Provincial gaming

Where provincial gaming revenue goes: OLG, BCLC, Loto-Québec, AGLC and ALC

Casino newsUpdated October 28, 2026

Most of it goes straight to provincial governments. In their latest annual reports, OLG sent $2.2 billion of net profit to Ontario, BCLC $1.395 billion to British Columbia, AGLC $2.2 billion to Alberta's General Revenue Fund, Loto-Québec a $1.52 billion dividend to Quebec and Atlantic Lottery $498.7 million to four provinces. First Nations, charities, host communities and Ottawa take defined slices along the way.

The short version

Canada's big lottery and casino operators are provincial Crown bodies, and the profit they make is paid to the governments that own them. What differs from province to province is the route: some money goes out before profit is counted, as commissions, host payments and revenue-sharing agreements, and some comes back out of the provincial treasury afterwards for health, education or First Nations funds. We explain the legal side of that arrangement in our overview of gambling law in Canada; here we follow the money, using only figures from the annual reports and releases we opened, each with its fiscal year.

The headline numbers are not like-for-like. OLG's is net profit to the Province, Loto-Québec's is a dividend, BCLC's is the amount paid to the Province after a federal payment, and AGLC's covers liquor and cannabis as well as gaming. Read each one on its own terms.

Ontario: OLG's split

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, OLG's annual report shows $2.2 billion in net profit to the Province, or more than $2.4 billion when a one-time provision is set aside. The report puts the money generated for Ontario since 1975 at about $64 billion, supporting hospitals, problem-gambling prevention and treatment, amateur sport and charities.

Before that profit is counted, OLG paid out more than $1.3 billion to First Nations, host communities, charities, horse racing and others. The stakeholder lines in the report include:

• $312 million in commissions to lottery retailers;
• $186 million to the Ontario First Nations (2008) Limited Partnership;
• $165 million to municipalities and First Nations that host casinos and charitable gaming centres;
• $111 million to roughly 2,400 charities through charitable gaming, and $630 million since 2005-06;
• $102 million to horse racing;
• $436 million to the Government of Canada for GST/HST and for not taking part in lottery sales.

OLG's network in that year counted 30 casino gaming facilities and 37 charitable gaming centres.

British Columbia and Alberta

BCLC's annual service plan report for 2024/25 shows net income of $1.408 billion on revenue of $2.803 billion, of which $1.395 billion went to the Province for health care, education and community programs and $13 million to the federal government. Casino revenue made up about 65% of BCLC's revenue. The 2025/26 report shows net income of $1.373 billion on revenue of $2.837 billion, $35 million or 2.5% below the year before. B.C. host local governments and First Nations typically receive 10% of net gaming income from the casinos and community gaming centres they host, under host financial assistance agreements, and the province's gambling regulator is now the Independent Gambling Control Office.

Alberta's model is different because charities run casino events. AGLC's annual report for the year ended March 31, 2025 shows gaming net income of $1,486.2 million and $770.3 million from liquor, with $2.2 billion contributed to the province's General Revenue Fund. Alberta is described in the report as the only province where charities are licensed to conduct and manage casino events. Charitable gaming proceeds reached $422.8 million: $337.4 million to charitable organizations and $85.3 million to Host First Nation charities, with 67.6% of charity funds coming from casino events. Under AGLC's casino licensee terms, 15% of total net sales from slot machines is allocated to licensed charities.

Quebec and Atlantic Canada

Loto-Québec's annual report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 records net income of $1,525.5 million and a dividend of $1,522.5 million, up $7.9 million or 0.5% on the previous year's $1,514.7 million. Add $112.5 million in Quebec sales tax and $3.0 million paid into a dedicated account that funds the control work of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, and the total to the Quebec government comes to $1,638.0 million. The report also lists $36 million in direct contributions to problem-gambling prevention, $22 million of it taken from the dividend, and $4.2 million to non-profit groups holding bingo licences. Loto-Québec operates the province's casinos, including Casino de Montréal.

Atlantic Lottery is owned jointly by four provinces. Its release on the 2024-25 fiscal year reports $498.7 million in profit returned, up $11.7 million: $243.1 million from its destination gaming business and $255.6 million from retail and iLottery. By province, that was $165.1 million to Nova Scotia, $154.6 million to New Brunswick, $153.1 million to Newfoundland and Labrador and $25.9 million to Prince Edward Island. Chief executive Dallas McCready is quoted in the release as saying that 100 per cent of its profit goes to the four provinces, funding health care, education and infrastructure.

First Nations revenue sharing

Three provinces set out First Nations shares in the documents we read, and each works differently.

• Ontario. Under the Gaming Revenue Sharing and Financial Agreement, 1.7% of OLG's annual gross revenues goes to the Ontario First Nations (2008) Limited Partnership, which distributes it to 132 First Nations. The agreement has a 20-year initial term, with payments that began in 2011-12. OLG expensed $170 million under it in 2024-25, up from $163 million in 2023-24. Separately, the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and Rama First Nation receive host payments for the Great Blue Heron Casino and Casino Rama.
• British Columbia. First Nations receive a 7% entitlement of BCLC's net income through the BC First Nations Gaming Revenue Sharing Limited Partnership, alongside the host payments to First Nations that host gaming facilities.
• Alberta. In the year ended March 31, 2025, $159.2 million was allocated from the General Revenue Fund to the First Nations Development Fund, and Host First Nation charities received $85.3 million of charitable gaming proceeds.

The OLG figures of $186 million and $170 million measure different things: the first is the stakeholder payment line, the second the expense recognised under the agreement in the same year.

Ottawa's share and the other cuts

The federal government takes money from provincial lotteries in two ways. One is tax: OLG's $436 million line covers GST/HST together with the payment for not running lotteries, and Loto-Québec paid $56.3 million in GST. The other is the compensation agreed when Ottawa withdrew from the lottery field. BCLC's 2025/26 report sets it out: the provinces together pay $24 million in 1979 dollars each year, adjusted for inflation, through the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, with each province's share based on population. Loto-Québec's share in its latest year was $20.6 million.

Retailers are the other large cut. OLG's $312 million in retailer commissions is larger than any single stakeholder line except the federal one, a reminder that a lottery ticket pays a store before it pays a treasury.

How to read these numbers yourself

If you want to check a figure, go to the annual report rather than a news summary, and look for three things: the fiscal year end, which is March 31 for OLG, AGLC and Loto-Québec; whether the headline is net income, net profit to the province or a dividend; and whether payments to First Nations, charities and host communities are counted before or after that line. Reports from the same corporation can also differ on the same number when one-time provisions are involved, as OLG's adjusted $2.4 billion shows.

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