The Rise of Gambling in Canada
While the first land-based casino in Canada opened its doors in 1989, the casino boom did not start until 1996. Since then, the market has been extremely lucrative, and there is now a huge range of land-based establishments as well as some of the best Canadian online casinos that you can visit in 2024. Gambling has also become a part of Canadian culture, with many celebrities and professionals emerging on the scene.
Canadian Celebrities Who Like to Gamble
Many celebrities have openly admitted that they like to gamble, whether it is betting on sporting events, playing poker with friends, or placing wagers on popular casino games, such as slots, blackjack, or roulette. Below, we included some of the biggest Canadian celebrities who love to gamble and the types of wagers they place that will undoubtedly surprise you.
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Drake
Drake is a hip-hop artist who was born in Toronto. He's one of the biggest high rollers in the country. In 2019, he was voted by Forbes as one of the richest rappers in the world. With the income he has, it's no wonder that he is partial to gambling. His father was a very enthusiastic sports fan and loved to wager on games.
Drake is also one of the co-owners and leading supporters of the 100 Thieves e-Sports Club. In 2020, he made headlines when he signed an exclusive package with Stake Casino. This proved to be a significant move for the brand as it brought them a lot of publicity. It also helped them to boost their credibility among online players.
However, it's his sports betting antics that have garnered him the most attention. He spent $2 million in 2022, as he bet on various outcomes of NBA games, UFC fights, and NFL matches. Since then, he looks to have cooled off a bit with his gambling but is still quite partial to the occasional poker game. If you consider yourself a high roller like Drake, make sure to claim a VIP bonus to significantly boost your real money winnings opportunities in 2024.
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Deadmau5
Joel Zimmerman, or Deadmau5, is a talented DJ and music producer. He is known for wearing a mouse-head helmet on stage and he has attended many mass residencies in the past. He has performed in Las Vegas, and he has also been on the trot around numerous casinos. He has even gone as far as to start up his very own gambling venture.
He loves the world of online slots and has worked with Eurostar Studios and Microgaming to have his own slot game created. It has state-of-the-art visuals from tours he's completed, and it also features some of his music. The game also offers a Scatter feature, along with several Rolling Reels. This can trigger up to 10, 20 or 25 Free Spins, with the multiplier being x10. You also have a feature called Drop the Wild which turns certain reels into guaranteed wins.
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Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry, a Canadian-American actor, was mostly known for his role in Friends. He was also a regular attendee of various poker tournaments before his death. In 2015, a paparazzi took a photograph of him, showing him gambling at a casino at 6 am where he spent $20,000 on poker.
He was an avid poker player and loved nothing more than sitting down with friends for a game or two. If you want to learn the rules of poker, we highly recommend that you start out with video poker where you can learn all the hands before entering a poker tournament.
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Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson is a Canadian-American media personality, model, and actress. She is best known for her role in the Baywatch television series and her modelling work in Playboy magazine. In 2007, Pamela Anderson revealed to Ellen DeGeneres that she owed a large sum of money to a Las Vegas casino. It's since come out that at the time, she owed $125,000.
She paid the debt by working with Rick Salomon, who is a famous poker player. Pamela is an enthusiast when it comes to gambling. In fact, she has even opened her own BamPoker room on Facebook. This poker room holds a lot of tournaments, especially for Texas Hold'em poker. There are loads of new Canadian online casinos where you can enjoy this game for real money too.
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Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber is arguably the biggest star to come out of Canada. He has more record sales than a lot of artists today, and he's still got plenty of time to release new music. He's a singer and actor, appearing in movies that range from Behaving Badly to Zoolander 2. When he's not acting or making music, he is also an avid gambler. He loves to play blackjack for real money and poker. Bieber is known for playing a few rounds at high-stakes casinos and he sees the game as a way to blow off some steam.
He has been spotted in the most luxurious poker lounges in Las Vegas, as well as in Atlantic City and London. In 2016, he was spotted at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square, during his UK tour. He has also posted on Instagram numerous times, about playing poker with his friends. Sometimes instead of wagering cash, he wagers small tokens, like sweets. In fact, during friendly games, he's even been known to put down watermelon Sour Patch Kids, rather than using cash.
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Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is known for her role in Family Guy, but she also had a part to play in the Chucky movies. She's a Canadian-American star and she likes to gamble in her spare time. Her game of choice is poker, and she has won a lot of awards. She managed to beat 600 players in 2005 alone, which helped her to win the WSOP bracelet. She has also won numerous tournaments, including the Celebrity Poker Showdown and the WPT Ladies Invitational. Other tournaments that she has won include the GSN Poker Royale. If you are interested in learning the game, you can play online poker at Leo Vegas Casino.
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Evelyn Ng
Evelyn Ng is a famous professional poker player from Canada. She broke onto the scene in 2003. Even though she is famous for playing poker, she's become quite a celebrity since. She frequently enters poker tournaments and she has also participated in a lot of big-name bouts. She has even participated in the WSOP Main Event. As a keen poker player, she certainly deserves a spot on this list. You can test your skills on poker when you play at the best Ontario online casinos where Evelyn Ng was born and raised.
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Guy Laliberté
Guy is the co-founder of the Cirque du Soleil, which was first established in 1985. He was a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to poker. He wanted to make a career transition and in doing so, took home his big win in the year 2007. He bagged $696,220 during a match at the Bellagio Casino. The Canadian celebrity then went on to appear at High Stakes Poker as well as at Poker After Dark.
He has won notable funds at the WSOP, but instead of pocketing the cash, he ended up giving it all to his charity, the One Drop Foundation. Take a look at our list of live dealer poker casinos where you can place bets against a real live dealer streamed in full HD quality.
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Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu is a celebrity as the result of his poker antics, but since then he's made a name for himself in numerous other ways. When it comes to Canadian gambling, he's one of the biggest characters. He often likes to stare down his opponents or he likes to talk them down to try and psych them out.
He believes that poker is very much a mental game, and this has led him to win several WSOP bracelets. He has also won two WPTs. He has amassed over $32 million during his career and he is also known for playing online, as well as in numerous tournaments across America. Start your online poker adventure by claiming generous promotions and bonuses to boost your bankroll before making a real money deposit.
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Jamie Staples
Jamie Staples who was born in 1991, hails from Alberta, Canada. He's a young professional poker player but has achieved huge fame as a result of playing at some of the best Alberta online casinos. He's often using social media in an attempt to attract new fans and he's a professional too. He claims to have won more than a million dollars through gambling online.
Conclusion
So as you can see, Canada is home to some major gamblers. Gambling in the country has been on the rise for quite some time, with new casinos and establishments opening up regularly. There are also a lot of local poker tournaments held in cities too, with some of them attracting big names. We at Online Casinos Canada will continue to deliver captivating articles to our readers and provide valuable insight into the best online gambling destinations where you can win big while playing on desktop or mobile devices in 2024.
