Online in Ontario
Gateway Casinos Thunder Bay and Web Play
Ontario applies its own rules to online play, and an official directory names the legal sites. This page walks through those rules and how the home page's Ad links operate.
By the Last Stop deskChecked October 14, 2026
Who runs the games, who regulates them
Ontario's regulated online gambling market launched on April 4, 2022. The work is split between two bodies: iGaming Ontario conducts and manages private operators' games, while the AGCO regulates them. What, then, makes a private online casino legal here? Two conditions apply: it needs an AGCO registration, and iGaming Ontario must have signed an operating agreement with it.
A site with only one of the two does not meet that test. Then there is the province's own option. OLG.ca is the government-run online casino. For someone in Thunder Bay, the legal choices online come down to OLG.ca and private operators that hold both.
Inside Ontario, and nowhere else
Online play in Ontario requires an age of 19 or more, and the player must be physically within the province. For drivers arriving from Manitoba or Minnesota, the border is therefore the line that matters. The official list of legal sites is the directory that iGaming Ontario keeps at igamingontario.ca.
iGaming Ontario operates BetGuard, found at betguard.ca. With one step, a person aged 19 and over can quit all Ontario online gambling sites that are regulated, OLG.ca too. Casinos entered on foot are beyond its reach; OLG's self-exclusion program, My PlayBreak, deals with those. The term is 3 or 6 months, or 1 up to 5 years, and every Ontario casino refuses entry until it has fully run. Casino staff can take an enrolment on request, and the OLG Support Centre handles it by phone at 1-800-387-0098.
About the Ad links
Paid links, each one marked Ad, appear on this guide's home page and nowhere else. Of the three, one is in the header, another sits under the first screen, and the last is near the end. All of them open a partner, a private online casino that the guide does not name and that can change. Those links earn the guide a commission.
Does the commission mean the guide stands behind the partner? It does not, so any online casino should be looked up in the official Ontario directory of regulated sites first. Links to the venue, the province and the help lines on this site are never paid.
Asked before setting out
Where can a reader find Ontario's official list of legal online casinos?
The official directory of regulated online gambling sites is kept by iGaming Ontario at igamingontario.ca.
Does online play end at the Manitoba border?
Yes, since Ontario permits online play only at 19 and over, and only when the player is physically inside the province. Once the car crosses into Manitoba, play on Ontario sites stops until the player is back on the Ontario side.
Which program covers casinos, and which covers online sites?
OLG's self-exclusion program, My PlayBreak, applies to casinos: for the whole chosen term, no Ontario casino will let the person in. BetGuard, at betguard.ca, is for online play: it removes anyone 19 or older from each online gambling site Ontario regulates, OLG.ca included. It does not reach casinos a person walks into.