Legal Drinking And Gambling Age In Canada

Legal Drinking Age In Canada There is no national legal drinking age in Canada. Instead, rules around alcohol and drug consumption are done by each province individually - including setting a minimum drinking age. In Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, the legal drinking age is 18.

The legal drinking age in Canada is not the same across the country; every province or territory comes up with its own rule book.

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• Legal Gambling Age in Canada. Canada has ten provinces and three territories, meaning all 13 regions have the right to make their own rules and laws regarding gambling. For that reason, there isn’t an official gambling age that applies to the whole Canadian territory. However, for the most part, the legal gambling age in Canada is 19 years.

In Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, for example, residents can legally drink once they reach the age of 18; across the rest of Canada, you must be at least 19 years old to legally purchase alcohol.

Those regulations have been in place since the 1970s, when all Canadian provinces and territories lowered the legal drinking age from 20 or 21 to either 18 or 19 to 'align more closely with the age of majority.'

Ontario and Saskatchewan initially lowered their legal drinking age to 18, but raised it to 19 years of age in the late 1970s after a spike in underage drinking. Prince Edward Island followed suit in 1987.

In this sense, there are two factors that governments weigh when choosing the legal drinking age: the age of majority, and the harmful effects of drinking.

The age of majority in Canada is 18, so provinces such as Alberta may have opted to make the legal drinking age 18 to coincide with the time that individuals are legally recognized as adults.

However, provinces also had to consider the harmful effects of alcohol, according to the Canadian Center for Substance Abuse (CCSA), provinces that have a higher drinking age reduce alcohol consumption in youth and lower traffic crashes.

A Canadian study in 2014 even found that if the drinking age were to be raised to 19 across all of Canada, approximately seven 18-year-old males would be prevented from dying each year.

In this sense, Ontario may have chosen to make the legal drinking age 19 in order to reduce alcohol-related fatalities.

More recently, Canadian provinces have also introduced different legal ages for cannabis consumption, ranging from 18 years of age in Alberta to 21 in Quebec as of October 2019.

One thing that I’ve always found interesting in the gambling world is the legal gambling age in different countries. To take it a step further, some parts of a country may have different legal ages, as gambling laws need to be overseen on a state level. In Canada, gambling laws are governed on a provincial or territorial level.

As legalized gambling increases worldwide, especially in North America, there’s plenty of information that needs to be digested before hitting those casinos, sportsbooks, slots, or online versions of all three. The most important of which, that we’ll cover in the following post, is the legal gambling age in Canada.

What Is the Legal Gambling Age in Canada?

For the most part, the legal gambling age in Canada is 19 years old. However, like many other countries across the globe, it varies geographically. 19 is not the uniform legal gambling age across the board.

As noted, gambling laws in Canada are governed on a provincial level, so the legal gambling age in Canada can differ from province to province or in Canada’s case, province to territory.

The gambling age in Canada’s most popular cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, and of course, the country’s capital city of Ottawa, is 19. While this is the case, Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta have chosen to implement their legal gambling age as one year younger at 18.

Being of age permits Canadian residents to do the following activities: entering casinos, playing a provincial lottery, buying scratch tickets, or gambling online.

The full breakdown for the legal gambling age in Canada throughout all provinces and territories can be found below.

Province/Territory Major Cities Legal Gambling Age

Ontario

• Toronto, Ottawa, London
• 19

Quebec

• Montreal, Quebec City, Laval
• 18

Newfoundland

• John’s, Corner Brook
• 19

Nova Scotia

• Halifax, Sydney
• 19

Prince Edward Island

• Charlottetown, Summerside
• 19

New Brunswick

• Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton
• 19

Manitoba

• Winnipeg, Brandon
• 18

Saskatchewan

• Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert
• 19

Alberta

• Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer
• 18

British Columbia

• Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey
• 19

Yukon

• Whitehorse
• 19

Northwest Territories

• Yellowknife
• 19

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Nunavut

• Iqaluit
• 19

There you have it. The gambling age for each of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. If you’re planning to do some gambling in Canada, make sure to ensure you are of legal age. And as always, make sure to have valid government-issued ID on you, just in case!

The Best Casino Games for First-Time Gamblers

While most beginning Canadian gamblers utilize low-cost games such as slots and low-minimum card games, the experienced Canadian gambler often enjoys higher stakes blackjack and roulette, although the latter doesn’t take much strategy into account.

Of course, there’s also online gambling in Canada as well, whether it’s at an online casino or sportsbook.

Gambling online in Canada is certainly the most convenient way to go, although gambling laws in Canada are still strict in some areas; it can vary from province to province.

Directly Correlated to Legal Drinking Age

What’s also of note here is the direct correlation between the legal gambling age in Canada and the legal drinking age in the respective provinces. The gambling and drinking ages are identical from province to province, which govern their own set of rules in these two departments.

That said, the drinking age of 18 in Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta has come under some scrutiny, given the research down on alcohol overconsumption and the effects it can have on young adults of just 18 years of age. There’s also been research conducted on the effects of alcohol in the 19 to 24 age group as well.

Legal Drinking And Gambling Age In Canada Compared

Of course, the United States’ legal drinking age of 21 falls into this area, but that set age has its critics, too.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t appear that a change in the legal gambling and drinking ages in Canada are in any danger of changing at this point in time. But as research continues, amending the legal age to a few years older certainly cannot be ruled out.

The simple reason for the small discrepancy in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec isn’t anything more than that the rules are governed on a provincial basis, although the legal ages have indeed changed in the past.

For example, the province of Ontario lowered its drinking age from 21 to 18 in 1971, but the age was raised by one year to 19 in 1979. The main reason for that specific change was because Ontario did not want high school-aged individuals to be able to legally consume alcohol.

Legal Drinking And Gambling Age In Canada United States

In the country as a whole, you are considered an adult at the age of 18, which is why the three aforementioned provinces have decided to roll with a legal drinking age in line with the year of adulthood.

Conclusion

One more thing to note is that the legal gambling age does not differ for online or in-person gambling. So, gamblers from Canada who meet their local requirements are permitted to gamble online as well.

Legal Drinking And Gambling Age In Canada Right Now

If you’re ready to start gambling online from your province or territory, but you aren’t sure if it’s legal, check out our page on Canada gambling laws. Learn about what’s allowed and what isn’t by visiting the page, whether it’s casino gambling or betting on sports.

Good luck with your bets and remember to gamble responsibly!

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