Canadian investment dealers offering prediction market products must now expressly exclude sports and entertainment contracts from their services and prevent clients from encountering prohibited markets through their platforms or promotions.
The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) published the revised requirements on October 16. The changes strengthen restrictions that already limited approved dealers to certain categories of event contracts, while addressing how firms present products to Canadian customers.
Only Interactive Brokers Canada and Wealthsimple currently hold CIRO authorization to facilitate event-contract trading. Their permissions carry conditions that restrict the markets Canadian clients can access, even when their overseas exchange partners offer a wider selection.
Dealers Must Remove Prohibited Markets From View
The updated conditions require firms to filter prohibited contracts throughout their customer-facing services. Dealers must exclude those products from search results and recommendations, while also keeping them out of marketing material. The restrictions extend to links directing customers to unavailable contracts on third-party websites.
CIROās concern centres on the impression those displays can create. Clients who see an event contract within an approved dealerās service could assume Canadian regulators have authorized access to it. Firms must therefore control the products customers encounter across their platforms.
These requirements affect brokers distributing contracts from American exchanges. Each dealer must assess which products meet Canadian conditions before including them in its domestic offering. As an exchange introduces additional markets, its Canadian distribution partner must continue screening the incoming contracts.
The explicit prohibition follows theĀ August guidance on sports prediction markets, when CIRO and the Canadian Securities Administrators said sports and entertainment event contracts should fall outside securities and derivatives regulation.
The October update also broadens the definition of event contracts so that the conditions apply according to how a product functions, regardless of its commercial name.
Approved Contracts Retain Existing Trading Limits
Canadian dealers can continue offering qualifying contracts linked to economic or financial indicators. Certain environmental outcomes also remain eligible. Contracts must use an objective basis for determining their results, such as an official statistic or a recognized market benchmark.
Existing conditions continue to require a minimum maturity of 30 days and prohibit leverage. Election contracts remain outside the permitted offering.
Interactive Brokers Canada entered the market in April 2025 with Forecast Contracts traded through ForecastEx, its affiliated exchange regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Wealthsimple subsequently secured authorization and launched its separate Predict app in July, providing access to selected Kalshi contracts.
Canadian access remains subject to CIROās conditions throughout those arrangements. A contractās availability on an American exchange does not establish its eligibility for Canadian customers.
The latest changes followĀ earlier regulatory warnings about prediction markets. CIRO and the CSA continue to monitor the sector and have left open the possibility of further guidance or additional restrictions.
Toronto Election Trading Highlights Offshore Activity
Offshore trading continues alongside Canadaās restricted dealer framework. Polymarket recorded more than US$500,000 in volume on Torontoās October 26 mayoral election, despite CIROās prohibition on political contracts within authorized dealer offerings.
The reported market placed challenger Brad Bradford at 50% and incumbent Olivia Chow at 49%. Those figures reflected trading on the platform ahead of the vote.
Publicly available volume does not identify where participants live. The activity could include overseas traders or Canadians circumventing geographic restrictions, so the total does not establish participation by Ontario residents.
Polymarket is serving a two-year Ontario ban scheduled to expire in April 2027. The company has also said it restricted access in several other Canadian provinces.
Meanwhile, another prospective domestic entrant has sought regulatory approval. A team led by former Vanguard Canada chief executive Atul Tiwari has applied to CIRO for investment dealer registration with plans to introduce an event-contract platform called VerdX. The application adds to interest in entering a market where only two dealers currently hold authorization.
āIn this respect, CIRO has specifically enumerated such contracts as prohibited in the updated terms and conditions.ā
Source:
Canadian regulators tighten prediction markets rules, explicitly ban sports event contracts, canadiangamingbusiness.com, October 21, 2026.
