in point: DraftKings and FanDuel shuttered their DFS businesses in Ontario before launching in the province's new, regulated iGaming market in April 2022.While the two operators still offer online sports betting and internet casino games in Ontario, they do not offer DFS, which is partly because the contests they could offer would be much smaller than they'd like. Ontario also treats pay-to-play fantasy contests as gambling, and so operators would be subject to the province's iGaming rules and revenue-sharing requirements.Other big names in DFS, such as PrizePicks and Underdog, have steered clear of Ontario. iGaming Ontario, the government agency through which private-sector operators can do business in the province, said in an affidavit that Ontario's closed liquidity model has discouraged some operators from seeking to offer games and sports betting in the province through iGaming Ontario.Targeting the Grey MarketSo, while it's estimated the lion's share of online gambling in Ontario now takes place on provincially regulated platforms, approximately 20% of that activity may not. Some of that lost market share may even be due to players using DFS or poker platforms outside the provincially regulated system; providing for bigger poker games and for a way for major DFS operators to return to the province could help channel more play onto Ontario-regulated sites.The majority opinion noted that the advent of the internet has made it very difficult to prevent people in Canada from accessing offshore gaming sites, which are unregulated by Canadian authorities and do not generate revenue that the provincial governments can use to provide public services. Allowing Ontario to regulate players within its borders who wish to play online games against players outside Canada advances public safety by bringing such gaming under protective regulation, thereby reducing such risks as fraud and addiction. As well, it furthers provincial choice by enabling Ontario to address the social and economic impacts of online gaming, while preserving revenue and providing accountability to voters.The majority said they rejected a restrictive interpretation of a Criminal Code section allowing provinces to conduct and manage gambling, or lottery schemes, within their borders. Doing so, the opinion said, would undermine Parliament's purpose in enacting that provision.As the legislative history demonstrates, Parliament favoured provincial regulation because unregulated gaming that lacks provincial safeguards is harmful to society, increasing the risks of crime, fraud, and addiction. The majority accepted the Attorney General of Ontario's contention that leaving extraterritorial online gaming unregulated in Ontario would foster those harms.Opposition from Other ProvincesWith all that said, not everyone in Canada believes Ontario should be able to connect its online gamblers with rivals outside the country. Most notably, several government-owned lottery and gaming corporations, the Canadian Lottery Coalition, pushed back on Ontario's plans.The objections of the non-Ontario lotteries were on legal grounds and because of concerns about Ontario-regulated iGaming operators allegedly advertising and trying to acquire customers in other provinces.The Canadian Lottery Coalition said in a statement that it is encouraged that the Court of Appeal recognized that players in its jurisdictions cannot be permitted to participate in games or betting unless an agreement is in place with its provinces.The coalition added that the Court's decision is explicit that these international affiliates must stop taking bets from Canadians outside of Ontario should they choose to proceed with this proposed scheme, further confirming that the coalition's respective sites are the only legal operators in its provinces. The group said its members will continue to review the Court's ruling and that it had no further comment at this time.Dissenting View on Criminal Code LimitsOne of the five judges hearing the Ontario iGaming reference saw things at least somewhat how the lotteries did, and dissented.As Justice Katherine van Rensburg saw it, Ontario's proposed model anticipates a way of gambling that would fall outside of what's permitted by the Criminal Code. Ontario, she wrote, would be conducting and managing games outside its territorial limits.Whether the Proposed Model is conceived of as one lottery scheme or two, or more, Ontario's actions in relation to the proposed agreements, the anticipated games and the overall lottery framework, would take it outside the protection provided in section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code because they would not occur entirely in that province, van Rensburg wrote.In her view, regardless of whether, for the purpose of this reference, the Proposed Model is conceived of as one lottery scheme or as two, or more, lottery schemes, with the lottery scheme conducted and managed in Ontario linking with an international scheme, or schemes, Ontario would be taking actions in relation to the international elements of the Proposed Model that would not fall within the exemption for provincially operated lottery schemes provided for in section 207(1)(a) and would contravene provisions of the Criminal Code.This is a breaking news story and may be updated as further developments occur.

How U.S. Online Gambling Revenues Have Surged Amid Changing Consumer BehaviorLONDON, United Kingdom, November 27, 2025 (EZ Newswire) -- In recent years, the iGaming industry in the United States has witnessed a dramatic transformation, and online gambling revenues have surged amid ongoing changes to consumer behaviour and the ever-growing public demand for this hugely popular form of entertainment. With increasingly permissive legislation being introduced within certain areas of the country, this accessible gaming format is now revolutionizing the national gambling market, and regularly attracting many thousands of new players.Whilst gambling on U.S. soil was previously heavily associated with brick-and-mortar establishments and the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip, changing player preferences have led to a rapid rise in demand for online casino platforms. The ease and accessibility of internet gambling is changing the wider industry beyond recognition, and changes to regulation are creating brand new opportunities for increased revenue generation across the U.S. today. Let’s take a closer look at the current status of the iGaming industry here, and examine exactly why U.S. online gambling revenue continues to grow at an incredible pace.The economic impact of legalizationWith states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia and New Jersey having introduced more permissive legislation for the iGaming industry, it seems as though this trend is set to continue and spread across a growing number of U.S. states in the future. Total gross gaming revenue in the national iGaming industry reached an incredible $115 billion in 2024 alone, and as other jurisdictions begin to consider opening up regulated markets of their own, this figure appears set to only rise further in the next few years.According to the American Gaming Association, the U.S. iGaming industry had supported 1.8 million jobs as of February 2025, and this significant job creation and economic stimulation is particularly impressive given the current period of continued economic instability. Evidently, the landscape for online gambling in the United States is at a fascinating turning point, and the ongoing rise in demand from consumers suggests that this growth will not slow down anytime soon.Growing competition amongst iGaming operatorsAs advancements in technology have created impressive new opportunities for innovation in gaming, iGaming operators in the U.S. market are now continuously competing to provide the best user experience and the most attractive promotional offers. Attracting and retaining players in this fast-paced scene has become a key priority, which has led to an increasing prevalence of lucrative bonus offers, loyalty schemes and wider marketing campaigns.Due to the market’s increasingly competitive nature, consumers are turning to reputable online casino comparison sites to evaluate bonuses, payout rates, and licensing for the top online casinos in the U.S. that are available for players today. With so many industry-leading platforms and generous bonuses to choose from, reputable sources of guidance are in high demand, which is improving the overall experience for today’s gamblers. There is evidently a race to the top on display in the States, as rising consumer demand is feeding into a continued cycle of increasing competition and a wider selection of iGaming options for U.S. players.The rise in player engagementChanging player preferences and increased demand for iGaming entertainment have evidently been the driving force behind the growth of revenue in the sector today. Consumer behaviour is shifting away from more traditional brick-and-mortar casino experiences — instead, today’s players now often choose to seek out more casual, convenient and short-form versions of gambling entertainment. This can of course be attributed to the rise in smartphone use throughout the nation over the last decade, as engagement with mobile entertainment is consistently growing across all age groups and demographics in the United States today.Clearly, the very fabric of what it means to be a gambler has changed beyond recognition due to the stratospheric rise of casual mobile gaming. As the rise of convenience culture continues to shape our habits across every facet of daily life, including how we manage our finances, do our shopping, and socialize with our friends, this desire for immediacy is also on display in the world of casino-based entertainment. Modern players now expect immediate access to entertainment from the comfort of their own homes, and most no longer associate gambling activity with the more traditional in-person gaming experience. Online wagering has now become the default for many consumers in the U.S. today, and this trend will only continue further as time goes on, thanks to increased access to convenient iGaming platforms.The future of online gambling in the U.S.The online gambling landscape across the United States will undoubtedly be one to watch over the coming years, with many industry experts predicting that more states may soon make the move to open up legal, regulated iGaming markets of their own. After all, as demonstrated in other states which have recently welcomed these online casino platforms, such a move evidently creates considerable opportunities for revenue generation and increased public funding through the taxation of this widespread entertainment activity at the state level. Demand from players shows no sign of slowing down, and casual online casino games are becoming increasingly popular due to changing consumer behavior and the demand for easy entertainment on the go. As technology advances, players can also expect to see the increased integration of AI (artificial intelligence) and VR (virtual reality) designs, creating an even more personalized and unique user experience.Ultimately, it’s clear that modern consumers are now demanding more convenient, casual and personalized forms of gambling and betting entertainment, which has helped to dramatically boost iGaming revenues in the U.S. in recent years. Alongside this trend, increasingly permissive regulatory approaches throughout the country and growing competition amongst operators are combining to make the online gambling scene a highly dynamic and exciting market. It will be fascinating to see how the U.S. iGaming industry continues to grow and develop in the future. If legislators can strike the right balance between revenue generation and careful regulation, then more players in the United States may soon be able to enjoy this fast-paced, thrilling form of entertainment. Whatever happens next, be sure to watch this space!