Canada’s securities regulators have told investment dealers that event contracts based on sports and entertainment outcomes fall outside securities and derivatives law, and that dealers must stop facilitating them.
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) published Joint CSA and CIRO Staff Notice 91-307, Guidance related to Event Contracts: Compliance with Regulatory Requirements, on 27 August 2026. The notice sets out how both bodies treat contracts that pay out on the result of a defined future event, the product category that prediction market platforms have used to offer sports outcomes in the United States.
“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.”
That is Stan Magidson, CSA Chair and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission.
What CIRO told its dealer members
CIRO directed dealer members not to facilitate trading in sports and entertainment event contracts, and not to approve applications to trade them, other than under authorisations already granted. Dealers holding conditional relief were told to stop facilitating trades in that category.
Two dealer members keep authorisation to trade a limited set of event contracts, under terms and conditions CIRO set in consultation with the CSA. Those contracts are based on economic, environmental or financial indicators and trade through specified US regulated exchanges and clearing houses. CIRO did not name the two firms, and said it can restrict or change what they are permitted to do.
Other categories of event contract remain under assessment by the two regulators. The notice does not close that question, and does not grant any general permission for event contract trading in Canada.
Provincial gambling law is untouched
The guidance answers one question only: whether a securities or derivatives regulator is the right home for sports and entertainment event contracts. The CSA and CIRO say it is not. The notice does not address provincial gambling law, does not create a licensing route, and does not rule on whether such contracts may be offered to Canadian consumers under any other framework.
Gambling in Canada is regulated province by province. Single-event sports wagering was legalised through a Criminal Code amendment in 2021, after which provinces built their own frameworks, including Ontario’s regulated online market opened in April 2022 under iGaming Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), and Alberta’s regulated online market launched in 2026. Any operator wanting to sell sports outcome contracts to Canadian retail customers now has to deal with those regimes rather than a securities commission.
That is a different answer from the one prediction market operators have obtained in the United States, where federal derivatives regulation has been the basis for offering sports event contracts across state lines and outside state gambling licensing. The sector has continued to build out its sports data and distribution arrangements, including Sportradar’s expanded Polymarket deal covering more than 20 leagues.
Investor protection groups back the position
JP Bureaud, executive director of FAIR Canada, supported the regulators’ reasoning, saying capital markets exist for a defined purpose.
“Canada’s capital markets are intended to support investment, capital formation, economic growth, and market efficiency.”
Bureaud added that “innovation alone is not a sufficient basis for regulatory approval.”
What happens next
Companies and individuals offering contracts that do qualify as securities or derivatives must continue to comply with the applicable legislation in each province and territory. CIRO’s review of remaining event contract categories continues, and the regulator has reserved the right to narrow or withdraw the two existing authorisations.
For operators watching Canada, the practical effect is that any route to offering sports outcome contracts runs through provincial gambling regulators. Whether any of them are willing to license the product, and on what terms, is the next thing to settle.
Source: Canadian Securities Administrators
