Legal Age To Go To A Casino In Canada
The legal age to buy and drink alcohol in Canada is 18 or 19 years of age, depending on the province. But Canadians are wondering if that's too young. This is an incomplete list of casinos in Canada as of around 2011: Type: Resort (R) Destination (D) Community (C) Racing entertainment centre (REC) Ownership: Government owned (GO). Eagle River Casino & Travel Plaza: Whitecourt: AB: 2008: Elbow River Casino: Calgary: AB: 1989: Deerfoot Inn & Casino: Calgary: AB: 2005: Pure Casino Calgary. It’s unfortunate, and maybe even a flawed rule. And it’s no fun for anyone involved. The casinos know you want to play. They also want you to play. It’s always awkward for a casino supervisor to tell foreigners they can’t play because they don’t have the right ID. These conversations rarely go smoothly. But rules are rules, as they say.
Learn about relevant gambling laws in Canada and how they differ across the country and what types of gambling you'll find.
One thing that I’ve always found interesting in the gambling world is the legal gambling age in different countries. To take it a step further, some parts of a country may have different legal ages, as gambling laws need to be overseen on a state level. In Canada, gambling laws are governed on a provincial or territorial level.
As legalized gambling increases worldwide, especially in North America, there’s plenty of information that needs to be digested before hitting those casinos, sportsbooks, slots, or online versions of all three. The most important of which, that we’ll cover in the following post, is the legal gambling age in Canada.
What Is the Legal Gambling Age in Canada?
For the most part, the legal gambling age in Canada is 19 years old. However, like many other countries across the globe, it varies geographically. 19 is not the uniform legal gambling age across the board.
As noted, gambling laws in Canada are governed on a provincial level, so the legal gambling age in Canada can differ from province to province or in Canada’s case, province to territory.
The gambling age in Canada’s most popular cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, and of course, the country’s capital city of Ottawa, is 19. While this is the case, Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta have chosen to implement their legal gambling age as one year younger at 18.
Being of age permits Canadian residents to do the following activities: entering casinos, playing a provincial lottery, buying scratch tickets, or gambling online.
The full breakdown for the legal gambling age in Canada throughout all provinces and territories can be found below.
Province/Territory Major Cities Legal Gambling Age
Ontario
- Toronto, Ottawa, London
- 19
Quebec
- Montreal, Quebec City, Laval
- 18
Newfoundland
- John’s, Corner Brook
- 19
Nova Scotia
- Halifax, Sydney
- 19
Prince Edward Island
- Charlottetown, Summerside
- 19
New Brunswick
- Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton
- 19
Manitoba
- Winnipeg, Brandon
- 18
Saskatchewan
- Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert
- 19
Alberta
- Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer
- 18
British Columbia
- Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey
- 19
Yukon
- Whitehorse
- 19
Northwest Territories
- Yellowknife
- 19
Nunavut
- Iqaluit
- 19
There you have it. The gambling age for each of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. If you’re planning to do some gambling in Canada, make sure to ensure you are of legal age. And as always, make sure to have valid government-issued ID on you, just in case!
The Best Casino Games for First-Time Gamblers
While most beginning Canadian gamblers utilize low-cost games such as slots and low-minimum card games, the experienced Canadian gambler often enjoys higher stakes blackjack and roulette, although the latter doesn’t take much strategy into account.
Of course, there’s also online gambling in Canada as well, whether it’s at an online casino or sportsbook.
Gambling online in Canada is certainly the most convenient way to go, although gambling laws in Canada are still strict in some areas; it can vary from province to province.
Directly Correlated to Legal Drinking Age
Legal Age To Go To A Casino In Canada 2020
What’s also of note here is the direct correlation between the legal gambling age in Canada and the legal drinking age in the respective provinces. The gambling and drinking ages are identical from province to province, which govern their own set of rules in these two departments.
That said, the drinking age of 18 in Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta has come under some scrutiny, given the research down on alcohol overconsumption and the effects it can have on young adults of just 18 years of age. There’s also been research conducted on the effects of alcohol in the 19 to 24 age group as well.
Of course, the United States’ legal drinking age of 21 falls into this area, but that set age has its critics, too.
Nonetheless, it doesn’t appear that a change in the legal gambling and drinking ages in Canada are in any danger of changing at this point in time. But as research continues, amending the legal age to a few years older certainly cannot be ruled out.
The simple reason for the small discrepancy in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec isn’t anything more than that the rules are governed on a provincial basis, although the legal ages have indeed changed in the past.
For example, the province of Ontario lowered its drinking age from 21 to 18 in 1971, but the age was raised by one year to 19 in 1979. The main reason for that specific change was because Ontario did not want high school-aged individuals to be able to legally consume alcohol.
In the country as a whole, you are considered an adult at the age of 18, which is why the three aforementioned provinces have decided to roll with a legal drinking age in line with the year of adulthood.
Conclusion
Can You Gamble At 18 In Canada
One more thing to note is that the legal gambling age does not differ for online or in-person gambling. So, gamblers from Canada who meet their local requirements are permitted to gamble online as well.
If you’re ready to start gambling online from your province or territory, but you aren’t sure if it’s legal, check out our page on Canada gambling laws. Learn about what’s allowed and what isn’t by visiting the page, whether it’s casino gambling or betting on sports.
Good luck with your bets and remember to gamble responsibly!
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.In modern times, a lot of people tend to disregard the laws relating to legal gambling age. Whether it’s something as small as $1 scratch-off lottery tickets, or as potentially troublesome as using a fake ID to enter a casino, minors often look for ways to place wagers, whether they are old enough to gamble or not.
Time and again, I’ve seen parents give their children a dollar to load in the scratch-off lottery ticket machine at the local retail store. Despite it being illegal for a minor to use these machines, the employees don’t seem to care, so long as an adult is with them.
Many times, young teenagers have been caught swiping their parents credit card and using it to gamble online, playing poker, slot machines, blackjack, roulette, you name it.
While the majority of these people are well aware that they’re are not old enough to gamble, that’s not the case in all situations. Some people genuinely don’t know the gambling age limits, especially when traveling outside their native land.
Growing up in Quebec, Canada, for example, I learned early on that one must be 18 to be considered of legal gambling age. When I visited British Columbia at that age, I was surprised when Chances Casino in Prince Rupert told me to get out after checking my ID. Turns out, you must be 19 to gamble in BC. Who knew?
By the time you finish reading this, you will. We’ll go over the legal age to gamble in Canada’s 10 provinces, as well as some other major countries around the globe.
Legal Gambling Age in Canada
Canada is made up of 10 provinces, but not all of them allow gambling at the same age. The following is a list of all Canadian provinces, in alphabetical order, and the age at which people are considered old enough to gamble.
| Canada Province | Legal Age to Gamble |
| Alberta | 18 |
| British Columbia | 19 |
| Manitoba | 18 |
| New Brunswick | 19 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 19 |
| Nova Scotia | 19 |
| Ontario | 19 |
| Prince Edward Island | 19 |
| Quebec | 18 |
| Saskatchewan | 19 |
Legal Gambling Age in the US
Laws are a bit different in the United States, where the legal gambling age can vary by what type of wager one intends to place. For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on gambling in a casino.
| US State | Legal Age to Gamble in a Casino |
| Alabama | 21 |
| Alaska | 18 |
| Arizona | 21 |
| Arkansas | 21 |
| California | 18 or 21, depending on the casino |
| Colorado | 21 |
| Connecticut | 21 |
| Delaware | 21 |
| Florida | 21 |
| Georgia | 21 |
| Hawaii | N/A, all gambling illegal |
| Idaho | 18 |
| Illinois | 21 |
| Indiana | 21 |
| Iowa | 21 |
| Kansas | 21 |
| Kentucky | 21, but no casinos here |
| Louisiana | 21 |
| Maine | 21 |
| Maryland | 21 |
| Massachusetts | 21 |
| Michigan | 21 |
| Minnesota | 18 |
| Mississippi | 21 |
| Missouri | 21 |
| Montana | 21, but no casinos here |
| Nebraska | 21 |
| Nevada | 21 |
| New Hampshire | 21 |
| New Jersey | 21 |
| New Mexico | 21 |
| New York | 18 or 21, depending on the casino |
| North Carolina | 21 |
| North Dakota | 21 |
| Ohio | 21 |
| Oklahoma | 18 or 21, depending on the casino |
| Oregon | 21 |
| Pennsylvania | 21 |
| Rhode Island | 18 |
| South Carolina | 21 |
| South Dakota | 21 |
| Tennessee | N/A, casino gambling illegal |
| Texas | 21 |
| Utah | N/A, all gambling illegal |
| Vermont | N/A, casino gambling illegal |
| Virginia | N/A, casino gambling illegal |
| Washington | 18 or 21, depending on the casino |
| West Virginia | 21 |
| Wisconsin | 21 |
| Wyoming | 18 |
Legal Gambling Age in Other Jurisdictions
Last but not least, we’ll observe age restrictions in other major countries.
| Country | Legal Age to Gamble |
| Australia | 18 |
| Belgium | 21 |
| Bulgaria | 18 |
| Denmark | 18 |
| England | 18 |
| Finland | 18 |
| France | 18 |
| Germany | 18 |
| Greece | 23 |
| Ireland | 18 |
| Macau (China) | 18 for tourists, 21 for Chinese locals |
| New Zealand | 20 |
| Portugal | 18 for tourists, 21 for locals |
| Scotland | 18 |
| Spain | 19 |
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