Canada’s funding regulator has strengthened restrictions on prediction markets, prohibiting sports activities and leisure contracts and requiring brokers to cover unauthorised markets. The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) revealed the up to date necessities on 16 October 2026, constructing on joint steerage with the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued in August.
The adjustments have an effect on corporations providing occasion contracts by Canadian funding accounts, together with brokers related to worldwide prediction exchanges. CIRO says displaying merchandise that shoppers can’t commerce may create confusion about which providers regulators have authorised.
Brokers Must Hide Prohibited Markets
CIRO’s up to date phrases prohibit funding seller members from buying and selling or facilitating sports activities and leisure occasion contracts. Previously, restrictions restricted permitted markets to areas resembling financial, monetary and environmental forecasts, leaving the exclusion of sports activities and leisure implicit.
The new guidelines additionally cowl promoting and show. Brokers can’t promote prohibited contracts or present them to Canadian shoppers when these merchandise are unavailable for buying and selling. CIRO warned that such publicity may mislead shoppers about authorised providers and undermine its restrictions.
The regulator has additionally outlined occasion contracts broadly, masking merchandise described as occasion contracts, prediction contracts, prediction market contracts or forecast contracts. This wording applies the principles in keeping with a product’s perform quite than the label an organization makes use of.
In August, the Canadian Gaming Association welcomed the excellence between financial-market merchandise and gambling-style choices. The affiliation stated: “CSA and CIRO have drawn a clear and sensible line: the distinction between a sports contract and a sports bet should not be reduced to semantics.”
Only Selected Markets Qualify
CIRO permits sure occasion contracts tied to monetary indicators, financial knowledge and environmental measurements, topic to situations. These embody a minimal decision interval of 30 days and a ban on leverage. Contracts will need to have an goal foundation for figuring out outcomes.
Only two corporations have approval to supply occasion contracts in Canada: Interactive Brokers Canada and Wealthsimple. Interactive Brokers launched its providing in April 2025 by ForecastEx, an trade owned by the corporate and controlled by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Wealthsimple later launched its Predict platform, distributing chosen Kalshi contracts. Its Canadian providing excludes sports activities and leisure markets, in contrast to Kalshi’s broader US choice.
The revised show necessities imply authorised brokers should assess contracts earlier than displaying them to Canadian clients. Blocking a commerce alone is inadequate if an ineligible market stays seen by product feeds, search outcomes or promotional materials.
Wider Oversight Remains Possible
Other firms have utilized for permission to supply occasion contracts. CIRO and the CSA say they are going to proceed monitoring the market and will problem additional steerage or introduce further restrictions.
International platforms with out CIRO membership are usually not authorised to supply prediction markets in Canada below this framework. Polymarket, serving a two-year ban in Ontario set to run out subsequent April, has stated it blocked entry in a number of provinces. Reports have nonetheless indicated that Canadian customers can nonetheless commerce on the platform in some areas, together with on Canadian elections, a class unavailable by CIRO-approved sellers.
The up to date necessities place larger duty on authorised brokers to display screen what Canadian clients see and what they’ll commerce.
