Polymarket Is Banned in Ontario, So Why Were Its Flyers at the Rogers Centre?
This spring, fans heading into a Blue Jays game found something odd on the pavement outside Toronto's Rogers Centre: flyers promoting a "$20 to gamble" offer, complete with Blue Jays-themed promo codes, from the crypto prediction market Polymarket. There is just one problem. Polymarket is banned in Ontario, and has been since 2025. The flyers were not a clever marketing campaign so much as an advertisement for a product Ontarians are not allowed to use.
What a "prediction market" actually is
Platforms like Polymarket and the US-based Kalshi let you buy yes/no contracts on whether some event will happen, an election result, an interest-rate decision, or, increasingly, the outcome of a game. If you are right, the contract pays out; if you are wrong, it expires worthless. Supporters call this "event trading" and dress it up in the language of financial markets. Functionally, when the event is a sports result, you are placing a bet, just through a contract instead of a betting slip.
That distinction, bet or financial instrument, is exactly the question regulators on both sides of the border are now fighting over. Canada answered it years ago.
Why Polymarket is illegal in Canada
Canadian securities rules prohibit offering binary options with a term shorter than 30 days to individual investors, a rule brought in back in 2017 specifically to shut down the short-term "bet-on-an-outcome" products that prediction markets are built on. Polymarket's contracts fall squarely inside that ban.
In a 2025 settlement, Ontario's securities regulator hit Polymarket with a penalty of more than CA$200,000 and barred it from operating in the province until 2027, citing contracts the platform had offered to Ontarians between 2020 and 2023. The settlement also means Polymarket is not allowed to advertise in Ontario, which is what makes the Rogers Centre flyers so striking: a banned operator marketing a banned product, outside a packed stadium.
A banned operator, marketing a banned product, on the pavement outside a sold-out ballpark.
Regulators drew the line again in 2026
If there was any doubt, the country's financial regulators removed it this spring. On April 7, 2026, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) issued a joint reminder that "anyone trading, or facilitating trading, in event contracts which are securities or derivatives, must follow applicable requirements."
Canada has cautiously allowed a narrow set of forecast contracts, on economic, financial and environmental indicators, through approved dealers like Interactive Brokers Canada and, more recently, Wealthsimple. But the carve-out pointedly excludes the two categories prediction markets make most of their money on: politics and sports. As the Canadian Gaming Association's Paul Burns put it, if prediction markets ever come back in any form, "it won't include sports. We will probably make sure of that too."
What it means if you see an offer like this
For a player, the catch is this. A "$20 to gamble" prediction-market promo is not a regulated gambling product in Canada, and it is not a registered investment either. It falls into the gap between the two, which means it carries none of the protections you would get from a licensed operator:
- No AGCO registration and no iGaming Ontario agreement, so no segregated player funds.
- No Canadian complaints path if the platform freezes your balance or refuses a payout.
- No responsible-gambling tools, deposit limits or self-exclusion coverage.
A licensed Ontario sportsbook or online casino sits inside a system that can fine or shut down operators that break the rules. A prediction-market contract on the same Blue Jays game sits entirely outside it. The slick interface and the stadium-side flyer are designed to blur that difference, the law does not.
Before you act on any offer that lets you "trade" or "bet" on an outcome, confirm it is a licensed Canadian operator. Check our province-by-province legality guide, and treat anything promising sports payouts through "contracts" or "event trading" as off-limits in Canada.
Frequently asked
Is Polymarket legal in Canada?
No. Polymarket's yes/no event contracts are treated as binary options under Canadian securities law, which bans binary options with a term under 30 days for individuals. In a 2025 settlement, Ontario's securities regulator imposed a penalty of more than CA$200,000 and barred Polymarket from the province until 2027 over contracts offered to Ontarians between 2020 and 2023.
Can I bet on sports through a prediction market in Canada?
No. Canadian regulators have cleared a narrow set of prediction-market contracts on economic, financial and environmental indicators, but yes/no contracts on sports and political events remain off-limits. The only legal way to bet on sports in Canada is through a provincially regulated sportsbook or lottery product.
What did Canadian regulators say in 2026?
On April 7, 2026, the Canadian Securities Administrators and CIRO issued a joint reminder that "anyone trading, or facilitating trading, in event contracts which are securities or derivatives, must follow applicable requirements." They reaffirmed that sports and political prediction-market contracts are not permitted in Canada.
How is a prediction-market bet different from a licensed casino or sportsbook?
A licensed Ontario operator sits inside the iGaming Ontario framework: registered with the AGCO, audited, with segregated player funds and a complaints path. A prediction-market 'bet' has none of that. It is an unregistered financial product that is illegal to offer in Canada, with no gambling licence, no Canadian player-fund protection and no regulator to escalate a dispute to.
This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Penalty and settlement figures are as reported by Canadian securities regulators and industry press, 2025–2026. 19+. Play responsibly, ConnexOntario 1-866-531-2600.