LaunchNorth is an independent publication covering the business side of iGaming: licensing, platform providers, payments, compliance, and the operational decisions that determine whether a Canada-facing casino or sportsbook actually gets to market — and stays there.
What We Cover
Our guides are written for people building or evaluating an iGaming business, not for players looking for a casino to join. That means we focus on the questions an operator, founder, or product lead actually has to answer:
- Which licensing route — Ontario's AGCO, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, or an offshore jurisdiction — fits a given business model and target market.
- How to evaluate and compare turnkey and white label iGaming software providers on more than a feature checklist.
- How payment gateways, card processing, e-wallets, and crypto rails actually affect deposit conversion and withdrawal speed.
- Which platform features are genuinely load-bearing (PAM, KYC/AML, responsible gambling tooling) versus which are marketing language.
How We Research and Write
Every guide on this site is built from primary sources wherever possible: regulator publications (AGCO, iGaming Ontario, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission), provider documentation, and publicly available licensing and compliance frameworks such as Canada's Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and FINTRAC's reporting obligations. Where costs, timelines, or figures are cited, we describe them as ranges and estimates, because licensing fees, revenue-share terms, and setup costs vary by jurisdiction, provider, and negotiation, and they change over time.
We update guides periodically to reflect regulatory and market changes, but we are not a law firm, a licensed gaming consultancy, or a substitute for a licensing lawyer or compliance advisor. Treat this site as a starting point for research, not a final answer for a specific license application or contract.
Who This Site Is For
- Founders and operators deciding between Ontario registration, a Kahnawake license, or an offshore-plus-turnkey-platform launch.
- Product and compliance teams evaluating iGaming software providers against licensing, payments, and AML/KYC requirements.
- Investors and analysts who need a plain-language map of how the Canadian iGaming licensing landscape actually works before underwriting a deal.
Responsible Gambling
LaunchNorth writes about the business and technology of iGaming, not gambling itself, and none of our content is an invitation to gamble. If you or someone you know is affected by gambling harm, free, confidential support is available around the clock through GamCare and GambleAware. Canadian operators are required to link players to equivalent provincial resources as a condition of licensing.
Get in Touch
Have a correction, a licensing update we should reflect, or a provider we should evaluate? Reach the editorial team through the links in the footer of any page on this site. We review every message but can't provide individualized legal or licensing advice — for that, consult a qualified gaming-law professional in your target jurisdiction.
Our Standard
Every guide on LaunchNorth is judged against one question: would this actually help someone make a real licensing, platform, or payments decision? If a section doesn't clear that bar, we cut it rather than pad the page.