Canada legalizes single-game sports betting, opening up billion-dollar market

The federal government has made it legal to gamble on individual sporting events, bringing legitimacy to a murky industryon whichCanadians already spend billions ofdollars a year.

The news doesn't open up the floodgates, however:The federal law which will be in force as of Aug. 27 merely allowsprovinces to regulate sports betting as they see fit.

"Canadians will have the opportunity to participate in single-event sport betting in a regulated and safe environment,at the discretion of the provinces and territories," Attorney General David Lamettitolda news conference in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Thursday.

According to the federal government, Canadians spend about $10 billion a year on single sporting events as part of betting conducted illegally in the black marketby organized criminal networks. An additional $4 billion a year gets spentby Canadians in the so-called grey market,in offshore jurisdictions where such bets are legal.

The new rules have the potential to bring that money back into Canada in a way that it can be monitored and taxed.

"Canadians have been betting on sports for a long time, but there's been a relic in the Criminal Code that has prevented betting on individual events," said St. Catharines, Ont., MP Chris Bittle, whoattended the event.

"We have an opportunity to regulate, control it and take the money out of the hands of organized crime."

The law, known as Bill C-218, was a private member's bill brought forward byKevin Waugh, Conservative MP for Saskatoon-Grasswood, but despite coming from the opposition, it wonsupport in Parliament from all four mainparties.

It received royal assent at the end of June, making it official, but it wasn't until this week that the governing Liberals attached a date to its implementation: just over two weeks from now, on Aug.27.

"Offshore gaming sites and sportsbooks operated by criminal organizations bring in $38 millionof Canadian wagers every day," Waugh said in a statement on Wednesday, before Lametti's announcement. "Instead of quickly enacting a law that would redirect that money to Canadian jobs and businesses, Justin Trudeau is allowing billions of dollars a year to fall into the hands of big multinational companies and criminals."

Widely expected move

Six provinces currently allow so-called parlay betting through provincial agencies, wherebettors must bet on the outcome of at least three separate sporting eventsand correctly predict the outcome of all three for the bet to pay off.

Betting on a single event the winner of the Super Bowl, the Grey Cup or Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, for example was previously impossible to do through any services regulated in Canada.

That's why opening up the market to individual-game bets is seen as the next step tomore widespread adoption of the growing sports-betting market.

WATCH | Canada legalizes single-game sports betting:

The push to change sports gambling in Canada

3 years ago

Duration 7:22

Theres a growing push to change how Canadians can legally bet on professional sports to help keep billions in gambling money in the country and catch up with practices found in other countries.

Following Thursday's announcement, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG)said in a statement that bettors in the province will be able to bet on single games online as of Aug.27.

"OLG has been looking forward to offering single-event sports wagering to adult Ontarians for many years," CEO Duncan Hannaysaid.

Amanda Brewer with the Canadian Gaming Association says the industry has been waiting for this day for a long time.

"We have a lot of sports books that have been accessing the Canadian market for well over a decade," she said in an interview with CBC News."They're coming in, they're offering sports betting and they are paying no tax, so the provinces don't collect any revenue, and you have absolutely no guarantees that whomever you're you're betting with is offering safe consumer protections."

WATCH| Hard to quantify how big the black market is:

Illegal sports betting worth billions

3 years ago

Duration 0:23

Amanda Brewer with the Canadian Gaming Association says it's hard to know exactly how much money Canadians are spending on illegal sports betting but it is likely worth billions.

The move is long overdue, saidChris Lencheski,CEO of Winning Streak Sports and a professor at Columbia University in New York.

"People want to know who they're betting with," he told CBC News. "It keeps the money inside the province or inside the country."

Brian Egger, a gaming analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, pegs the total sports-gambling market in Canada at about $11 billion currently and on track to roughly double within five years.

"The train [has]somewhat left the station already," Lencheski said. "They're playing catchup in Canada.... Today's legislation, I think, is just smart so that the Canadian marketplace can be governed by Canadians."

Major betting deals

Big U.S. money hadalready movedin recent weeks to solidify its dominance over Canada's sports-betting market. On Monday, Nasdaq-listed Penn National offered to buy up the shares of Toronto-based Score Media.

At first blush, the $2-billion price tag Penn agreed to pay may appear exorbitant for a company like Score, which is forecast to take in less than $40 million in revenue next year.

But analysts who cover the sector callit a savvy move since Canada's market is poised for rapid growth.

"The strategic rationale of this deal makes sense to us," JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff said.

Score owns the most popular sports app in Canada, putting itin a "strong positionfor the rollout of commercial
sports betting in Canada,"Greff said.

Eggersaidhe expects Score's technology and first-mover advantage will eventually allow the company to gobble up about 20 per cent of the sports-gambling market in Canada.

In a statement to CBC News, Score's CEO said he welcomed the news.

"Regulated sports betting is an industry that will flourish, benefiting all Canadians through the creation of much needed jobs, new revenue streams and important consumer protections," John Levy said. "We're proud to have been a stakeholder in this process and look forward to introducing theScore Bet to fans across Canada."