Most popular gambling games in Canada
What gambling games Canadians play reflects today’s habits, but legal shifts have changed the gambling sector considerably
LOTTERY TICKETS HAVE dominated Canada’s gambling scene for years without much competition. Statistics Canada reports that lotteries and raffles attract more participants than any other form of wagering, with regular players buying tickets weekly or monthly. Walk into any corner store, pick some numbers, and wait for the draw. There are no complicated rules to study or strategies to master, just simple participation that works for Canadians in every province and territory.
Slots tell a different story but an equally compelling one. Ontario’s Greater Toronto Area properties alone house more than 4,000 slot machines next to roughly 60 table games. You’ll find similar ratios in casinos nationwide, where slots pull steady traffic. First-timers gravitate toward them, regulars keep playing them, and the simple mechanics paired with fast rounds explain why the machines stay occupied. That same appetite shows up in the digital space, where people can play from home instead of travelling to a physical venue. Players can enjoy hundreds of slot machines at Canadian online casinos, alongside table games like blackjack and roulette, which means real-money betting happens on screens just as easily as on casino floors.
Video lottery terminals add another layer to Canada’s machine gambling culture. Slots concentrate in casinos, but VLTs operate in licensed bars and lounges across nine provinces. They provide similar quick-play mechanics but reach communities where full casinos don’t exist. Atlantic Canada and the Prairies see particularly high VLT visibility, with these terminals woven into local social spaces. Players appreciate the convenience because they can gamble on a typical night out without special planning.
Ontario’s regulated online market, launched in April 2022, gives us hard numbers on what Canadians actually play from home. Slots and table games such as blackjack, roulette, and baccarat dominate the activity by a massive margin. Ontario’s 2024–25 fiscal year saw $69.6 billion go toward casino games, while sports betting pulled in $11.4 billion and poker managed just $0.6 billion. The revenue split matched those wagering totals almost exactly. Slots and traditional table games get picked far more often than anything else when Canadians gamble online.
What people play online reflects today’s habits, but legal shifts have changed the betting sector just as much. Bill C-218 opened up sports betting on August 27, 2021. Parlay wagers had been the only legal choice for decades until the new law allowed single-event bets across Canada. Provincial regulators moved within months and started licensing sportsbooks. Betting platforms spread quickly, and Ontario alone now sees hundreds of millions in annual revenue. Still, casino games maintain a commanding lead. The timing explains why sports betting advertisements became so prominent recently, as legal change unlocked a new vertical that operators rushed to exploit.
Poker exists in a different category altogether. Online peer-to-peer poker accounts for just a sliver of Ontario’s regulated revenue, barely reaching single digits as a percentage. Poker rooms in larger casinos still pull in their loyal crowds, but they take up far less space than the slot floors and standard table game areas. The game asks more from players, who need to learn strategy and commit to longer sessions, so most people looking for quick entertainment pass it by.
Provincial lottery corporations’ financial reports back up what the participation data shows. Loto-Québec consistently posts solid results from its lottery, casino, and VLT operations, which demonstrates that number games and machines keep pulling players across Quebec. Other provinces show similar trends, with lotteries and machines producing steady returns year after year. Results fluctuate from quarter to quarter, but people continue choosing games that require minimal effort to access and play.
Put the numbers next to each other and the hierarchy comes into focus. Lotteries attract the most players, while slots and VLTs generate the biggest revenue at physical locations. Online casinos have grown explosively in provinces with regulation, sports betting continues expanding but hasn’t caught up to casino games, and poker maintains its dedicated following without chasing mass appeal.
What drives these patterns comes down to how people actually want to spend their time and money. Lotteries and VLTs work for anyone who can pick numbers or press buttons. Slots and basic table games run quickly and let people play repeatedly without much effort. Sportsbooks took off once legal barriers fell and operators flooded the market. Poker asks more from players in time and learning, which keeps its audience smaller. Those basics continue shaping what Canadians play and where operators invest their resources. Online platforms and sports betting may claim larger shares in the years ahead, but games that are simple and fast will likely keep their grip on the market.