If Ontario leaders get their way, the Canadian province’s online poker market will grow significantly.
Provincial leaders are looking to share liquidity with Alberta, which is expected to launch regulated online poker in the coming months. However, they are also playing with the idea of merging their player pool with other countries.
“Ontario has asked an appeals court for permission to open up online poker tables in Ontario to U.S. and other foreign poker players where those players hail from legal jurisdictions,” online gaming attorney Jeff Ifrah recently noted on X/Twitter.
Ifrah was referring to comments from Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey at a meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States on July 10.
International, U.S. Markets Potentially In The Mix
Ontario launched regulated online gaming in 2022. Since then, it became one of the largest markets in North America.
However, players are currently in a fenced-in market. In other words, they can only play against other people inside Ontario.
Downey and provincial gaming regulators are now hoping to expand. Ifrah indicated pooling players with legal U.S. states isn’t out of the question. But it is probably an unlikely outcome.
Everything seems on the table. Last year, the province filed with the Canadian Court of Appeal to determine if Ontario poker operators can legally join international operators.
Operators like GGPoker and PokerStars have submitted filings of their own. They noted the Criminal Code doesn’t prohibit international play, as long as Ontario manages players within the province.
Both companies operate Ontario platforms, along with PartyPoker, 888poker, and BetMGM. If Ontario is given the go-ahead for expansion, Stars, GG, Party, and 888 could potentially pool players with some of their international platforms.
PokerStars and GGPoker are the biggest of those and would benefit from major European player pools. GG also has significant numbers of players in Asia.
BetMGM operates a shared platform in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania – if the country’s Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) could be expanded to include Canadian provinces. It remains to be seen if that would be allowed.
At the moment, regulators appear to be angling more toward the larger international and European poker scene. Ifrah told Pokerfuse that “it seems Ontario is more focused on creating liquidity pools with EU regulated markets.”
The U.S. has seen some movement in online poker over the last year, with Pennsylvania joining the MSIGA in April. BetRivers also reached a shared market of four states after adding Michigan, Delaware, and West Virginia to Pennsylvania in June.
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