Canada's Next iGaming Battleground Isn't Licensing. It's Channelisation

Canada's regulated iGaming debate has spent years focusing on licences, market launches and which province might follow Ontario.

With Alberta opening its competitive market in July 2026, the bigger question is changing. Regulators now need to get players who already gamble online to choose regulated operators over offshore alternatives.

That's the channelisation challenge.

Ontario has shown that a competitive model can move the needle. A May 2026 Ipsos study commissioned by iGaming Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario found that 91.1% of surveyed online gamblers reported using regulated sites, up from 83.7% the previous year.

Outside Ontario, however, the picture is very different. Previous iGaming.news research into channelisation in Canada highlighted substantial offshore leakage across other provinces and found an important gap between the number of Canadians using licensed operators and where gambling spend was actually going.

Alberta starts from a different position. Before the regulated market opened, much of the province's online gambling activity was taking place outside the provincial system.

As GambleOnline.ca's coverage of Alberta's regulated iGaming launch noted, converting existing offshore customers is one of the central tests facing the new market.

Canada isn't the first country to face that problem. Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Great Britain offer useful examples of what works, and where channelisation strategies can fall short.

Denmark Shows the Value of a Competitive Legal Market

Denmark provides one of Europe's clearest examples of successful channelisation.

Before the country liberalised online casino and betting in January 2012, the Danish Gambling Authority estimated online channelisation at just under 40%. By the end of that year, it was approaching 69%.

In 2024, the regulator put the figure at 91.5%.

The shift suggests that offshore gambling isn't necessarily entrenched permanently. Players can migrate when the regulated market offers credible alternatives.

That has implications for Canadian provinces still relying primarily on government-run platforms. Enforcement can make offshore gambling more difficult, but regulated operators also need to compete on product selection, usability, payments and overall player experience.

Denmark's experience doesn't provide a blueprint that Canada can simply copy. Tax structures, gambling habits and regulatory systems differ. But the underlying lesson is relevant: channelisation depends partly on whether players actually want to use the legal product.

The Danish Gambling Authority's 2024 market report provides the longer-term figures.

Sweden Shows That Channelisation Needs Maintenance

Sweden demonstrates what can happen after the initial transition.

Before its licensing system was introduced in 2019, the Swedish Gambling Authority estimates channelisation was below 50%. By 2025, it stood at approximately 84%, slightly below the 85% estimated for 2024.

Betting also recorded stronger channelisation than online casino.

The improvement since liberalisation is substantial, but Sweden has not eliminated offshore activity. Its regulator continues to pursue unlicensed operators while monitoring how restrictions in the regulated market affect player behaviour.

Channelisation isn't a one-time target reached when operators receive licences. Offshore operators change domains and marketing strategies. New products appear. Regulations change. Players move between platforms.

The Swedish Gambling Authority's 2025 channelisation study estimated channelisation at 84%, while finding that 94% of players had participated in the licensed market.

That difference leads to another issue: counting players and measuring where gambling spend occurs aren't the same thing.

The Netherlands Shows Why Regulators Need to Follow the Money

The Netherlands makes that distinction particularly clear.

According to the Netherlands Gambling Authority, around 91% of Dutch online gamblers use only legal providers.

Measured by gross gaming result, however, the regulator estimated channelisation at just 53% in its spring 2026 monitoring report.

That suggests a comparatively small group of offshore gamblers can account for a disproportionate share of gambling losses.

The regulator has pointed to several possible factors, including the absence of equivalent player-protection measures at illegal operators. It has also acknowledged that restrictions introduced in the regulated market may affect channelisation.

This creates a difficult balance for policymakers.

Player-protection rules have a clear regulatory purpose. But regulators also need to monitor whether particular restrictions create incentives for some customers to move to sites where those protections don't exist.

The Netherlands Gambling Authority's spring 2026 monitoring report therefore offers a useful lesson for Canada: measuring how many people use regulated sites is only part of the picture.

Ontario's current channelisation measure is also based on surveyed players reporting the sites they use. iGaming Ontario has previously acknowledged the limitations of this approach and has worked toward incorporating volume of play into its measurements.

As Canada's regulated markets mature, spend-based channelisation could provide a clearer picture of how much gambling activity has actually moved away from offshore operators.

Great Britain Is Targeting Offshore Distribution

Competition alone won't eliminate the illegal market.

Great Britain's Gambling Commission has increasingly focused on disrupting the infrastructure that helps unlicensed gambling sites reach customers.

Since April 2024, the Commission says its Illegal Markets team has issued more than 3,000 cease-and-desist and disruption notices. It has also referred hundreds of thousands of URLs to Google and Bing for removal.

The approach expands enforcement beyond individual gambling operators.

Search engines influence whether players can find offshore sites. Payment processors can affect whether they can deposit and withdraw. Hosting companies, affiliates, social networks and app stores can all play a role in how easily an unlicensed operator reaches customers.

That matters because blocking individual gambling websites can quickly become a game of whack-a-mole. Domains can change while the underlying business remains.

The Gambling Commission's illegal gambling disruption report shows how enforcement can target the wider distribution network instead.

What Canada Can Take From These Markets

The international examples point to four areas Canadian regulators can focus on.

Keep the regulated market competitive. Denmark's experience suggests that giving players credible legal alternatives can shift substantial activity away from offshore operators. Ontario's competitive model provides a Canadian example of the same principle.

Measure where the money goes. Player-based surveys are useful, but the Netherlands shows how different the picture can look when channelisation is measured by gambling spend.

Monitor the effects of regulation. Player protections and channelisation aren't opposing goals, but individual rules can affect player behaviour. Regulators need data on whether new restrictions are reducing harm without pushing significant activity outside the regulated system.

Disrupt access to illegal operators. Great Britain's approach shows that enforcement can include search engines, payment providers, affiliates, hosting services and other intermediaries rather than focusing exclusively on offshore operators themselves.

Consumer awareness belongs in that strategy as well.

A gambling site can accept Canadian dollars, feature Canadian sports and market itself directly to Canadians without being regulated by a Canadian province. Players need an easy way to distinguish licensed operators from offshore alternatives.

Alberta Is Canada's Next Channelisation Test

Ontario's latest survey results show that an open Canadian market can achieve high participation in regulated gambling.

Alberta now has to demonstrate whether that success can be repeated in a province where offshore operators already had an established customer base.

The number of operators entering the market will matter, but it isn't the most important measure of success. The stronger test is how much existing gambling activity moves inside the regulated system and stays there.

The international evidence provides some direction.

Denmark shows the value of a competitive legal market. Sweden shows that channelisation requires ongoing work. The Netherlands demonstrates why regulators need to measure gambling spend as well as player participation. Great Britain shows how enforcement can target the infrastructure supporting illegal operators.

For Alberta, and for any Canadian province considering what comes next, licensing is only the starting point.

The harder job is giving players enough reason to stay within the regulated market.