New Brunswick reviews private online gambling models as Ontario and Alberta open to licensed operators

New Brunswick is reviewing whether to move away from Atlantic Lottery Corporation’s exclusive hold on the province’s legal online gambling market. The key point for PSPs and operators: the province has not set a timeline, named a preferred model, or even decided yet whether private operators will be allowed in.

1. Finance Minister René Legacy confirmed the review to Brunswick News. The government has not announced a timeline or a preferred regulatory approach, so this is still a policy review rather than a market-opening decision.
2. Government spokesperson David Kelly said officials are studying other provinces and jurisdictions to see how gambling can remain “safe, responsible and appropriately regulated.” In practice, that means New Brunswick is looking at existing Canadian models before deciding whether to follow them.
3. Ontario opened its regulated online gambling market on April 4, 2022. Private operators must register with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and enter into an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.
4. Alberta launched its regulated market on July 13, 2026, initially with 22 approved sites. The number of licensed sites later reached 50 around the October 13 deadline for previously unregulated operators to enter the regulated market or leave the province.
5. For the payments side, the backdrop matters: in July, FINTRAC penalised the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation and the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation for violations of federal anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws. New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation was fined CA$399,712.50 (US$289,400) for failing to report suspicious transactions that indicated possible connections to money laundering or terrorism financing, while the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation was fined CA$231,826 (US$167,800) for three administrative mistakes, including one related to suspicious transactions.

For high-risk PSPs, the real signal here is not a market launch date. It is that New Brunswick is openly testing whether its current monopoly structure should give way to a licensed private model, while the province’s own gambling entities are already under federal AML scrutiny.