SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Hopes of progressing legalised ‘single-game’ sports betting in Canada, will again return to the spotlight as Ottawa’s House of Commons reviews Bill C-221 on 21 September.
Canadian Commons’ will debate whether to progress C-221 ‘’ The Safe & Regulated Sports Act” to its Committee on Justice and Human Rights for further review or whether to simply reject the proposed bill.
Penned by Windsor MP Brian Masse, C-221 will look to amend Canada’s criminal law making it legal for a state licensed individual or entity “to conduct and manage a lottery scheme in the province that involves betting on a race or fight or on a single sport event / athletic contest.”
In April Canadian legal sports betting hopes were dashed, as C-221 failed to win support from the newly elected Liberal Party government, who stated that it had concerns regarding the bill’s sports integrity provisions.
Seeking to gain C-221 its review, the bill’s advocates will present its provisions in private, with the bill not attached to any cabinet minister of legislative agenda.
Even if approved for progress by commons and further review committees, C-221 real legislative test will come from the Canadian Senate who blocked outright the legal progress of predecessor C-290.
At present Canadian laws only allow for sports betting wagering in a pooled parlay format, which critics state is unattractive to modern consumers who have chosen to gamble with unlicensed and unmonitored operators.
