Ontario’s open online sports betting market is now open.

21 major sportsbooks have launched, including BetMGM, Caesars, PointsBet, BetRivers and bet365. They join the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.’s Proline, the province’s long-time legacy sportsbook.

The launch marks the first time Ontario sports bettors have a choice in betting sites.

With nearly 15 million people in the province, most major online sports betting operators plan to join the party — or will do so soon. Those already licensed don’t come empty-handed, either. You can find some of the best welcome bonuses in the market below, plus reviews of Ontario online sportsbooks.

Yes. Sports betting is legal in Ontario and includes a provincial lottery option as well as several legal online sportsbooks. On April 4, Caesars, PointBet and others became available for online betting in the province.

Sports betting has been legal in Ontario in some form since 1992. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. has offered parlays of between three and six legs via its Proline product since that time. Shortly after single-event wagering in Canada was signed into law in August 2021, Proline greatly expanded its sports betting options online. In late January, the OLG began taking single-event wagers in-person at some 10,000 lottery retailers in the province. Now, the Ontario government has legalized a long list of online sportsbooks to take regulated sports bets.

16 apps, counting the OLG’s Proline, are now taking sports bets in Ontario:

In addition, 29 gambling sites are registered with Ontario’s regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Those not already live are expected to do business soon.

*Proline Plus is included as the legacy operator in Ontario. However, it is managed and conducted separately and therefore does not need to sign an agreement with the iGO.

Here we provide more detailed information about some of the top brands that are either live now or expected to launch online sportsbooks in Ontario soon:

One of the realities for online sportsbook apps is that their competition is always a simple click or swipe away. Since it takes only a few button presses to lose a customer, they must be aggressive in attracting and retaining users. One of their main weapons in this regard is an array of offers for new and existing customers. Since multiple sportsbooks are bound for Ontario already, here are some common bonuses you’re likely to see:

Deciding which books fit your preferences can be a trickier proposition. Here are six tips for choosing a sportsbook app in Ontario:

It can be difficult to know exactly which books might be better for specific sports. However, based upon the partnerships that books have with different teams and companies, we can give some recommendations for the best places to go for your favourites.

If you haven’t tried Proline so far or are interested now that more apps are on the way, here are some of the things online sports betting offers compared to placing your wagers at physical locations:

Signing up at a sportsbook app shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes. Here are the steps:

It would be rare for the entire procedure to take longer than 15 minutes, and it usually is much shorter than that. The only caveat is that it’s a good idea to have your identification and financial documents on hand before you start.

Legal books offer a range of sports for betting. Here are some of the most popular options:

For all of the above, you can place bets for each available event on the docket. There are multiple ways to bet on each sport, including moneyline, spread and totals. There are also futures bets and props bets available for each sport.

Beyond the major sports, you’ll also find sports such as soccer, golf, tennis and UFC on the menu, as well as a range of smaller sports. In short, there’s a little bit of something for everyone.

Placing a sports bet in Ontario is both a new thing and a bit of a tradition in the province. A form of sports betting has been legally possible in Canada since 1985, when the federal government amended the Canadian Criminal Code to allow provincial governments to offer sports betting. However, the amendment came with a profound limitation — all bets had to be in a lottery format. In other words, a provincial government could offer a series of parlays, but not traditional single-game sports betting.

Though a form of sports betting was now eligible to appear in Ontario, it did not make it to the province until 1992. In that year, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (a crown corporation) introduced Proline, which was part of a group of provincially run sports betting parlay services across Canada. Proline tickets became available at most corner stores in the province for as little as $2 per ticket.

The initial product only allowed parlay legs using the expected winners of each game. Essentially, each ticket was a series of moneylines. In the ensuing decades, OLG added options for over/under-based legs and point spread-based legs. The last iteration of the product introduced Pro Picks, which allowed for the equivalent of proposition wagers on legs.

Although Pro-Line has been the only official sports betting option in Ontario up to this point, Ontarians have also been able to place traditional sports bets on websites outside the jurisdiction of the provincial government. These sites are not legal to operate in Canada, but there is no law preventing players from using them.

It took a 2021 amendment to the Criminal Code to bring Canadian sports betting into a full-service context. Sports betting no longer had to take place in a lottery format as parlays in Canada. In addition, the markets could expand to allow external sportsbooks. OLG responded soon afterward by allowing single-game sports betting to proceed on the Pro-Line website.

A January 2022 announcement from iGaming Ontario set April 4, 2022, as the first date that external sportsbooks could launch in the province.

On April 4, 2022, the online sportsbook market opened, as promised.

You can find details about the bonus offer by clicking the links above. Operators are allowed to have them, but the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario forbids them to advertise such incentives anywhere other than on their own websites or through emails the customer has expressly opted in to. This prohibition extends to PlayOntario. If you’re interested, just click our signup links and see for yourself. There’s no commitment involved in clicking the link.

No. You do not have to reside in the province in order to place a wager. However, you must be in Ontario to use a legal sports betting app there.

You need to be 19 or older to bet on sports online in Ontario. While some provinces have set their age requirement as low as 18, the provincial government requires people in Ontario to be one year older.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is responsible for managing the industry, and its subsidiary, iGaming Ontario, is responsible for licensing new online sportsbooks.

Yes, but it’s not a good idea. With the list of regulated sites expanding in Ontario, there’s no reason to take on the added risk that comes with playing at an offshore site. Official Ontario sites offer legal protection if anything goes wrong, but these protections are unavailable if you send your business outside the country.

Probably not. The Canada Income Tax Act designates most gambling winnings as non-taxed income in Ontario. However, if you are planning to be a professional sports bettor, it’s possible that you might become eligible for taxation as normal income. If you want to make a living by wagering on sports, be sure to meet with a tax expert in Ontario beforehand to discuss what liability you might incur.

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