The proposed government legislation, if passed, would allow gamblers to place a bet on the outcome of a single sports game, like a football match or a hockey game.
Currently, sports bettors in Canada are limited to “parlay” bets meaning they have to place bets on more than one game, and pick the winning team in each contest, to see any sort of windfall. The odds of a winning parlay bet are low. Canadians spend roughly $500 million a year on parlay bets through lottery games like Pro-Line.
Senators have been pushing the federal government to remove a single line in the Criminal Code that restricts gambling to parlays to give a boost to Canadian gambling operations, which face increasing pressure from foreign online outfits and U.S. casinos.
The pandemic has blown big holes in federal and provincial budgets and the legalization of this sort of betting could produce some much-needed government revenue.
An estimated $14 billion in annual sports betting, but $10 billion through the black market through bookies and $4 billion more through off-shore online outlets, according to figures from the Canadian Gambling Association is wagered by Canadians via illegal channels beyond the regulatory control of the government. The biggest draw for these other outlets is the fact that they allow bettors to gamble on just one game.
A years-long push to legalize single-game sports betting, currently illegal under the Criminal Code, took a step closer to its goal this week. A private member’s bill, sponsored by Con- Saskatoon-Grasswood MP Kevin Waugh, passed through its second reading in the House of Commons Wednesday. In a rare display of cross-partisan approval, the bill passed 303-15.
Speaking to Global News this weekend, Waugh said he believes the vote will be a valuable one for the sports industry in Saskatchewan and beyond.
This will give the provinces, if it is passed, the much-needed money to give back to sports, culture, recreation and hopefully addictions programming.
Waugh referenced 2019 CGA estimates that Canadians wager $4 billion on sports per year through offshore organizations, and $10 billion a year through illegal bookmaking operations in Canada.
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