Blask x Ace Alliance Report: Canada’s iGaming Market Remains Offshore-Led in H1 2026

Methodology note: Competitive Earning Baseline is Blask’s projected revenue metric. It should not be treated as regulator-reported gross gaming revenue or confirmed operator revenue. Onshore and offshore classifications reflect whether a brand held the required local licence during the reporting period.

Canada ranked fourth among the 135 countries tracked by Blask during the first half of 2026. Its CEB of $4.97 billion placed it behind Turkey and just ahead of Russia, forming a relatively close group of markets below the much larger US total.

The narrow difference between Canada and the markets immediately above and below it means its fourth-place position should be viewed in context. Canada is a major global iGaming market, but it does not hold the same distance over its closest competitors that the US does at the top of the ranking.

Blask tracked 292 brands in Canada during the reporting period. However, projected revenue was not distributed evenly across the country or among those brands. A small group of provinces and leading operators accounted for a large share of the overall market.

Ontario was the largest provincial market by a clear margin, accounting for approximately one-third of Canada’s total projected revenue. Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta formed a second tier below it, followed by a steep decline across the remaining provinces.

Projected revenue then tapered through Manitoba and Saskatchewan before reaching the smaller Atlantic markets. The Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut recorded the lowest CEB totals in the country.

This concentration means national figures can disguise substantial differences between provincial markets. Ontario combines the country’s highest projected revenue with its strongest onshore share, while several smaller provinces remain predominantly offshore.

Onshore brands accounted for 40.6% of Canada’s CEB during the first half of 2026. The remaining 59.4% was attributed to brands that did not hold the required local licence in the province where the activity was recorded.

The balance varied significantly by province. Ontario was the only market where locally licensed brands held a dominant position, accounting for 80.7% of CEB. British Columbia recorded an onshore share of 35%, while Quebec’s locally licensed share stood at 16.3%.

Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces also directed most of their projected revenue towards offshore brands. Blask classified the CEB associated with the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut as offshore because no locally licensed competitive iGaming framework was available in those territories during H1 2026.

The figures make Ontario an important internal comparison. Its 80.7% onshore share shows how strongly the national balance can change when a competitive regulated market captures activity that would otherwise remain offshore.

Alberta’s regulated iGaming market officially launched on 13 July 2026, after the H1 reporting period ended on 30 June. The effects of the new framework are therefore not reflected in the figures covered by this report. During H1, PlayAlberta operated as the province’s only locally licensed product. Alberta nevertheless recorded one of the country’s lowest onshore shares, with most projected revenue attributed to offshore operators.

The H1 results now provide a pre-launch baseline against which the province’s second-half performance can be measured. The main question is not simply how projected revenue is redistributed among newly licensed operators, but whether Alberta’s overall onshore share increases as the regulated market develops. Ontario demonstrates that a competitive framework can coincide with substantially stronger channelisation. However, Alberta’s results will depend on how quickly registered brands establish themselves and how much existing offshore activity moves into the provincial system.

Stake was the largest brand in Canada by CEB during the first half of 2026. Blask classified the operator as offshore within Canada, and its projected revenue was more than three times higher than that of the next-ranked brand. 

Behind Stake, the market was divided between locally licensed products and offshore or mixed-licensure brands. PlayNow and Bet365 led the onshore group, with PlayNow operated by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. Six of the ten largest brands were classified as onshore products. These included the provincial platforms PlayNow in British Columbia and Loto-Québec in Quebec, alongside privately operated brands holding local licences. Four of the top ten were classified as offshore.

Despite onshore products holding more positions in the top ten, Stake’s substantial lead helped keep the national offshore share above 59%. The results show that the number of licensed brands near the top of the ranking matters less than the amount of projected revenue concentrated in the largest individual operators. PlayAlberta did not appear among the ten leading Canadian brands during H1, despite being Alberta’s only locally licensed option at the time. Its relative position may change as new competitors enter the regulated market, but the more important measure will be whether those entrants expand Alberta’s total onshore share rather than only redistributing existing licensed activity.

Canada is one of the world’s largest iGaming markets, yet offshore brands still captured 59.4% of Blask’s projected revenue in H1 2026. Ontario stood apart, with locally licensed operators accounting for 80.7% of CEB, while British Columbia, Quebec and most other provinces remained more offshore-led. Alberta now provides the clearest test of whether an open competitive market can improve channelisation and shift more activity towards locally licensed brands in the second half of the year.

Viewed alongside earlier Blask x Ace Alliance reports on the US iGaming market, as well as World Cup iGaming demand in Europe and LATAM, Canada adds a different regulatory perspective to the series. The findings suggest that market size alone does not determine where projected revenue is captured. Regulation, market structure and demand concentration remain central to the balance between locally licensed and offshore operators.