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CSA and CIRO Uphold Canada’s Sports Event Contract Ban

Quick Glance at the Facts

• On August 27, 2026, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) confirmed that prediction-market event contracts tied to sports and entertainment outcomes stay off-limits in Canada.
• The guidance, Joint Staff Notice 91-307, says these contracts should not sit under securities and derivatives law, so CIRO members cannot offer them.
• Canadians can still legally trade a narrow set of event contracts based on economic, environmental, or financial indicators through certain U.S. regulated exchanges.

Canada’s securities regulators have upheld the ban on prediction-market event contracts tied to sports and entertainment outcomes, closing the door on a fast-growing form of real-world wagering. This matters because Canadians cannot legally trade contracts on who wins a game or an awards show, and licensed brokers are barred from offering them.

What The CSA And CIRO Event Contract Guidance Says

The CSA and CIRO released Joint Staff Notice 91-307 on August 27, 2026, spelling out that contracts on sports and entertainment outcomes do not belong under securities and derivatives law. “It is important for investors and market participants to understand that event contracts based on sports- or entertainment-related activities or outcomes should not be regulated within securities and derivatives legislation,” said Stan Magidson, CSA Chair and the Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission, in the regulators’ announcement. CIRO staff will not approve dealer-member applications to trade these contracts, the notice adds.

This builds on rules Canada already had. The CSA banned short-term binary options in 2017, and Multilateral Instrument 91-102 prohibits selling any binary option that matures in under 30 days to an individual. British Columbia was the only province to opt out, though its own framework also bans short-term plays. Earlier in 2026, a CIRO bulletin in March and a CSA advisory in April had already prohibited contracts on elections and political events.

Not every event contract is blocked. CIRO members can still facilitate a limited set traded through certain U.S. regulated exchanges, specifically those based on economic, environmental, or financial indicators. The regulators said their review of other categories is ongoing, with more guidance to follow.

What’s Next For Prediction Markets In Canada

Pressure to loosen the rules is building. In early August 2026, Wealthsimple published a white paper arguing Canada should allow short-term binaries and the categories now blocked, including elections, entertainment, and sports. Combined monthly Canadian trading volume on Polymarket and Kalshi climbed from under $5 billion in September 2025 to roughly $24 billion in April, per Wealthsimple figures. The Canadian Gaming Association took the other side, with president and CEO Paul Burns welcoming the guidance.

How This Impacts Canadian Players

As of August 2026, Canadians can only trade the approved economic, environmental, and financial event contracts, offered through platforms like Interactive Brokers’ IBKR Forecast Trader and Wealthsimple’s Predict. Questrade has signaled interest but holds no approval yet, and STX carries an Ontario licence while it seeks U.S. registration.

Prediction-market event contracts are a separate product from provincially regulated sports betting and from offshore online sportsbooks, so anyone who wants to wager on a game still has legal sports betting options in Canada through their province.

GamblingNerd Take

If you hoped to bet on the Stanley Cup or the Oscars through a brokerage account, that route stays shut in Canada, and record trading volume has not moved the regulators. Watch the CSA’s promised review of other contract categories, but until it lands, your province’s licensed sportsbook is the legal way to bet on sports.

Photo by Erik Mclean