Canada’s current hope for a legal single event sportsbetting bill C-218 has been referred to the Canadian Senate by the Senate’s Banking, Trade and Commerce Committee after two days of deliberation, testimonies and debate.
Before voting on approval, the Senate will sit for a final reading of the bill, to scrutinize possible required amendements to the bill (which would necessitate returing to the House of Commons for another vote on the amended bill before returning to the Senate once again for final approval.
The bill was passed April 22nd 2021 by the House of Commons- and new amendments may require debate. If this is not the case the bill may receive required receive Royal Assent to become Canadian law just in time for June 23rd when lawmakers break for summer.
If enacted into law Bill C-218 will update Canada’s Criminal Code to allow for the legalization of single-event sports betting
Over two days (Wednesday and Friday of last week) the Senate Committee heard testimonies before going through the bill clause by clause.
Witnesses included:
- Paul Burns, President and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association
- Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner, Canadian Football League
- Chief Gina Deer, Mohawk Council of Kahanwàke
- Stewart Groumoutis, Director eGaming, British Columbia Lottery Corporation
- Zane Hansen, President & CEO, Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority
- Shelley White, CEO of the Responsible Gambling Council
The bill to legalize Canada sports betting was originally introduced by Saskatoon-Grasswood Conservative MP Kevin Waugh in 2020 who at the time said:
“IT WILL ALSO ENSURE THAT PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS HAVE ACCESS TO THE TOOLS NECESSARY TO PROPERLY REGULATE SPORTS BETTING AND IMPLEMENT CONSUMER PROTECTION AND PROBLEM GAMBLING PROGRAMS TO PROTECT CANADIANS.”
Canadian gamblers are estimated to wager up to $4B annually on international betting sites (Source: Canadian Gaming Association)
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