Canada Betting Sites, Bookmakers and Free Bets

Many people associate Canada with hot summers and long cold winters. The Canadian geography is as diverse as its 36 million residents. Canadians have a wide variety of interests, though, one of which is betting on sports.

Canada betting activities are quite common throughout the country and there are a couple of Canada bookmakers that offer these services. The world in which Canadian bookmakers operate is muddled and confusing, matching Canada’s gambling laws. Almost all Canadian betting sites walk a fine line between legal and illegal operations.

It doesn’t help when most gambling sites in Canada aren’t sure where the line is. If they don’t know, how could players wish to try their hand playing at betting sites in Canada possibly be expected to? Fortunately, that’s where we come in.

Let’s continue with a list of international betting sites that accept members from Canada. This fact also makes them best Canadian betting sites because you can still use your own currency, get bonuses, and place bets for Canadian teams/leagues. (However, if you are looking for Euro bookmakers and betting sites, we can help you in that regards too.) Without further due, we present you our list of best betting sites Canada: Pick one and enjoy!

Top 10 Betting Sites for Canada in 26 April 2024 – Updated List

We will tell you everything you need to know about Canada betting in this guide, a list of the best online bookmakers Canada included. Each province and territory are responsible for their own gambling laws. So, for example, Canada bookmakers can be legal in some states and illegal in another. Or, the answer to is cricket betting legal in Canada can be yes in state A but no in-state B –  the situation of gambling sites in Canada is very much like the United States.

Until the online gambling industry began to flourish in the early 1990s, Canadians who were looking to bet on sports events were relegated to playing provincial sports lotteries or finding local Canada bookmakers. In other words, betting markets were very limited and there were no competitive odds. When the Internet sports betting boom arrived, Canadian punters were overjoyed. No longer were they forced to play parlays with the terrible odds that government lotteries offered: Online bookmakers Canada were offering much better.

Canadians enjoy a very wide range of sports. With so much water around, sailing, rowing, and a host of other water sports such as swimming, diving, and water polo are enjoyed by many. With many mountainous regions there, skiing and snowboarding have a large following. You can find all of them in a Canadian sportsbook.

Basketball, baseball, American football, and rugby have a large following as do soccer, tennis, golf, figure skating, and auto racing. The most widely followed sport in Canada is hockey which has a rich history here. All these regularly form wagerable markets at the best betting sites in Canada.

With the top brands in the sports betting industry competing for their share of the lucrative Canadian sports betting market, you can be sure that there are plenty of deposit bonuses for customers to claim, especially at Canadian Dollar bookmakers. Mozzart welcomes their customers with a €25 free bet. 22bet offers their new customers a 100% match up to $122, while SportsBet.io provides cryptocurrency and FIAT currency bonuses to its members with no promo codes required. Other notable sites with big bonuses which are worth a punt include STS Sports, 1xBet, and Tornado Bet.

Bookmaker Canada sites in the country also regularly hand out other promos and bonuses to punters. It is not uncommon to find a host of free bets at Canada’s finest online sportsbooks. These can include money-back deals, no deposit bonuses, and much more besides. There are many more great bonuses by top bookmakers waiting to be claimed by Canadian citizens. Check Gamblingjudge.com for the best promotions from the world’s most highly respected online bookmakers.

When John Cabot first set foot in Canada in 1497, local tribes were already playing many gambling games using sticks and bones. Cabot brought card games with him and even used them as a way to communicate with the locals. Until 1892, the most popular game in Canada was, believe it or not, a weird card game called “Faro”. A game that the Germans invented in the 15th century and soon forgot, became very popular in Canada for some reason. In 1892, with the Criminal Code, all forms of gambling were banned at the federal level. However, upon the objections of the states, this ban underwent many changes in the following years. For example:

• In 1900, it became legal to hold bingo games for charity.
• In 1910, pari-mutual horse racing betting was legalized.
• In 1925, it was decided that gambling games could be organized in fairs.
• In 1969, lotteries became legal.
• In 1985, it was decided that states were free to legalize gambling.

In this context, the legal status of both gambling and Canadian bookmakers as of 2024 is as follows:

• Every province in Canada has legalized both land-based and online gambling. The extent of this may differ from state to state. For example, Quebec allows online casinos and bookmakers in Canada. More conservative states continue to allow only Canadian bookmakers and ban online casinos.
• Canada does not have a federal-level gambling regulator. In other words, it is not possible to get a single license and serve the whole country. Each state has its own regulator and licensing system. One state’s license is not valid in another. For example, Canadian bookmakers licensed in Alberta can only operate in that state.
• Therefore, international operators do not enter the Canadian market locally because they have to get a license from each state. This is both expensive and inefficient. Fortunately, Canadian laws are quite liberal and there is nothing preventing Canadian citizens to play at offshore operators. In other words, you can choose a site outside of Canada to benefit from services such as matched betting Canada or in-play betting.

For all these reasons, the best Canada bookmakers are operators outside the country. They provide the best possible service on topics such as deposit bonuses, betting odds, and live matches.