The countdown begins for single-event sports betting to finally come to Canada by the end of this month. Last week, Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, David Lametti, said that C-218 will come into effect on August 27th.
The bill actually received Royal Assent back in June this year, but a line in the country’s Criminal Code needed to be amended to make single-event sports betting a possibility.
The law allows individual provinces to decide for themselves whether they want to offer this type of sports betting.
In many cases, provinces that already have parlay wagering platforms in place simply need to expand their products to adapt to the new types of betting.
- Alberta – plans to offer single-event sports betting on its Play Alberta platform.
- British Columbia – PlayNow.com will launch single-event betting from August 27th. Some of the province’s land-based gambling locations will also expand with the new products.
- Ontario – Plans to launch an open sports betting market later this year.
According to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario: “Generally speaking, Ontario is looking to implement an open and competitive igaming market, including sports betting. This approach has been the subject of an intensive consultation process led by the Ontario Ministries of Finance and the Attorney General and supported by the AGCO over the past few months. Sportsbooks and other online operators have provided extensive inputs and we have also looked to leading jurisdictions around the world.”