Crypto-Native Betting Dominates Canada Ahead of World Cup

Canada’s online gambling landscape is entering the FIFA World Cup window with a structural imbalance that favors offshore, crypto-native operators. With the tournament set to kick off on June 11, platforms like Stake and Roobet currently capture the lion’s share of the Canadian market. According to the 2025 USA and Canada iGaming Landscape Report from Blask, the top five operators in the country control over 60% of the competitive earning baseline. This dominance is not a result of regulatory oversight but rather a consequence of the product-depth gap between unlicensed international platforms and provincial monopoly models.

The Geography of Offshore Leakage

The market share distribution reveals a stark divide between Ontario and the rest of the country. While Ontario has successfully achieved 85% regulated channelization since its April 2022 market opening, other provinces remain trapped in legacy monopoly frameworks. Saskatchewan leads the offshore capture rate at 93%, while Alberta and Manitoba follow closely at 88%. These jurisdictions rely on government-run platforms that struggle to compete with the interface flexibility and live in-play betting options provided by offshore competitors.

David Henwood, Director at H2 Gambling Capital, noted the structural failure of these monopoly systems in a 2024 study: “There is much conjecture that one of the main reasons customers use offshore betting sites is because they offer a broader range of product than available onshore. The study findings reinforce that point of view. Limiting the choice of onshore bet types — including live in-play — is basically counter-productive.”

World Cup Timing and Regulatory Gaps

The timing of the 2025 FIFA World Cup creates a specific liquidity event for these offshore operators. With Canada co-hosting the tournament and playing its first match on June 12 against Bosnia and Herzegovina at BMO Field, the demand for high-frequency, in-play betting will be at its peak. Alberta has signaled a transition toward an Ontario-style competitive market, but the launch is not scheduled until July 13. This leaves the province’s 88% offshore leakage entirely intact throughout the group stage and the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Beyond Alberta, there is no near-term path to competitive licensing for the rest of the country. British Columbia and Manitoba rely on PlayNow, Quebec operates through Mise-o-jeu, and Saskatchewan uses the PlayNow platform under SIGA authority. None of these entities have indicated an intention to shift toward an open-licensing model. Consequently, the federal vacuum—characterized by the lack of a national regulator and the stalled status of Bill S-211—ensures that crypto-native platforms will remain the primary access point for Canadian bettors during the World Cup.

Integration of Blockchain Forecasting

As the market matures, the intersection of sports streaming and blockchain-backed prediction markets is accelerating. DAZN is set to integrate ADI Predictstreet, which serves as FIFA's first official prediction market partner. This development highlights the shift toward integrating blockchain-based forecasting into mainstream sports media consumption. While ADI (Analog Devices Inc.) maintains an Alpha Score of 59/100, the broader technology sector is increasingly focused on how these prediction layers can capture user attention during high-engagement events like the World Cup.

For traders and analysts, the primary risk remains the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the crypto market analysis space in Canada. The absence of a national framework means that offshore operators are not merely filling a product gap; they are defining the user experience for the majority of the Canadian betting population. Until a national licensing framework is established, the competitive advantage held by offshore platforms is unlikely to erode, regardless of the outcome of provincial-level legislative shifts in Alberta or elsewhere. The upcoming tournament serves as a stress test for these systems, likely confirming that product depth and speed of execution remain the primary drivers of market share in the absence of effective local regulation.