Online casinos in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick: Atlantic Lottery, the law and your options
Atlantic Lottery runs the only online casino either province authorises. Every other site that takes Nova Scotia or New Brunswick players holds a foreign licence, and we list the two our reviewers have paid into and cashed out from in Canadian dollars.
- Provincially authorised operator: Atlantic Lottery, at alc.ca, in both provinces
- Gambling age: 19
- When online casino games arrived: New Brunswick in summer 2020, Nova Scotia in July 2022
- Every other casino: holds a foreign licence, such as Anjouan or Malta, and neither province regulates it
- Top tested pick: 777Vault, rated 4.8/5, Anjouan eGaming licence
- Runner up: Spininio, rated 4.6/5, Anjouan Gaming Authority licence
- Banking: Interac e-Transfer in Canadian dollars at both picks
How gambling is set up in Atlantic Canada
One shared operator, two provincial owners. Atlantic Lottery runs lottery products for all four Atlantic provinces, and each province oversees it through its own gaming corporation: Nova Scotia Gaming and the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation.
Neither province licenses private online casinos. The land-based casinos are a separate business: Great Canadian runs Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax and Sydney and Casino New Brunswick in Moncton, and none of them is the online option.
Atlantic Lottery is the only operator Nova Scotia and New Brunswick authorise to offer online casino games, and it does so through its own site, alc.ca. Its terms of service open accounts to Atlantic Canada residents aged 19 or older. New Brunswick got the games first, in the summer of 2020, and Nova Scotia followed in July 2022. Every other casino that will take a deposit from Halifax or Moncton holds its licence somewhere else, and neither province regulates it. The two offshore casinos our reviewers have tested with Canadian dollars are listed further down, with the licence named on each.
Atlantic Lottery's online casino: what it offers and where
Nova Scotia Gaming describes Atlantic Lottery as the operator of ticket and video lottery for the four Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia included. The online casino sits inside that arrangement. The New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation's 2023-24 annual report, published in June 2025, says Atlantic Lottery runs video lottery, ticket lottery and iLottery on the corporation's behalf, and lists iCasino games at alc.ca next to sports games, iBingo and digital instant games. In that year New Brunswick's iLottery line brought in C$28.6 million, of which C$24.1 million came from iCasino.
For Nova Scotia, the gaming corporation's 2024-25 business plan records that the province launched iCasino, which it describes as online casino-style games, in July 2022, and that 2023-24 was the first full year of it. The same plan says Atlantic Lottery will work on its online gaming content and compete with what the plan calls unregulated and illegal gaming operators.
Playing there means the operator answers to your own province's gaming corporation and regulator, and the profits go back to the province. Nova Scotia Gaming points to voluntary self-exclusion through alc.ca, and New Brunswick's report says the alc.ca platform holds the Responsible Gambling Council's RG Check accreditation. The catch is that there is only one operator, so there is no rival site to compare games or offers against. We hold no test record for alc.ca, so it carries no rating on this page and no affiliate link.
Online casino in Nova Scotia: is it legal?
Through Atlantic Lottery, yes. The legal base is federal: Criminal Code section 207(1)(a) lets the government of a province conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province, alone or together with another province. That clause is why four provinces can share one corporation, and it is also why a private company cannot simply set up an online casino for Nova Scotians.
CBC reported on 9 February 2021 that the Nova Scotia government had cleared the way for Atlantic Lottery's online casino games. The games themselves went live in July 2022, according to Nova Scotia Gaming. Two provincial bodies are involved. Nova Scotia Gaming, governed by the Gaming Control Act and now a division within the Department of Finance and Treasury Board, sets the direction and oversees the operators. The Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco Division of Service Nova Scotia licenses and regulates the industry, according to Nova Scotia Gaming's overview of gaming for 2024-25.
No private online casino holds a Nova Scotia licence, because the province does not issue one. The offshore sites that accept Nova Scotians answer to regulators abroad, and nothing published by Nova Scotia Gaming authorises them, so we will not tell you that playing at one is legal here. Some of those sites display a Kahnawake licence; our Quebec online casinos guide explains what that licence covers and how to check it.
Searching for "casino Nova Scotia online" usually turns up Casino Nova Scotia, the land-based brand that Great Canadian Entertainment runs in Halifax and Sydney. Authorised online play in the province goes through alc.ca.
Online casino in New Brunswick: what is allowed
Online gambling is allowed in New Brunswick through Atlantic Lottery. The New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation is the Crown corporation that conducts and manages gaming under the province's Gaming Control Act, and its approved lottery schemes are video lottery, ticket lottery, iLottery and casino gaming. Atlantic Lottery operates the iLottery line, where the online casino games sit, on the corporation's behalf.
New Brunswick was first in the region: CBC's February 2021 report noted that Atlantic Lottery had launched an online casino site specifically for New Brunswick the previous summer. On enforcement, the corporation's 2023-24 annual report says it works with the Gaming Regulatory Enforcement Unit at Justice and Public Safety to monitor compliance with the Gaming Control Act and the federal anti-money-laundering law.
As in Nova Scotia, there is no New Brunswick licence for a private online casino, so the offshore brands that accept New Brunswickers answer to regulators elsewhere. New Brunswick is officially bilingual, and alc.ca publishes in French and English. The offshore sites vary, so open the terms page and the live chat in your language before the first deposit rather than after a withdrawal stalls.
Casino New Brunswick in Moncton is land-based. Great Canadian runs it under a service agreement with the provincial corporation, and the province's second casino, Grey Rock, is on Madawaska Maliseet First Nation. You have to be 19 to get onto the Moncton casino floor.
What Atlantic Canada players should check first
19 to play
Atlantic Lottery's terms set 19 for an online account. Both casinos below check your age and identity before they release a first withdrawal.
Know the regulator
A foreign licence decides who hears a complaint. Find the issuing body in the footer and check it on that regulator's own site.
Interac in C$
Interac says nearly all Canadian banks and credit unions offer e-Transfer. Both casinos below take it in Canadian dollars.
Your province on the list
Offshore terms carry a restricted-countries list, and some name individual provinces. Read it before you deposit, not after a win.
Online casinos that accept Atlantic Canada players
These are the two casinos already tested and ranked for Canadian players on our other province pages, plus Atlantic Lottery for comparison. Ratings are the editorial scores in our casino data file, and the licence line is the regulator named on each brand's review page. Neither casino is licensed by Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Both tests were real Canadian-dollar Interac deposits; we have no test run specifically from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.
Before you trust any site with a deposit, run the checks in our guide on how to check if an online casino is safe, starting with the licence number and the regulator's own register.
What the record shows:
- Editorial rating: 4.8/5 in our casino data file
- Licence named on its review: Anjouan eGaming
- Withdrawal test: 3 hours 47 minutes by Interac after a real C$100 deposit, March 2026
- Identity check: 47 minutes before the first payout cleared
- Not for you if: you want a regulator in your own province
- Fastest Interac payout our reviewers have timed
- Deposits, bonus and withdrawals in Canadian dollars
- Visa and Mastercard among its Canadian payment methods
- 4,000+ games from 80+ studios
- Anjouan licence, so complaints go offshore
- 40x wagering counts deposit plus bonus
- One free withdrawal a month, then an 8% fee
- No iDebit in our records
19+ only. Gambling can be addictive. Play responsibly. T&Cs apply.
What the record shows:
- Editorial rating: 4.6/5 in our casino data file
- Licence named on its review: Anjouan Gaming Authority
- Withdrawal test: 22 hours by Interac after a real C$100 deposit, March 2026
- Identity check: 52 minutes before the first payout cleared
- Not for you if: you want money back the same afternoon
- 10,000+ games from 90+ studios
- Four deposit welcome package, up to C$1,500 in total
- Interac and Canadian dollars supported
- Paid our test cashout inside a day
- Anjouan licence, so complaints go offshore
- C$30 minimum deposit, higher than most
- Deposits must be wagered 5x or an 8% admin fee applies
- Launched in 2026, so there is little history to judge
19+ only. Gambling can be addictive. Play responsibly. T&Cs apply.
- The site both provinces stand behind
- Complaints stay with a provincial body
- Voluntary self-exclusion through alc.ca
- Profits go back to the province
- One operator, so no rival to compare offers against
- We hold no test record for it, so it carries no rating here
The three options side by side
Every figure below comes from a review page on this site or from the casino data file behind it. Where we have no record, the cell says so.
| What we checked | 777Vault | Spininio | Atlantic Lottery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence or authority | Anjouan eGaming | Anjouan Gaming Authority | Nova Scotia and New Brunswick |
| Took our C$ test deposit | Yes, C$100, March 2026 | Yes, C$100, March 2026 | Not tested |
| Interac / iDebit | Interac yes / iDebit not listed | Interac yes / iDebit not listed | No record |
| Timed Interac payout | 3h 47m | 22h | No record |
| Our rating | 4.8/5 | 4.6/5 | Not rated |
| Review | 777Vault review | Spininio review | None |
Sources: the 777Vault and Spininio review pages, tested March 2026 with real C$100 deposits, and public_html/data/casino-data.json. Method: how we test and how we review online casinos in Canada.
Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador also get their lottery products from Atlantic Lottery, but each province makes its own decisions about online casino games, and this page does not cover their rules.
Real-money deposits: C$, Interac and iDebit
Interac e-Transfer is the method most Nova Scotia and New Brunswick players will use. Interac says nearly all Canadian banks and credit unions offer it, and lists more than 250 participating institutions, so a credit union account will usually do the job as well as a big-bank one (checked 27 October 2026). Both casinos above take Interac in Canadian dollars, so a C$50 deposit arrives as C$50. Our Interac casinos in Canada page lists the other sites our reviewers have moved money through in both directions.
Withdrawals are where the two picks differ. The 777Vault review records 3 hours 47 minutes from request to bank on a real C$100 test in March 2026, after a 47 minute identity check. Spininio took 22 hours on the same kind of test, after a 52 minute check. Each is one test on a verified account, not an average, and your own first cashout will be the slowest because that is when the casino's compliance team reads your documents.
iDebit is thinner on the ground. Neither 777Vault nor Spininio lists it in our records, so if iDebit is the method you want, check the cashier page before you sign up rather than after. For card players, 777Vault's Canadian record lists Visa and Mastercard among its payment methods but says nothing about card withdrawals, so plan on Interac for the way out.
Two cashier rules cost money if you miss them. 777Vault gives one free withdrawal a month and charges 8% on each one after that, so cash out once rather than in small pieces. Spininio wants each deposit wagered five times before a withdrawal, or it takes an 8% administration fee. Both are in the operators' terms pages, and both were recorded in our March 2026 reviews.
No deposit and welcome bonuses: what the terms cost
Neither of our two picks has a no deposit bonus in our records, so a no deposit bonus advertised to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick players belongs to some other site. Before you chase one, find the maximum cashout line in its terms. A free bonus with a small cap can be a lot of play for very little money you can actually withdraw.
Welcome bonuses are easier to price. Take the 777Vault terms as recorded in March 2026: a 100% match with 40x wagering on deposit plus bonus. Deposit C$100, receive C$100, and you have to place C$8,000 in bets (40 times C$200) before the bonus money turns into cash. At C$1 a spin that is 8,000 spins, and the house edge applies to every one of them. Winnings from the bonus are then capped at 10 times the bonus amount. Spininio's first-deposit match carries the same 40x on deposit plus bonus, with the cap at five times the bonus.
Offers change, so treat those numbers as a worked example and read the live terms on the day you deposit. Our guide to how wagering requirements work covers game weighting, maximum bet rules and expiry dates in more detail.
Are gambling winnings taxed in Atlantic Canada?
For a recreational player, no. The Canada Revenue Agency's income tax folio on lottery winnings and miscellaneous receipts treats a windfall as not taxable, and the CRA's list of amounts you do not report includes lottery winnings of any amount unless the prize counts as employment, business or property income (CRA page modified 17 September 2026).
The exception is gambling run as a business. The same folio says gambling can produce business income, or a business loss, where it amounts to a source of income, and weighs things like organisation, special knowledge and how often and how much someone bets. Interest earned on winnings you invest is taxable in the usual way. This is general information, not tax advice; if you play at a level where the business test might apply, talk to an accountant.
Atlantic Canada online casino questions
Is online gambling allowed in New Brunswick?
Yes, through Atlantic Lottery. The New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation conducts and manages gaming under the Gaming Control Act, and Atlantic Lottery operates its iLottery line, including iCasino games at alc.ca. New Brunswick does not license private online casinos, so offshore sites that accept New Brunswickers are not regulated by the province.
Is online gambling legal in Nova Scotia?
Yes, at alc.ca. CBC reported in February 2021 that the Nova Scotia government had cleared the way for Atlantic Lottery's online casino games, and Nova Scotia Gaming dates the launch to July 2022. The province does not license private online operators, so offshore casinos that accept Nova Scotians answer to foreign regulators, not to Nova Scotia.
What is the gambling age in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick?
19. Atlantic Lottery's terms of service open online accounts to Atlantic Canada residents aged 19 or older, and Nova Scotia's Atlantic Lottery Regulations require retailers to sell and pay out tickets only to customers 19 or older. Casino New Brunswick also requires everyone on its casino floor to be 19. Both offshore casinos on this page check your age and identity before they release a first withdrawal.
Is Casino Nova Scotia online?
No. Casino Nova Scotia is the land-based brand that Great Canadian Entertainment runs in Halifax and Sydney. Online casino games in Nova Scotia come from Atlantic Lottery at alc.ca, which the province launched in July 2022. Casino Nova Scotia's own pages sit on greatcanadian.com, so treat other sites using the name with care.
Do Nova Scotia online casinos offer no deposit bonuses?
Some offshore sites advertise them, but neither of the two casinos rated on this page has a no deposit bonus in our records. If you find one, read the maximum cashout and the wagering line first, because a small cap limits what you can withdraw however well the free play goes. Our wagering guide explains how to price the rest of the terms.