Canada sports betting is Legal and is ready to launch next months as the Canadian Parliament amended the nation’s Criminal Code to allow for single-game wagering Tuesday. The Senate of Canada passed Bill C-218 without any amendments Tuesday, 57-20 with five abstentions.
Now, the bill heads to the Governor-General for royal assent to become law, likely within the next few days.
The passing of the bill could attract Las Vegas-style sports betting to Canada.
Betting on single games of football, hockey, and other sports is about to become legal in Canada.
A long time coming for Canada sports betting
While the amended Criminal Code allows for single-game sports betting at Canadian sportsbooks, it will be regulated at a provincial level as the gaming industry has been since 1985. That sets up for a similar structure to how states regulate US sports betting.
Senator David Wells as the Bill sponsor addressed the Senate, discussing consumer protections, responsible gaming, and economic opportunities.
“[Provinces] have been seeking this change for years and are ready to respond to it quickly and responsibly,” Wells said during his introduction statement Thursday. “While we can not dictate the regulatory practices of Canada’s provincial governments, what we can do is make this modification to one line of the Criminal Code, thereby empowering them to safely bring single-event sports betting within Canada.”
When I can start betting on sports in Canada?
With the passage of the bill, regulators from Ontario and British Columbia are already working on sports betting rules.
During recent committee meetings, various industry stakeholders offered the following timetables:
- “By the end of 2021,” David Phillips, COO at the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
- “Almost immediately,” Stewart Groumoutis, British Columbia Lottery Commission
- “By Labor Day,” Paul Burns, President, and CEO at the Canadian Gaming Association
History of the Bill
Canadian provinces have offered legal parlay sports betting. But those bets account for just C$500 million of an estimated C$14.5 billion bet by Canadians on sports.
House of Commons member Kevin Waugh sponsored C-218 as a private member bill early in 2020. It was picked up as official legislation in November 2020.
The Liberals then rolled the dice last November with their own legislation, which they subsequently dropped when Waugh agreed to incorporate its protections for the horse-racing industry into his bill.
The bill has seen significant discussion through each of its stops, but the House of Commons passed it in April. The Senate reached the final consideration of the bill on Thursday, despite some delays and concerns the bill would not reach a vote.
Similar legislation zipped through the House of Commons with all-party support nearly a decade ago but foundered in the Senate and died when an election was called in 2015.
A second attempt by New Democrat MP Brian Masse also failed after the then-Liberal majority voted down his private member’s bill in concert with Conservatives in 2016.
The Senate has approved Bill C-218, a private member’s bill that amends Criminal Code provisions around gambling on single sports games — currently illegal except for horse racing — in a bid to win back customers from offshore sites, U.S. casinos, and illegal bookmakers.
The legislation has been embraced by the Canadian Football League, National Hockey League, and other professional sports. It has also garnered tentative support from a tight-knit equestrian community that remains wary of casinos and foreign gambling sites encroaching on its turf.
Conservative Sen. David Wells, who sponsored the bill in the upper house, predicted that legally allowing Las Vegas-style betting on single games would eat into the multibillion-dollar black market and redirect that revenue into provincial government coffers.
He told the Senate during the final debate last week, “Canadians are placing billions of dollars worth of bets annually through these [offshore] sites, that go entirely unregulated in Canada.”
Provincial governments, which regulate gambling in Canada, have been clamoring for single-event betting to be legalized, Wells added, arguing that they stand to reap billions in revenue that could be used to support addiction research, health care, education, and other priorities.
How will Canadian markets look like
With an estimated $2.4 billion in annual gross gaming revenue from sports betting. Two provinces are already working on the sports betting rules.
David Phillips declared that Ontario will be a “competitive and regulated gambling market.” That should mean a lively online sports betting market with plenty of familiar operators trying to get a piece of what would be the fifth-largest US state.
For the gambling operators, Ontario will be the crown jewel of a legalized Canadian sports betting market.
British Columbia appears to be moving more toward a more monopolistic market. Stewart Groumoutis said offerings would launch on PlayNow.com, which already offers parlay bets.
In May, Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis confirmed plans to add sports betting to PlayAlberta.ca.
Now is the time to secure a significant chunk of the available market.
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