The Supreme Court of Canada has set Oct. 7 for arguments in Ontario’s pooled-liquidity appeal, a case that will test whether regulated poker and daily fantasy sports can be linked with players outside Canada.
The court’s case database lists the matter as Atlantic Lottery Corporation, et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario, an as-of-right civil appeal. It says the issue is whether legal online gaming and sports betting would remain lawful under the Criminal Code if users could participate in games involving people outside Canada.
The dispute grew out of a reference sent to the Ontario Court of Appeal on Feb. 2, 2024, under the Courts of Justice Act. A majority of that court answered the first question in the affirmative, while one judge dissented, and the ruling turned on the meaning of section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
Chief Justice Michael Tulloch wrote that the majority’s reading of the law allowed Ontario’s proposed model to stand. Ontario’s current system is a closed-liquidity model, launched in April 2022, under which players can only compete with others physically in Ontario.
Under the province’s iGaming framework, iGaming Ontario conducts the market as an agent of the government, private operators offer games through operating agreements, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario regulates the sector. The proposed pooled-liquidity model would let Ontarians take part in peer-to-peer games such as poker or fantasy sports with players in jurisdictions outside Canada.
The majority said the internet has made it difficult to prevent people in Canada from using offshore gaming sites, and that bringing play inside the regulated system could improve public safety by reducing risks such as fraud and addiction. Ontario’s aim is to connect its iGaming scheme abroad, rather than keep it confined to the province.
The Canadian Lottery Coalition, which intervened in the Ontario reference, filed a factum on Feb. 13 and argues that the plan flouts the Criminal Code. It also says the Ontario judges sidestepped the Supreme Court’s Earth Future decision, which it says required gambling to be actually run and controlled within the province.
The coalition has warned that Ontario’s move could encourage illicit gaming elsewhere and said unlawful operators diverted an estimated $1.86 billion in profit in 2023 away from provincial governments and public services. Ontario’s regulated market generated $82.7 billion in wagers and $3.2 billion in gross gaming revenue in the year to March 31, 2025, while peer-to-peer poker accounted for $1.7 billion in wagers and $66 million in revenue.
That poker revenue was flat from 2023-24, even as casino gaming revenue rose 36% and betting gaming revenue rose 23%. There are no provincially regulated pay-to-play daily fantasy sports operators in Ontario, and DraftKings and FanDuel shut their DFS contests in the province before going live in 2022 with online sports betting and casino products there.
The decision could also matter beyond Ontario. Alberta has enacted legislation toward a similar model but has not yet issued licences or authorised platforms to go live.
