Gambling history in Canada by OfficialCasinos
Canadians have always loved gambling, but gambling laws have not always loved that entertainment. The Canadian lands had seen wagering long before the European conquerors arrived. Slahal, a rudimentary stick game, was an ancient game played by the native population which showed clear signs of gambling habits. Some tribes still play it today with animal bones. But it was a long way for Canada from then to 1985 when gambling was legalized.
Just a few decades ago, in the 60s and 70s illegal gambling in Canada was so popular that it became the domain of organized crime. Since gambling was outlawed before 1970, this trade profited a lot of unsavoury people. All this slowly started to change in 1970 when some types of gambling were legalized. Another significant leap took place in 1985 when slots and lotteries were decriminalized. Since then, all land-based gambling activity has been legalized, including poker, casino and sports betting.
Generally speaking, Canadians love to bet as much as every other country. Still, they try to be as progressive as possible with their laws. Compared to the USA, Canada has very liberal betting laws. Gambling is a high national income with more than 15 billion net profit each year.
Canada has something to suit every player's interest. Land-based casinos offer poker rooms, restaurants, bars, an impressive number of slots and roulettes and even have bingo as a live gambling option.
Online gambling, however, often falls into a grey area. The current Canadian laws are pretty lenient as there is no prohibition on betting over the Internet. Still, the service needs to be licenced and owned by a provincial government to be considered legal an online gambling site in Canada. The best casinos online in Canada are licenced and governed by the local authorities. There are no unlawful holding of funds or personal and financial information leaks. This still hasn't prevented thousands of unlicensed casinos from offering their sites to Canadian citizens.
Canadian online gambling dates back as far as 1996. The first-ever Canadian online casino offered only a few games. Still, it was a big success across all of Canada. After the pioneering casino, several more were opened the same year. They also followed the same or similar success rates. One of the first online casinos which are still operational and quite popular is InterCasino. The year 1996 also marks the emergence of the first-ever online gambling regulator on the Canadian market.
Today, the gambling industry's revenue stands at C$30 billion a year, one of the largest in the world. The favourable legislature, the vast market, the gambling habits, the variety of gambling options have created a perfect scene for both land-based and live casinos to develop and profit.
