Are prediction markets legal in Canada?

The short answer

Yes, but only through two dealers and only for a narrow set of contracts. In Canada, event contracts are derivatives, and you can trade them legally through the two investment dealers the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) has authorized: Interactive Brokers Canada and Wealthsimple. Both can offer only economic, environmental and financial indicator contracts with at least 30 days to maturity, with no leverage. Sports, entertainment, elections and politics are off limits.

Platforms that aren’t registered in Canada, including Polymarket, can’t legally offer you event contracts, wherever you live.

Event contracts are derivatives in Canada

Canada has no single securities regulator. Each province and territory has its own, coordinated through the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), while CIRO oversees investment dealers nationally. On April 2, 2026, the CSA and CIRO reminded the industry and investors that anyone trading or facilitating event contracts that are securities or derivatives must meet the registration or recognition requirements, and that breaking them can lead to enforcement.

The same release made a point that decides most of what follows: no prediction market has been recognized as an exchange, registered as a dealer or exempted by the CSA. Polymarket, Kalshi and the other platforms you read about are not Canadian-registered businesses.

The two dealers allowed to offer them

Both are CIRO-regulated investment dealers and members of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. CIRO’s bulletins don’t name them, but CIRO said in March 2026 that two dealer members were authorized, and its dealer directory lists Interactive Brokers Canada as authorized for event contracts. The Globe and Mail reported in September 2026 that Questrade has applied. Our ranking compares the two.

What Canadian dealers can and can’t offer

CIRO first published its conditions in Bulletin 26-0076 on March 26, 2026, and replaced them with stricter terms in Bulletin 26-0215 on October 16, 2026:

Since October 16, every permitted contract must settle on an objective, independently verifiable indicator from an authoritative source. CIRO’s examples make the line clear: a published unemployment rate qualifies, a named company’s layoffs don’t; a published index value qualifies, an IPO or acquisition announcement doesn’t; measured rainfall qualifies, a government policy announcement doesn’t.

The same bulletin bars dealers from advertising, displaying, ranking, recommending, watchlisting or alerting on any contract they can’t offer, on any client-facing tool, including through links to other sites. Showing a contract while disabling trading in it doesn’t comply. Anything outside these terms needs CIRO’s prior authorization.

Sports and entertainment: a matter for the provinces

On August 27, 2026, Joint CSA and CIRO Staff Notice 91-307 set out the regulators’ view that sports- and entertainment-based event contracts “should not be regulated within securities and derivatives legislation”, and that CIRO won’t approve dealers trading them. That puts them under gambling law, where the Criminal Code lets each province conduct and manage betting through its own lottery corporation; single-event sports betting has been legal that way since August 27, 2021.

Provincial gambling authorities responded quickly:

• British Columbia: on August 28, 2026, the Independent Gambling Control Office said products on the outcome of sports and entertainment events are gambling, that PlayNow.com is the only legal online gambling site in the province, and that other sites accessible in BC, including event-contract sites, operate illegally.
• Quebec: on August 27, 2026, Loto-Québec said it is the only legal online casino and sports-betting operator in Quebec and that sports and entertainment event contracts aren’t legal there.

In Ontario, legal online sports betting runs through OLG and private sportsbooks registered with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario; we found no statement from the AGCO on prediction markets as of October 22, 2026.

Elections and politics

Election, political-event, leadership and referendum contracts have been excluded from CIRO’s terms since March 2026. That hasn’t stopped offshore platforms from listing Canadian races: CBC reported on October 15, 2026, that prediction markets were taking bets on Ontario’s municipal elections, and that the Ontario Securities Commission expects compliance with its orders and settlements. Kalshi told CBC it restricts election markets in Canada.

The 30-day rule

Canadian dealers can only offer contracts with a term to maturity of at least 30 days, and a contract with a new threshold counts as a new contract. The floor mirrors Multilateral Instrument 91-102, which since December 12, 2017 has banned advertising, offering or selling binary options with a term under 30 days to individuals everywhere in Canada except British Columbia, which deals with them under its own notice. The Nova Scotia Securities Commission said in June 2026 that Polymarket and Kalshi can’t offer contracts shorter than 30 days in Nova Scotia or other Canadian jurisdictions.

In practice both dealers apply it to how long a contract has been listed: once it has been listed for 30 days, you can trade it until it matures.

Polymarket, Kalshi and other platforms

• Polymarket must keep Ontario residents out under its April 2025 settlement with the OSC, which found it had breached the binary-options ban, and by early July 2026 it had also blocked Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec. Elsewhere the site loads but is unregistered. Is Polymarket legal in Canada?
• Kalshi lists Canada as a restricted jurisdiction in its member agreement, so Canadians can’t trade on Kalshi itself; some of its contracts are available through Wealthsimple Predict and Interactive Brokers. Is Kalshi available in Canada?
• US apps such as Robinhood, PredictIt, FanDuel Predicts and Coinbase serve US customers only.

Our legit check gives the status of 16 platforms for Canadians.

Province by province

Both dealers serve every province; we found no province excluded by either as of October 22, 2026. Interactive Brokers requires you to be 21 everywhere.

What could change

The regulators have said their terms can change and more guidance is coming on categories other than sports and entertainment. Quebec’s securities regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, lists prediction markets among its 2026–2027 priorities, more dealers may apply, and Polymarket’s two-year market bans in Ontario run to about April 2027, although its undertaking to keep Ontario residents out lasts until the OSC agrees otherwise. We update this page when a regulator acts.

What this means for you

• If you want to trade event contracts legally, use Interactive Brokers or Wealthsimple Predict.
• Expect economic, financial and climate markets only, with at least 30 days to run when listed.
• If you want sports, use your province’s betting site, not a prediction market.
• Treat any platform offering Canadians sports or election contracts as unregistered, and read our guide to whether prediction markets are safe before you deposit anywhere.