New Brunswick tables bill to bring live-dealer online casino games under provincial regulation
New Brunswick introduced Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Gaming Control Act, in the provincial legislative assembly on October 27, 2026. Tabled by Finance Minister René Legacy, the government bill would give the province authority to make regulations for live casino games played online in real time with human dealers.
According to the provincial government, the current Act provides no such authority. The live casino concept was proposed by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, and the government said the regulations themselves will be introduced at a later date.
What Bill 8 would change in the Gaming Control Act
The bill adds two definitions to section 1 of the Act. An “online casino lottery scheme” is one conducted and managed by the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation through an online platform and involving casino-style games. A “live casino lottery scheme” is an online casino scheme in which those games are hosted, facilitated or presented by a live person.
Subject to cabinet approval, the corporation could enter an agreement designating a qualifying body corporate as a provincial government agency to operate an online casino scheme, including live casino. The existing Act already lets the corporation reach agreements with other provinces to create a body that runs lottery schemes, and Bill 8 extends regulation-making powers to schemes operated by such an agency.
The bill also proposes changes to how certain licence fees may be calculated and paid.
In its October 27 release, the government described a live casino as an interactive platform for playing online table games by web or phone, in real time with human dealers and other players. It said the new authority would let it create and maintain safeguards through regulation, and that legislation must keep pace so games stay regulated and responsible. The release does not mention slots or any other category of online casino game.
What the proposal leaves unchanged for players
Bill 8 is a proposal and has not yet changed the rules for live-dealer games in New Brunswick. The legislative assembly’s bill page lists first reading on October 27 and second-reading debate on October 28, 2026.
Any provisions that are enacted would come into force on dates set by proclamation. No draft regulations have been published, so the operating rules for live casino, and their timing, depend on later legislative and regulatory steps.
The bill contains no provisions for licensing private online operators.
That distinction matters for anyone comparing provinces. Online gaming in New Brunswick is overseen by the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation and operated on its behalf by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which the province describes as its only legal and regulated online gambling platform. Live-dealer games under Bill 8 would therefore remain government-run rather than opening a commercial market of the kind found in Ontario.
