Gambling at online private sports betting sites—still technically illegal in British Columbia—is so popular that the B.C. Lottery Corporation is now barely able to capture half the money being wagered in the province.

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey laid out the figures to the legislature during her budget estimates this week. They come as provinces continue to grapple with Ontario’s decision in 2022 to open the doors to private-sector online gambling sites like DraftKings, Bet365 and FanDuel.

“We estimate that BCLC has captured half—51 per cent is our estimate—of the online gambling market in B.C.,” said Bailey.

“We know there has been a significant increase in illegal operations attempting to enter B.C. through aggressive marketing and acquisition efforts, much of it being successful entering B.C.”’

BCLC’s PlayNow website is the only legal source for online sports betting in the province, part of the Crown corporation’s monopoly hold on online gambling in the province.

But it’s not as varied, deep or exciting as the multibillion-dollar private company offerings. British Columbians have also been blitzed with star-studded advertising campaigns for the private sites through Ontario sports feeds for things like NHL hockey and NBA games.

An estimated $441 million in illegal online gambling occurs in the province annually, according to the lottery corporation, whereas around $454 million is generated legally through PlayNow.

“Since the Government of Ontario opened its market, there’s been this influx of advertising for sites which are regulated in Ontario but operate illegally in other provinces, including our own,” said Bailey.

“This really blurs the line between those sites and provincially regulated gambling like PlayNow that creates revenue and jobs for respective provinces.”

Technically, the private sites are illegal in B.C., and the companies are supposed to block access. But there are often crafty ways around such restrictions. The new figures from the government show how widely those loopholes are being exploited by British Columbians.

“PlayNow competes with these sites as well as illegal gambling operators from outside of Canada, hindering BCLC’s market share and revenue growth in the iGaming space,” reads BCLC’s most recent service plan to government.

Gambling is expected to generate $1.4 billion in net income for the province through BCLC in fiscal 2026-27.

Opposition Finance Critic Peter Milobar, who quizzed Bailey on the issue, said the proliferation of illegal online gambling can jeopardize the bricks and mortar casinos and gambling sites that employ British Columbians and produce revenue for communities through things like gaming grants.

“The worry is the government will say we’re losing so much revenue to unregulated [gambling] that we might as well regulate it and get a piece of it,” said Milobar.

“But the jury is out in some of those other jurisdictions if that’s actually been effective or not.”

B.C. can either regulate and allow private sites, or boost its own online product to better compete, he said.

The lottery corporation will refresh its PlayNow website later this year to try and recapture some lost ground to illegal private sites.

“The platform for PlayNow is being replaced in the fall to better compete in the market,” said Bailey.

“It will also include a new offering which is a sports betting platform that will come out as part of this new platform.”

B.C. has shown no interest in allowing private online sports betting in the province.

But Alberta is moving in that direction. It will open and regulate private iGaming in mid-July, becoming the second province to do so after Ontario. Already, major operators like BetMGM, Bet99 and BetNova are registered.

“With unregulated iGaming widely available in our province, it is our responsibility to step in, regulate the market, and hold private providers to the highest standards to protect Albertans, particularly our youth,” Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said in a press release in January.

Meanwhile, the B.C. Lottery Corporation says its new sports betting product will be “highly competitive” this fall.

But for a provincial government strapped for cash, in the throes of a record deficit, it must sting to see almost half a billion in revenue left on the table because it can’t offer sports betters a platform they want to use.

Rob Shaw has spent more than 18 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for BIV. He hosts the weekly show Political Capital and has a NEW daily podcast, Political Capital Daily.

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