No. In most circumstances, you do not have to pay tax on winnings from gambling and lottery schemes. Earnings won based on chance are considered windfalls (unexpected earnings) by the Canada Revenue Agency and are not taxable.

Specifically, under section 1.1 of the Income Tax Act, a winning is determined to be a windfall if:

1. the taxpayer had no enforceable claim to the payment,
2. the taxpayer made no organized effort to receive the payment,
3. the taxpayer neither sought after nor solicited the payment,
4. the taxpayer had no customary or specific expectation to receive the payment,
5. the taxpayer had no reason to expect the payment would recur,
6. the payment was from a source that is not a customary source of income for the taxpayer,
7. the payment was not for property, services or anything else provided or to be provided by the taxpayer, and
8. the payment was not earned by the taxpayer as a result of any activity or pursuit of gain carried on by the taxpayer and was not earned in any other manner.

This can include:

• Winnings from games played at a casino or online,
• Winnings from lotteries, and
• Winnings from bets or prizes, such as money gained from betting on sporting events

However, you will have to pay tax on money earned from investing the winnings, such as bank interest or dividends from stocks. You also will have to pay income tax on winnings if you are a professional gambler, that is ‘an individual who realistically expects to profit from their gambling activities, and the gambling activities constitute a source of income’.

								
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