Up until recently, online poker has been somewhat of a grey area in Canada. However, recently Canada joined the worldwide wave of countries to adopt online gambling regulations. While in many countries regulations have resulted in bad outcomes for online poker, Canadian regulations seem to have handled the situation well.
While some regulations regarding operators doing business in Canada may still come, players have little to worry about. While actual regulations differ from County to County, the Canadian criminal code does not prohibit online gambling in general, so Canadians are free to play anywhere in the country. Even those Counties that apply restrictions to online gambling do not have any specific restrictions for online poker.
When it comes to online poker rooms, some of the smaller rooms have pulled out of the Canadian market in the midst of speculations of upcoming regulations and have yet to return. At one point, Titan Poker, which is one of the biggest iPoker skins pulled out of Canada, but reversed their decision soon afterwards. So in general, all the major poker rooms that are available in the global market are also available to Canadian players. Here are the best rooms Canadian players can choose from.
When it comes to depositing, players may encounter a bit more hassle. The biggest blow to Canadian players came in early 2014, when the most popular online payment processor Skrill pulled out of Canada. While this is an inconvenience, most other popular deposit methods like VISA, Neteller, EntroPay, etc., are still available in Canada, so players have nothing to worry about.
If you are a recreational player, you will also be happy to know that online poker winnings are generally not taxed in Canada. However, if online poker is your main source of income, taxes may apply.
