The Supreme Court of Canada is due to hear a challenge on Oct. 7 to Ontario’s proposed international pooled-liquidity model for regulated online gaming. The case will determine whether Ontarians may play online poker and casino games with people located outside Canada while Ontario continues to regulate its side of the system.
Ontario’s market remains ring-fenced while the appeal is pending. Since the province’s regulated iGaming market opened in April 2022, participants have been able to play only against people physically located in Ontario, limiting active poker tables and tournament prize pools.
The appeal, Atlantic Lottery Corporation, et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario, was brought by Atlantic Lottery Corporation, British Columbia Lottery Corporation and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation in December 2025. Loto-Québec joined them in April. The Supreme Court lists the Canadian Gaming Association, Flutter Entertainment, NSUS Group, NSUS Limited and Alberta’s attorney general as parties or interveners.
The dispute centres on section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, which permits a provincial government to conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province, or jointly with another province in both provinces. Ontario referred the issue to its Court of Appeal under Order in Council 210/2024 on Feb. 2, 2024.
On Nov. 12, 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled 4-1 that the proposed model would be lawful. The majority concluded that Ontario could conduct and manage its portion through iGaming Ontario, the Crown corporation that contracts with private operators. Justice van Rensburg dissented, finding that Ontario’s participation in the international-liquidity element would breach the Criminal Code’s gaming prohibitions.
Ontario’s position is that the scheme has a real and substantial connection to the province: it would be created under provincial law, available only to people physically in Ontario, and conducted and managed by Ontario through iGaming Ontario. Operators are already required to verify a player’s identity, legal age, eligibility and Ontario location, while iGaming Ontario controls game eligibility and may set maximum rake for peer-to-peer games.
The lottery corporations contend that the Supreme Court’s 2003 Reference re Earth Future Lottery decision requires a provincially licensed scheme to remain within the province’s geographic boundaries. They have argued that the Court of Appeal majority sidestepped that precedent.
Ontario says access to a regulated international platform would draw users away from unlawful gambling sites and provide protections against fraud, addiction and other harms, while producing additional public revenue. The proposed model does not cover players in other Canadian provinces; Ontario did not ask the Court of Appeal to decide that question.
A ruling for Ontario would not immediately open cross-border tables. The province would still need a regulatory framework and agreements with international jurisdictions before licensed poker rooms could pool players. The Supreme Court has not set a date for its decision.
