Canada made a huge step towards legalizing Canadian iGaming, legislating single-game sports wagering. Specifically, the Canadian House of Commons passed the long-awaited Bill-C218 on April 22nd. What is next now, is for the Senate to read and review, and eventually adopt the new legislation. A procedure that experts consider a mere formality, especially now that the tricky part of the job is almost over.
However, it is good to mention that this legislation has already been rejected twice in the past. And each time it passed the House of Commons, but not the Senate. Regardless of the outcome, this is just another clear indicator that North America is definitely losing up the strict gambling regulations on an almost daily basis.
The bill that gets Canada to legislate single-game sports betting is also known as the Safe and Regulated Betting Act. This covers every single-game gambling procedure, in addition to offering detailed information as to how the procedure works.
Especially since the current Canadian Criminal Code states that any sports betting is legal only if a player bets on at least three or more games at the same time. Consequently, this forbids any single-game betting, regardless of the sport. However, there is only one exception and that is horse racing.
Despite previous turn-downs, this third time we fully expect the legislation to pass. And not just us, other experts and professionals also agree. More specifically, the bill also enjoys a strong lobby by the Canadian Government. Which is crucial. But also from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and a number of both domestic and international gambling providers. Meaning that with such expectations and even pressure we may add, it is only logical to pass. One of the experts, the Chief Executive of Media for theScore gave the following optimistic statement:
This development is a major step forward and we are increasingly encouraged by the widespread industry and strong cross-party support that Bill C-218 garners. Now that the House passed Bill C-218, we look forward to the Senate swiftly carrying the ball over the goal line.
John Levy – Chief Executive of Media theScore
And have in mind this is just one representative, from a private company. So, it is clear that the government as well as many businesses in the market are quite aware of the potential with this legislation. Having said that, theScore came out with an estimate and calculations of their own. This is in order to best explain how big the potential of the gambling market in Canada is. The report states that there is a potential in online gaming in Canada which can bring between $3.8 billion and $5.4 billion US dollars.
And that is just annual revenue from gaming. Just crazy. This just goes to show that with these numbers, it is highly likely that the Senate will see that the third time is the charm, and pass the new bill. Finally enablING Canada first-ever single-game wagering.
