Canada’s Parliament voted on Wednesday to pass MP Kevin Waugh’s Bill C-218 which will allow Canadians to take part in single game sports betting.
At the moment, Canadians can only make parlay bets — a bet that combines two bets on one ticket — on sporting events.
Although the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour of Bill C-218, there are still a few more hurdles before it can become law. The bill will now go before the Justice Committee and then the senate. Once it makes it through those reviews, it will then go before the Governor-General for Royal Assent.
With sports betting already in play in the form of parlay bets, there are several key players with a foothold in the industry who look to make immediate gains from the legislation. These include Gaming Inc., FansUnite Entertainment, and Score Media.
Speaking of the news, Score Media founder and CEO John Levy said:
“The positive outcome of today’s vote demonstrates the continuing momentum and strong cross-party support for this issue. We expect that the legalization of single event sports betting will facilitate the introduction by provinces and territories of a much-needed modernized sports betting framework in their respective jurisdictions that can include important consumer protections and the ability to generate new revenue streams for provincial and territorial governments.”
Levy went on to add:
“As Canada’s leading mobile sports media brand with a uniquely integrated sports betting platform, we look forward to collaborating with key stakeholders as the legislative process continues, to ensure that betting reform works for all Canadians and their communities.”
Bill C-218 isn’t the only bill of its kind up before Canada’s Parliament. Bill C-13 will go before the House of Commons on February 19th. The bill is widely expected to pass and is quite similar to C-218.
Once both bills have passed into law, it will then be up to local governments and individual provinces to decide how to license and manage single-game sports betting products.
London based reporter covering all aspects of the global regulated and unregulated land-based and online gambling industry - including business news, sports-betting, casinos, poker & regulation