British Columbia Sports Betting: Legal and Safe Options

British Columbia sports betting has been legal since August 2021, when Canadian Parliament lifted the federal ban [1]. You can now access legal regulated sportsbooks and offshore betting sites from BC. This page will tell you about the best BC sportsbooks, how to sign up for these sites, and everything else you need to know about betting on sports in BC.

Betway

Our Opinion

Betway is a huge name in Europe that is slowly but surely becoming a big player in the Canadian sports betting market. It’s our top-rated BC sportsbook because of its wide betting markets, great promo offers, and unique sportsbook features.

The Betway BC site has over 35 different betting markets available year-round, including political and novelty bets. It also has boosted bets available daily for all the top leagues, along with a generous $200 free bet offer.

Who is Betway Best For

Betway’s markets, generous promos, and sportsbook features make it a great choice for anyone interested in betting on sports in BC. That said, the site has lots of guides, features, and stats to help new sports bettors. This makes it better for casuals and beginners than a lot of other top British Columbia sportsbooks.  

Betway Canada Welcome Bonus

If you want to see what our top-rated sportsbook is all about, you can sign up for Betway now to claim a $200 first bet offer. All you need to do is place your first wager. If you lose, you'll get your money back as bonus bets ($10 minimum, $200 maximum). Betway will also give you 20 free spins for the 12 Masks of Fire Drums Spins slot, regardless of what happens with your first wager. 

Betway Pros & Cons

Sports Interaction

Our Opinion

Unlike some of our other best British Columbia sportsbooks, Sports Interaction is very much a household name in Canada. The Kahnawake-based sports betting site has been around since 1997, which makes it one of the oldest online sportsbooks available in BC. Despite its age, Sports Interaction keeps things fresh with fun features like its Easy Parlay tool and unique Pinata Picks contests. 

Who is Sports Interaction Best For

Sports Interaction is an ideal sportsbook for fans of the major leagues in Canada. Don’t get us wrong, Sports Interaction has a good selection of markets, but you won’t find as many esports or niche sports available. For NBA and NHL betting, though, Sports Interaction has super deep markets and sport-specific promos, such as its Collect A Puck NHL tournament.  

Sports Interaction Canada Welcome Bonus

Out of all our favourite sportsbooks, Sports Interaction has the best British Columbia sports betting bonus offer. If you create your account now, Sports Interaction will match 125% of your first deposit up to $250. This means you get to basically more than double your money. Very few sites offer this kind of value. 

Sports Interaction Pros & Cons

Pinnacle

Our Opinion

Pinnacle is another established brand with a lot of history in Canada. Like Sports Interaction, Pinnacle has kept up with the times, though. The sportsbook has modern same-game parlay features, a huge esports betting market, and crypto payment methods that you won’t find at many other British Columbia sports betting sites.  

Who is Pinnacle Best For

Pinnacle is an ideal site for experienced sports bettors who want value. If you bet regularly, the house edge can take a huge cut of your potential winnings. This is less of an issue at Pinnacle because of the site’s low margins. Therefore, in the long-run, Pinnacle is one of the best sites for people who bet often. 

Pinnacle Canada Welcome Bonus

Pinnacle is one of the few British Columbia sports betting sites without a welcome bonus offer. This is one of many things that makes Pinnacle the old-school sportsbook that it is. Instead of offering flashy promos, Pinnacle offers value through its low margins and competitive betting odds. 

Pinnacle Pros & Cons

LeoVegas

Our Opinion

LeoVegas entered the market in 2011 as a forward-thinking sportsbook that was focused on mobile sports betting. Now, every sportsbook has a pretty good mobile site, but we think LeoVegas’s is still one of the best. It’s live betting interface, specifically, makes it super easy to keep track of all the action compared to other sites.

Our only complaint is that the LeoVegas website’s customer support pages are not localised to Canada. The pages that are Canada-specific are usually only relevant in Ontario and not for BC. This is something to keep in mind when reading LeoVegas FAQ articles.

Who is LeoVegas Best For

LeoVegas is a good all-around sports betting site, but its best feature is definitely its mobile site. If you like to bet on the go or even just from the comfort of your couch on your phone, LeoVegas is a solid option for you.

LeoVegas Canada Welcome Bonus

LeoVegas will give you two $25 bonus bets ($50 total value) when you sign up now and place a $25 wager. You can use these bonus bets on any parlay with three legs or more built using the LeoVegas Bet Builder tool. 

LeoVegas Pros & Cons

888Sport

Our Opinion

888Sport has been around for close to two decades, but you probably wouldn’t be able to guess that by looking at it. Both the desktop and mobile sports betting sites have very modern designs and 30+ betting markets. 888Sport also stands out for its personalised sports betting features, such as its “Made For You” bets. 

Who is 888Sport Best For

888Sport is another British Columbia sports betting site that we would recommend to anyone. However, the number of low-stakes free bet offers makes it an ideal sportsbook for casual and new sports bettors. 888Sport has promos available every day that allow you to rack up free bets when you wager on the NBA, NHL, and other major North American leagues. 

888Sport Canada Welcome Bonus

In addition to its daily promos, 888Sport has a generous welcome bonus that you can claim to earn up to $250 in bonus bets. Just sign up and make a deposit. Then, 888Sport will match 100% of whatever you put in up to $250. It will also throw in $10 in casino credit that you can use on slots, poker, and other 888Sport casino games. 

888Sport Pros & Cons

With our top five British Columbia betting sites out of the way, let’s talk about some of the factors our experts use to rate BC sportsbooks. You can use these factors for yourself to find the best betting sites for you. 

Licensing

The first thing we do before recommending any sportsbook is make sure that it is licensed. Our top sportsbooks all have licenses from respected regulators abroad and/or from here in Canada, such as the Malta Gaming Authority or Kahnawake Gaming Commission. 

Security

A licence isn’t enough to tell you whether a sportsbook is trustworthy. We also assess a site’s safety features and look for things like SSL encryption that tell us they take your security seriously. 

Betting Markets

The most important thing about a sportsbook is that it has the sports you want to bet on available. If you like hockey, you wouldn’t want to bet at a sportsbook that only had soccer bets, right? Top sportsbooks have over 25 different markets available to BC sports bettors. 

Sportsbook Bonuses

Sports betting in British Columbia should be a rewarding experience. That’s why we look for sportsbooks with generous deposit match offers, boosted bets, and other sports betting bonuses that give you a chance to earn free bets regularly. 

Competitive Odds

All sportsbooks get their odds from different odds providers. They also have different margins, which affects how much money is available to win. The best sportsbooks have low margins and competitive odds for all the major sports betting markets in BC. 

Mobile Experience

While there are not many betting apps in British Columbia, mobile sports betting is still a huge part of the overall market. This is why we personally test every site we review on both desktop and mobile browsers to ensure that both sites offer an overall high-quality sports betting experience. 

Sports Betting Features

Live betting, early cashout options, bet builders, personalised bets, and other sports betting features can elevate a good sportsbook to a great one. All of our top sites have live betting along with at least one of these other features. 

Customer Support

The top sportsbooks in British Columbia offer 24/7 support via live chat to all users. They should also have a dedicated help centre with FAQ articles and other guides. Ideally, we like to see customer support also available by email and phone, but this is not as common. 

Localisation

Most of the sports betting sites available in British Columbia are huge international brands. The sites we enjoy the most have features that make them feel more localised to Canada and BC specifically. This could be special offers for local sports teams or more basic things, like blog posts and FAQ articles written for Canadian players.

Sports betting has been legal in British Columbia since 2021, when Parliament passed Bill C-218 to amend the Canadian Criminal Code to remove the national ban on single-event sports betting.

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) manages and conducts all commercial gambling in BC, including online sports betting [2]. It’s also responsible for a significant portion of regulating British Columbia sports betting.

However, the BCLC does not oversee a regulated sports betting market like iGaming Ontario does in Ontario. Instead, the BCLC’s PlayNow platform is the only regulated sportsbook in British Columbia. That said, offshore sites are also available in BC thanks to their international licenses.

All of our top-rated British Columbia betting sites have international licences from respected regulators, such as the Malta Gaming Authority and UK Gambling Commission. Sports Interaction also has a licence from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which is based in Quebec. 

Who Can Bet on Sports in BC?

British Columbia has relatively few restrictions on sports betting. The legal BC sports betting age is 19. As long as you are 19-years-old or older and inside the province’s borders, you can bet on sports legally. 

What Can I Bet on in British Columbia

Unlike in the US, there are not many sports unavailable to Canadian sports bettors. In BC, you can bet on pretty much anything. This includes college sports and college player props. It’s all fair game. 

Esports, political, and entertainment bets are also available at most British Columbia sports betting sites. Minor league hockey is a bit of a grey area. Some sites offer Western Hockey League bets, but many sites restrict these markets in Canada because betting on the Canadian Hockey League is illegal in BC. 

Mobile Sports Betting

All the best British Columbia sportsbooks have mobile sports betting sites. However, sportsbook apps are not available. PlayNow is the only sports betting app available for download. You will see other apps available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, but you can only use them in Ontario.

While it’s a little less convenient to not have a dedicated app, we find that top mobile sports betting sites are just as good as the best sportsbook apps. They have all the same betting markets as the desktop sites and use HTML-5 technology to enable live streaming and fast live betting.

Retail Sportsbooks

British Columbia introduced in-person sports betting in February 2025 with a brand new sports betting lounge at Chances Casino Kelowna. A second retail sportsbook opened in March 2025 at Parq Casino near BC Place.

You can also bet on sports in person using PROLINE sports betting kiosks at select gas, grocery, and convenience stores in BC [3].

British Columbia Sports Betting Taxes

You do not have to pay taxes on sports betting winnings in British Columbia. Under Canadian law, the only people who have to pay taxes on gambling winnings are professional gamblers [4]. However, remember that you have to pay taxes on the interest from your winnings if you invest it.

Overview of Legal Gambling in British Columbia

References

[1]. https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/43-2/c-218. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2025.

[2]. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/sports-culture/gambling-fundraising/gambling-in-bc 31 January 2025. Retrieved 16 May 2025.

[3]. https://corporate.bclc.com/our-business/our-products/sports.html. Retrieved 16 May 2025

[4]. https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2023/07/texas-hold-em-or-taxes-hold-em-taxes-and-gambling-in-canada. 6 July 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2025.