A veteran advisor explains why 24/7 betting is now a wealth transfer risk and how trusts and trusted contacts can protect clients
Online gambling has become one of the most underestimated threats to family wealth in Canada. In more than 30 years as a financial advisor, I have had exactly one client run out of money. People naturally adjust their spending, and they tend to run out of health long before they run out of money. The exception was a woman who lived near Niagara Falls about 25 years ago. I watched her account shrink, withdrawal after withdrawal, until there was nothing left. She had a gambling addiction.
At the time, that was rare. Today it is not, and advisors need to start treating gambling as a wealth issue, not only a health issue.
Consider the scale. According to iGaming Ontario, Ontarians wagered a record $9.88 billion through the province’s regulated online market in July 2026 alone, and operators kept $413.6 million of it. That is $413.6 million out of people’s pockets in a single month. The people most exposed are young men. A national survey of 2,000 men released in May 2026 by the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation found that one in six Canadian men is at high risk of problem gambling, rising to 35 per cent among men aged 19 to 29.
Gambling has crept into the savings column
People have traditionally done one of two things with money: spend it or save it. What troubles me is that gambling has worked its way into the savings category, and many younger people now treat it as a way to make money, just like investing.
The distinction is simple. Investing has an expected positive rate of return. Gambling has an expected loss. Our industry fights hard to keep fees low. Imagine an advisor who charged clients 12 per cent a year, every year. Regulators would come down hard on us, and rightly so. Yet that is effectively the deal on the gambling side, and governments take a share of the revenue while advertising, sometimes fronted by respected public figures, runs on every screen.
Access makes it worse. Someone can lose $5,000 in 20 minutes on casino-style games. I have seen teenagers as young as 15 and 16 gambling online under false names and getting paid out to cryptocurrency wallets, which makes the activity almost impossible to monitor.
And it never closes. If a client called me drunk at 3 a.m. and told me to buy a stock, I would not take the order. A gambling site will take that bet every time. Every rule governing our profession exists to protect the client’s interests. On the gambling side, no one is in that seat.
The next wave is already here. Prediction markets let people wager on interest rates and elections, and they are marketed much like trading. They are popular in the United States, and I expect them to reach Canada. Tokenized stocks that trade around the clock push in the same direction. As I have argued before, you cannot outsmart the market by tinkering, and plans have to rest on expected rates of return, not on lucky streaks.
Protecting an inheritance through the highest-risk years
This became personal about five years ago. A young relative in their early 20s inherited a six-figure sum after a death in our family. Within three months, it was gone, all of it to online gambling.
That experience changed how I approach wealth transfer, especially as many Canadian parents have not yet discussed inheritance with their children. If the data tells us that men aged 19 to 29 face the highest risk, families should plan around that window. For significant sums, and even more modest ones, a trust allows distributions to be staged: a portion at 18 or 19, more at 25, and the majority not until 30.
A discretionary, or encroachable, trust adds flexibility. The trustee decides when the capital is released. If a beneficiary is buying a home, the trustee can release funds toward it. If the trustee sees signs of a gambling problem, they can hold back. That makes the choice of trustee as important as the structure itself.
What advisors can do now
Advisors are often the first to see the pattern. Repeated withdrawals, frequent small cash requests or a TFSA that is suddenly drained all deserve a conversation. Naming a trusted contact person on the account gives us a respectful way to act when something feels wrong, and it is worth revisiting why a trusted contact person is a vital tool before a crisis rather than during one.
We also need to be more explicit with clients and their children about the maths. A lucky streak can convince anyone they have an edge, but given enough time, gambling trends toward zero. Given enough time, disciplined investing builds a comfortable retirement and net worth that can pass to the next generation.
Gambling is an addiction that preys on a vulnerability, and for anyone predisposed to it, the harm can be severe. The industry selling it has no duty to protect anyone. We do, and the families we serve need us to say so plainly before the next inheritance changes hands.
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Michael Connon is a Senior Financial Advisor with CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. Please contact him at (905) 771-5200 or visit tmfg.ca to discuss your circumstances prior to acting on the information above. CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd is a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization.
