New Brunswick explores opening online gambling to private operators

Legacy framed the review around a market that has moved faster than the rules governing it. “Online gaming is continuously evolving and the number of options – regulated and unregulated – continues to grow,” he said in the statement to Brunswick News.

Neither Legacy nor Kelly described what a private market in New Brunswick would look like or when a decision is expected. The reported comments also did not say which body would license or oversee private operators.

On the record, the government described the work as an exploration of options rather than a decision.

Atlantic Lottery was established by the four Atlantic provincial governments, and its shareholders include the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation. The Crown corporation says it delivers all of its lottery profits to those four shareholders.

Spokesperson Greg Weston said sites from Ontario and beyond “are attracting more than $250 million in revenue from Atlantic Canada each year, without returning funds or being subject to regulation by our Atlantic provincial governments.” He added that any decision to change the region’s online gaming landscape would rest with those shareholders. In New Brunswick, budget documents showed government lottery revenue down $8 million from two years earlier, according to the Telegraph-Journal.

Weston said the changes in Ontario have left Atlantic Canadians seeing “a high volume of advertising from gambling operators that cannot legally operate in our region.” The newspaper reported that New Brunswick residents who search for Ontario-licensed sites are blocked and redirected to the same companies’ international sites, which it is not illegal for residents to use.

“We want our players to choose to play with the local and government-regulated option, but we know our products have to stack up against the illegal offerings,” Weston said.

iGaming Ontario launched Ontario’s open market on April 4, 2022. Operators there must be registered by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and sign an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. According to iGaming Ontario’s monthly report, the market recorded $9.74 billion in cash wagers and $396.3 million in non-adjusted gross gaming revenue in August.

Alberta followed on July 13, 2026, with 22 approved sites, the Alberta iGaming Corporation said. Under its model, 20% of net revenues from approved sites goes to the province’s General Revenue Fund. A further 3% of gross gaming revenue is reinvested, with 2% going to First Nations and 1% to social responsibility initiatives. The Alberta market grew to 50 licensed sites around an Oct. 13 deadline for previously unregulated operators to join or leave the province.

Michael Naraine, an associate professor of sport management at Brock University, told the Telegraph-Journal that doing nothing is a losing game. “People who want to gamble are going to do it,” he said, suggesting the Atlantic region could partner with Quebec to build a larger marketplace with safeguards.

Molly Cormier of the Canadian Alliance for Responsible Gaming, a coalition of Crown lottery corporations, said the group does not take a position on each province’s market model but advocates for strong safeguards, accountability, oversight and enforcement.