The end of August was particularly important for Canadian sports betting fans as the country finally approved single-event sports betting. A few provincial lotteries have taken charge of launching legal single-event sports betting offers for the first time in Canada.
Now that everything is official, Canadian Gaming Association CEO and President Paul Burns believes that the gaming websites made good use of the delay and prepared more launch-ready products for sports betting fans.
However, the new bill hasn’t made sports wagering legal across the entire country. Instead, it allows provinces to regulate the activity within their jurisdictions. At the time of writing, the provinces that have accepted the challenge are Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and British Columbia.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation signed off the ProLine+ platform, and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) plans to offer single-event sports betting through its PlayNow website. In addition to single-event sports bets, PlayNow.com will also offer wagers on fighting and racing.
The CEO and Interim President of the BCLC, Lynda Cavanaugh, is proud to be a part of such a significant landmark moment for British Columbia. She stated that players from this province will benefit from the revenue taken by BC’s main online gaming platform through initiatives such as education, healthcare, and various community programs.
What’s more, PlayNow.com features trusted responsible gambling safeguards meant to put player health above anything else and help potential problem gamblers.
In conclusion, Bill C-218 has finally given Canadians the betting options required to bring sports wagering to the next level. Even though provincial lotteries could offer bets on sports before, the payslip had to contain a minimum of three games and this is no longer the case as of August 2021. The reason for the previous measure was to mitigate the likelihood of match fixing.
