Betsafe’s Ontario app went dark on March 31, 2026. The only explanation was a short note, calling the shutdown “temporary.” It wasn’t.
Betsafe is no longer listed among Ontario’s registered iGaming operators, and it isn’t coming back. That’s not Betsson stepping away from Canada, though. Rather, the operator is swapping one brand for a bigger one, following a roughly C$100 million deal for Rhino Entertainment’s Canadian iGaming business.
Betsafe’s Run in Ontario Is Over
Betsafe launched in Ontario back in February 2023, offering both online casino and sports betting under an AGCO operator license. Three years later, it’s gone. Betsson gave players little warning beyond the “temporarily unavailable” message, and the brand has since been removed from iGaming Ontario’s list of active operators.
Ontario’s market runs dozens of licensed sites at any given time, so one brand quietly dropping off the list wouldn’t normally draw much attention. For a market this tightly regulated, though, a quiet exit like that is still unusual, and it turned out to be the clearest early sign of what came next.
Players in Ontario specifically can compare licensed brands through our guide to online casinos in Ontario.
The Rhino Entertainment Deal Behind the Switch
Betsson didn’t leave Ontario – it restructured how it operates there.
In March 2026, Betsson agreed to buy Rhino Entertainment Group’s Canadian consumer-facing business for €64.5 million, roughly C$100 million, with €51.25 million paid upfront and the rest due about six months later.
The deal closed on August 3, 2026. It brought Betsson three brands: Casino Days, Big Boost and Lucky Spins, along with Rhino’s front-end and middleware technology, which Betsson plans to fold into its own B2B licensing business.
Rhino called the sale the result of “months of dedication, collaboration and hard work.” Rhino’s remaining operations outside that package were sold separately to Alta Group.
Casino Days Steps Into Betsafe’s Spot
Casino Days now carries Betsson’s Canadian ambitions, and it arrives with a head start Betsafe never had. The platform has held an AGCO license since 2022 and had already been operating in Ontario for three years by the time Betsson took it over, so Ontario players had no gap to fall into.
Alberta is the newer piece of the puzzle. Casino Days registered with the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission earlier this year and went live on July 13, 2026, the day Alberta’s regulated iGaming market opened, as one of 22 licensed platforms available at launch.
Alberta becoming a regulated market at all is a bigger deal than it might sound. It’s only the second Canadian province, after Ontario, to move online gambling out of the grey market and into a licensed, government-supervised open market. Betsson picked up an established Ontario brand and a first-mover position in a brand-new province in the same acquisition.
For Alberta’s newly opened market, the guide to online casinos in Alberta tracks every operator live since the July 13 launch, including Casino Days.
What Changes for Players
Not much changes for players, functionally, and that’s the point. Ontario players who used Betsafe will need a new account, since balances and logins don’t carry over between separately licensed brands. Casino Days runs its own game library, promotions, and payment setup under its own AGCO registration, so anyone switching over starts fresh rather than migrating an existing account.
Welcome offers, loyalty tiers, and payment methods will all reset too, so it’s worth treating the move as a new sign-up rather than an account transfer. Alberta players get something new entirely: a regulated option that didn’t exist in the province before July, with the consumer protections that come with a licensed, AGLC-supervised platform.
For a broader look at where things stand across the country, our roundup of the best online casinos in Canada covers every province with a regulated market.
