Poker in British Columbia: PlayNow, the law and River Rock

British Columbia has run its own online gambling site longer than any other province — and has never opened the market to anyone else. For poker that leaves an odd gap between a strong live scene and a thin online one.

The legal position

Gambling in British Columbia is conducted and managed by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and regulated by the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch. The BCLC's own site has offered online gambling since 2004, one of the first anywhere in North America, but the province has not followed Ontario in licensing private operators.

So there is no BC-licensed private poker room. Residents who play online poker play on international sites. Playing has never been an offence for the individual under Canadian law; the legal question has always been the operator's side of it. General information, not legal advice.

The minimum age is 19.

Live poker is the province's strength

River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, minutes from Vancouver airport, is the main room: no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha at 1/3, 2/5, 5/5 and 5/10, with bad beat jackpots on both games. It is the room Vancouver players mean when they say they are going out to play.

The Lower Mainland supports several more rooms, and BC's casinos run tournament series through the year. Shawn Buchanan, one of the biggest earners Canada has produced, came out of this scene.

Tax

Recreational winnings are not taxed in Canada. Poker as a business can be treated as income; the assessment is fact-specific. General information, not tax advice.