Canadian Banks That Allow Online Gambling
- Back in 2009, Canadian authorities legalized online gambling and enabled every province to decide whether to allow its residents freely take part in online casino games or not. In 2010, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation was the first Canadian province to legalize online poker and since then, it has been constantly trying to expand the.
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- The currency exchange rate you see online or in the news is not necessarily the rate you will get at the bank — most bank exchange rates are less favorable than rates advertised online. These rates will vary by bank and by day. You will likely receive the rate based on the day you deposit your check. Banks With Canadian Branches.
Assessment of Canadian banks that allow online gambling transactions.
For two decades, the global online gambling industry has gained exponential momentum. Its growth can be attributed to several major factors. The convenience of playing real money games without traveling to a land-based casino is certainly one. The mobile revolution is another. Furthermore, internet gambling is supported by the swift and secure nature of online banking methods.
Unfortunately, our neighbors below the 49th parallel have hampered the way we Canadians gambling over the internet. It wasn’t intentional, but rather the natural consequence of cause and effect.
Back in 2009, Canadian authorities legalized online gambling and enabled every province to decide whether to allow its residents freely take part in online casino games or not. In 2010, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation was the first Canadian province to legalize online poker and since then, it has been constantly trying to expand the.
Why Some Canadian Banks Reject Gambling Payments
In 2006, during the reign of then-President George W. Bush, the US federal government passed a Safe Port Act. The general purpose of the legislation was to shore of homeland security. However, buried deep within the act was a piece of regulatory framework called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, or UIGEA for short.
The UIGEA was meant to criminalize internet gambling activities in the United States. In many ways, the ambiguous nature of the measure failed. However, one thing it did create was a prohibition against US financial institutions facilitating any payments to/from known offshore (illegal) gambling websites.
But Online Gambling Isn’t Illegal in Canada
That’s correct! The Criminal Code of Canada decrees that gambling is a provincial/territorial matter. It does not deem online gambling legal or illegal. Instead, it states that any form of gambling must be regulated by a province/territory in order to be lawful.
When legislation is this ambiguous, it creates what legal eagles refer to as a ‘grey area‘ of the law. Simply put, if online gambling is not expressly legal nor illegal, then it’s neither. Hence the ‘grey area’ classification.
The only thing that has been determined illegal in a court of law is the conduction of online gambling with a ‘physical presence‘ in Canada. Again, the Criminal Code says a gambling operation must be regulated by its local province/territory. Therefore any unlicenced (unregulated) operation located on Canadian soil is illegal.
A company called Starnet Communications International found that out the hard way in 2001. Its Antigua-based/licenced operation—which also held an office in Vancouver—was deemed illegal by the British Columbia Supreme Court. The only stipulation that deemed it illegal was its physical presence in Canada, combined with Canadian player acceptance.
Thus, gambling websites that are located offshore can accept Canadian players. According to legal experts, like Attorney Michael Lipton of Toronto-based Dixon Wright, that assessment will continue to ring true until – if ever – it is successfully challenged in Canada’s Courts.
Having examined the laws thoroughly, Lipton, a gambling law specialist, told CBC:
“As far as I’m concerned, you as a player aren’t committing any criminal offence by being in a position where you are engaged with an offshore operator playing poker, playing slots, or whatever the case may be.”
So What Does the UIGEA Have To Do With Canada?
That US law should have no bearing on Canadians, or Canadian financial institutions. Not directly, anyway. The problem is that some of Canada’s banks and credit card issuers operate throughout North America. And if a bank’s headquarters happen to be based on US soil, then the UIGEA dominates their business model.
For example, JP Morgan Chase Bank (dba Chase Bank), which distributes Visa credit cards throughout North America, is headquartered in New York City, New York, USA. Therefore it will not allow cardholders to conduct online gambling payments, regardless of Canadian residency.
The “Big Five” Banks of Canada
Are you familiar with the term Big Five Banks of Canada? These are the largest banks in the country, facilitating all banking activities for the vast majority of Canadian citizens. In fact, they aren’t just Canadian banks, but international banks, founded and headquartered in Canada.
These banks, in order of size (greatest to smallest), include:
| Bank Name | Year Founded | Head Office Location | Clients in Millions |
| Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) | 1864 | Montreal, QC | 80+ |
| Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) | 1832 | Toronto, ON | 23+ |
| Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) | 1955 | Toronto, ON | 22+ |
| Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) | 1961 | Toronto, ON | 11+ |
| Bank of Montreal (BMO) | 1917 | Montreal, QC | 7+ |
Which brings us to the final segment…
Canadian Banks That Allow Online Gambling
An old diddy comes to mind… ‘One of these banks is not like the others‘.
Of the Big Five Banks, only one does not allow online gambling transactions. In fact, its terms and conditions expressly prohibit account holders from participating in “illegal internet gambling”. That bank is the Bank of Nova Scotia, aka ScotiaBank.
ScotaiBank provides its users with a Day To Day Banking Companion Booklet. Within that guide is a section called General Information about Personal Accounts. The first paragraph states:
“…We reserve the right to prevent use of your account without notifying you in advance if we suspect illegal, unauthorized or fraudulent use of the account, including transactions relating to illegal internet gambling.”
What does Scotiabank consider to be “illegal internet gambling”? We find clarification for that question in the financial institution’s Visa Gift Card Cardholder Agreement, within the second paragraph of Section 2. Using the Card:
“Only online gambling transactions conducted at gaming sites owned and operated by Provincial/Territorial Governments/agencies can be authorized. All other online gambling transactions will be declined.”
This restricts users to British Columbia’s and Manitoba’s Playnow.com, Ontario’s PlayOLG.ca, and Quebec’s Espacejeux.com. And in case you were wondering, this confirms that you can’t use a Scotiabank issued gift card for online gambling at offshore websites either.
On the bright size, all other Big Five Canadian banks allow online gambling transactions. RBC, TD, CIBC and BMO do not present users with express rules stating otherwise, and players have not reported any major issues in doing so.
However, you may have to choose a bank transfer, or ‘E Transfer‘, as your preferred payment method. Using a bank issued credit/debit/prepaid card may result in decline if that card is joint-issued by a US-based card company like Chase Bank or AmEx.
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Scotiabank is Canada’s oldest bank, established in 1832. They were also one of the first to introduce policies that make it difficult for players to deposit and withdraw from online casinos that operate offshore. In fact, they’ve actually made it virtually impossible unless the customer gets creative with their own money by using a secondary or intermediary service.
The opening paragraph of Scotiabank’s “Day to Day Banking Companion Handbook” states:
“We reserve the right to prevent use of your account without notifying you in advance if we suspect illegal, unauthorized or fraudulent use of the account, including transactions relating to illegal internet gambling.”
Although, as we show here, there are no laws on the books that make gambling at online casinos not hosted or managed in Canada illegal. Offshore gambling is perfectly legal for Canadian residents, but financial institutions are also free to set their own policies, even when they don’t make sense.
Fortunately, one of the most popular money transfer facilitators in the country offers a service that seems to bypass Scotiabank’s embargo of legal offshore gambling online. Interac e-Transfer allows Canadian players to access a secondary processor – Gigadat – in order to deposit directly from their Scotiabank accounts. For easy to follow instructions on how to use the service, please see our Guide To Using Interac At An Online Casino.
Canadian Banks That Allow Online Gambling Advice
Note:Interac Online, another separate service, will NOT work for Scotiabank casino deposits.
More Scotiabank online gambling options
In order to use the money in your Scotiabank account to gamble online without Interac e-Transfer, you’ll most likely need to move the money somewhere else first. Each player will have their own preferences and abilities, and some methods may not work for all customers. These are some other convenient and inexpensive ways to top up your casino account using funds from a Scotiabank account.
eWallets
iDebit offers an eWallet that can be funded with your Scotiabank account. After transferring funds to your wallet you will be able to deposit in any of the Canadian online casinos listed on our iDebit Casinos page. There’s also an easy to follow guide there that will walk you through the simple process. Scotiabank will not be aware nor concerned about how and where you spend or invest your money once the funds have moved from the bank to your iDebit account.
EcoPayz is another way to use funds from your Scotiabank account to fund an online gambling transaction. The company offers plastic ecoCards and one-time-use ecoVirtualcards that you can connect to an ecoAccount eWallet. The wallet can be funded over the counter at your local bank, With an online Scotiabank account, credit cards or debit cards.
InstaDebit offers a free account and it works a lot like iDebit – acting as a secure gateway between your bank funds and the casino. A temporary account with a spending limit can be created “on the fly” at any casino on this page. If you want to use the method often, you’ll simply need to verify your bank account with InstaDebit and your spending limits will be raised.
Prepaid and Gift Cards
While your Scotiabank Visa or Mastercard will not work to directly deposit into a casino, you can use one to buy prepaid cards, top them up online, or to buy gift cards. Some of the most popular and widely accepted prepaid cards are:
Paysafecard – While Neteller and Skrill are no longer available for Canadian online casino payments, one product from Paysafe Group Limited can still be used to deposit. Paysafecards are one of the most widely accepted deposit methods.
The cards come in set denominations with a 16 digit voucher number. Learn more about Paysafecard, and find our list of more than two dozen operators that accept the method.
Neosurf – This is basically a prepaid voucher or card. However, you can set up an account that will allow you to deposit and withdraw from some casinos. Please click the following link to learn more about Neosurf casinos. This is another method that may allow you to withdraw casino winnings to your Scotiabank account.
Vanilla – You can purchase a Vanilla prepaid Visa or Mastercard and use it to deposit at many online casinos. Depending on the brand of card, simply choose Visa or Mastercard in the cashier. The cards are available at thousands of locations including Mac’s, 7-11, Petro Canada and elsewhere.
Instant Gift Card – These are rarely advertised and usually not visible until you log in and go to the casino banking or cashier section. If you see “Gift Card” or “Instant Gift Card” listed as an option, click through and use your regular Scotiabank debit or credit card to purchase a virtual gift card. Return to the cashier and enter the provided code and your funds should be immediately available.
Bitcoin with instant cashout to PayPal
While most Canadian banks stopped allowing the purchase of cryptocurrencies in 2018, some exchanges such as Coinbase can still facilitate an exchange. Please keep in mind that digital currency exchanges change terms and methods frequently to stay ahead of regulatory requirements and conditions can change.
Coinbase does not support any Canadian bank accounts for buying or selling. However, you can make instant crypto purchases with your branded Scotiabank Visa debit card. After purchasing Bitcoin or any of the alt-coins available on the exchange you will be able to deposit at most offshore casinos.
Canadian Banks That Allow Online Gambling Websites
When you cash out, simply request a Bitcoin payment and the casino will send it to your Coinbase wallet. From there, you will need a PayPal account in order to withdraw. Withdrawals are stated by Coinbase as occurring in one or two business days but cashouts are actually immediate to PayPal.
From there, you can either move the money to Scotiabank or another account, shop online, or retrieve the money from an ATM if you have the proper PayPal card.
Scotiabank Casino Gambling in Conclusion
Canadian Banks That Allow Online Gambling Laws
The old guard may have made it more difficult to play at the online casino of your own choosing, but they simply can’t make it impossible. The vast majority of players use Interac e-Transfers or EcoPayz for deposits and withdrawals but there are other options as well if those method doesn’t suit you for any reason.
Canadian Banks That Allow Online Gambling Sites
The most important thing to remember is that it is still possible to deposit without moving to another financial institution or opening a new bank account. Just like down south, cashouts can still be an issue for some players. The charts on each of our casino review pages show which methods are available for deposits, withdrawals, or both. We hope this helps our readers who are Scotiabank customers to find an easier path to their favorite online gambling venue.