Optimism growing for legalizing single-game betting

OTTAWA — It’s not a slam dunk yet, but advocates of single-game sports betting are increasingly optimistic that the bill to legalize it will be through Parliament by summer.

The bill emerged out of the Senate banking committee last week with no amendments, meaning it only needs to pass a final vote in the Senate chamber before heading to royal assent and becoming law.

However, senators can still seek to amend the bill before a third reading vote, and other items could still clog the Senate’s agenda.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Sen. David Wells, the sponsor of the bill in the Senate. “I never want to say this is a done deal until it’s a done deal. I’ve seen too many times where I thought things were a given and it didn’t work out that way … but I’m cautiously optimistic on what’s got widespread support among my colleagues and among Canadians.”

Justice Minister David Lametti tabled a government bill to legalize single-game betting last fall, but for procedural reasons the actual bill making its way through Parliament is a near-identical private member’s bill, C-218, put forward by Conservative MP Kevin Waugh.

The Criminal Code currently bans wagering on a single sports event, meaning Canadians are only allowed to make parlay bets (betting on multiple events at once). In practice, however, singlegame betting is easily found online through offshore companies or through the black market; the result is that up to $14 billion is wagered annually by Canadians on single sports events in an unregulated market, according to gaming industry estimates.

Opponents of single-game betting — which used to include major sports leagues — worried primarily about its effect on match fixing, as well as the overall problem of encouraging more gambling behaviour.

But in recent years, momentum has swung behind legalizing it, given its huge popularity on the unregulated market, where all the same incentives exist but without any consumer protection or tax revenue that can be put into addiction programs.

In its brief to the Senate, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport said it supports legalizing single-game betting as long as strong safeguards are put in place. “

The detection of match fixing affecting Canadian sport cannot be achieved if gambling is taking place overseas on regulated or unregulated sites,” their submission said.

The Responsible Gaming Council also told the Senate it supports the bill, but wants to see “a robust regulatory framework” that emphasizes consumer protection.