Are you wondering if sports betting is illegal in Canada? For many years, sports fans in Canada have been confused about a longstanding question in Canadian law… Is sports betting illegal in Canada?

For many years, that question couldn’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” due to archaic and dated restrictions on gambling in Canada, but that has since changed after years of political wrangling and debate.

Sports wagering prohibited in Canada

The Canadian Criminal Code prohibited single-event betting, which involves wagering on the outcome of a single sports event, until August 2021.

This contrasts with parlay wagering, which involves the outcome of two or more sports events.

Provincial sports betting monopolies like Proline, PlayNow, and SportSelect only offered parlay betting options to Canadians.

During that time, those looking to bet on the outcome of a single hockey, baseball, or basketball game had to look to grey and black-market offshore sportsbooks.

Why?

Offshore betting companies do not have website servers in Canada, so Canadian law is not applicable. Since the same regulations did not bind them, they could freely offer single-event sports betting to Canadian customers.

Sports betting illegal in Canada

The Canadian government did not target Canadian bettors because the Criminal Code specifically targeted betting companies’ provision of single-event wagering rather than the bettor’s action of placing these bets.

This meant Canadian bettors could safely play at offshore betting sites without legal repercussions.

Online marketplaces, such as gambling sites, challenged jurisdictional boundaries that couldn’t withstand the world’s economy’s significant upheaval with widespread digitization.

Governments worldwide, including Canada, faced the choice of trying to regulate behaviours once thought immoral as gambling once was, and to some extent still is, or changing laws to embrace the new reality thrust upon the world by the internet.

Everything changed in August 2021 when Bill C-218 was approved, allowing single-event betting as a legal option.

This has opened the floodgates for provinces to start taking advantage of single-event sports betting, which had been prohibited for decades.

Canadian law bans sports betting

In November 2020, Canada’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice moved to decriminalize single-event sports betting. While provincial governments have been allowed to operate lotteries, bingo halls, horse tracks, and casinos, so-called single-event sports betting remained illegal until very recently.

When the federal government moved to change that, it still left the provinces to manage the products offered within their borders.

Before the changes in the law, the Canadian Gaming Association estimated that Canadians spent $10 billion per year on illegal sports betting operated by organized crime groups and nearly $4 billion on offshore online casinos that provincial governments can’t regulate. With billions being diverted from the country, the government had to acknowledge that Canadians love to gamble regardless of the legality.

At the same time, the pandemic-battered economy meant that a new gambling marketplace could be a welcome boost to the country’s and provinces’ finances.

Provincial Governments Have The Authority

The Canadian government, for its part, made the changes but left the details to provincial governments to determine.

To enact the changes to make single-event sports betting legal in Canada, the Trudeau government had to draft a bill to amend the Criminal Code of Canada “to permit provinces and territories to regulate and conduct single event sports betting on any sporting event except horse racing.

The Bill would maintain the federal government’s role in pari-mutuel betting systems on horse racing.

When Sports Betting was Still Illegal in Canada

In 2005, Mo’s Sports Parlour, an Edmonton bar, lost its licence to operate after the Board of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission found it was operating an illegal betting pool. The bar sued the board in the Court of Queen’s Bench, claiming it wasn’t given a fair shake before it cancelled its licence.

Investigators sent to Mo’s had been able to place bets on several sports games, leading to a search warrant being executed on the premises in July 2005 and the bar’s owners getting arrested.

At a hearing before the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, the owners claimed the betting pool offered at the bar was like a harmless office pool among coworkers, but the Board disagreed. In dismissing Mo’s bid for a judicial review of the decision to cancel its licence, the court found the Board justified in revoking the business licence to operate.

Parlay or Pari-mutual betting vs. Single-Event Sports Betting

Pari-mutuel betting, instead of single-event sports betting, involves betting pools administered at places like horse racing tracks. The somewhat strange case of horse racing in Canada means that this type of betting has its own government agency, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency, operating under the purview of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The agency “regulates and supervises pari-mutuel betting in Canada on horse races to ensure that it is conducted in a way that is fair to the public. The CPMA protects the betting public by ensuring that a modern and effective regulatory framework is in place.”

The CPMA, according to the government’s website, serves several regulatory functions including:

• It provides permits, licences, and authorizations to Canadian racetrack and betting theatre operators to conduct pari-mutuel betting on horse races.
• Audits and monitors pari-mutuel betting activities.
• Enforces pari-mutuel betting regulations.
• Tests horses to deter the use of prohibited substances through the Equine Drug Control Program.
• Provides information on the use of approved medications.

The Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act

The federal government’s new gambling regulations, known as the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, came into effect in August 2021.

The change generated much commentary in Canada’s legal community as it opened up Canadian provinces to enter a burgeoning global multi-billion dollar market. Law firms like Dentons Canada and DLA Piper posted extensive commentaries online about the implications of the new act.

DLA Piper’s commentary on the changes offers a helpful explanation of the old regime versus the new one, calling the Criminal Code’s gambling provisions a “labyrinth of prohibitions and exemptions.”

Referring to the changes by the bill name of C-218, the law firm explains that provinces were not allowed to offer single-game betting because the Code prohibited: “Bookmaking, pool selling or the making or recording of bets, including bets made through the agency of a pool or pari-mutuel system, on any race or fight, or a single sports event or athletic contest.” 

Illegal sports gambling in Canada

Most provinces have yet to fully embrace the new changes to open up their single-event sports betting markets. Instead of allowing private operators to operate in a regulated market, provinces have kept their provincial lottery sites and expanded single-event betting options on those sites.

The only exception is Ontario, which launched an “iGaming” marketplace on April 4, 2022. This means that bettors in Ontario have options beyond the provincial site, PROLINE+ (which also offers single-event betting options).

What are these betting options? These include betting sites that have applied for an iGO license (iGaming Ontario) and operate in the regulated market instead of the grey market.

Popular brands include Bet365, FanDuel, LeoVegas, BetRivers, and BetMGM. We’ve only mentioned a few names here, but the list is expected to go up to 80 operators, making it one of North America’s most competitive gaming markets.

Does this mean it is illegal for Ontarians to use offshore operators without an iGO license?

No, not exactly. As mentioned earlier, these betting sites are not illegal in Canada but unregulated. The new legislation allowing single-event betting does not change this, so Ontarians can still safely access these betting sites.

What about other Canadian provinces? Let’s look at the state of legal sports betting in each province.

Alberta

Alberta will open the market to two private operators by the end of 2022. Potential private operators include PointsBet.

In the meantime, bettors in Alberta can legally access:

Sport Select (operated by Western Canada Lottery Corporation)

PlayAlberta (operated by Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis)

Offshore operators (unregulated but not illegal)

British Columbia

British Columbia has added single bets to PlayNow (operated by British Columbia Lottery Corporation).

Offshore operators are legal to access but not regulated by the province.

Quebec

Mise-O-Jeu is Quebec’s legal provincial lottery site. Like other provinces, Quebec has not opened the regulated market to private operators, but offshore operators are not illegal.

Manitoba

Manitobans can legally place bets at PlayNow (operated by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation)

Offshore operators remain unregulated.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s legal betting options include Sport Select (operated by Western Canada Lottery Corporation).

Offshore operators are unregulated but not illegal for Canadians to access.

Atlantic Provinces

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island have Proline Stadium as a legal betting option. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation operates Proline Stadium.

Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut

Bettors in these territories and provinces can access:

Sport Select (operated by provincial lottery corporations)

Offshore operators (not illegal, but unregulated)

Will Other Provinces Open up their Market to Private Operators?

This question is on everyone’s lips, and the answer is unclear.

Alberta will open the province to two private operators by the end of 2022 and is currently selecting its operators. The two operators are pretty restrictive, but Alberta has indicated it will expand the market to other operators if it works well.

Not all other provinces have expressed interest in a private market, but more significant provinces like British Columbia and Quebec are likely waiting to see Ontario’s performance. If Ontario’s betting market works well, Canadians will probably see other provinces with legal private operators.

Sports betting restrictions in Canada

Years earlier, the government tried enacting changes to sports betting law, but the legislation never got approved. In other words, the new changes to Canada’s sports betting laws were years in the making.

A high-profile failed attempt was made in 2011. This was Bill C-290, which also sought to legalize single-event sports betting.

The Bill, however, died on the Senate floor, but Driedger’s commentary about the attempt rings true today after the Canadian government finally successfully changed the law in 2021. Revisiting the debate over the failed bill is revealing, though, because the same issues facing the Canadian government back then remained in place in the lead-up to passing C-218.

Bill C-221 was also introduced in 2016 but was voted against by the governing Liberal Party.

One of the final attempts before the approval of Bill C-218 was Bill C-13, which the Minister of Justice introduced on November 26, 2020.

Bill C-13 advanced considerably but needed to be dropped due to the ‘Rule of Anticipation’. This rule prevents the House from deciding on two separate, duplicate bills from advancing to the following stages. Since Bill C-13 was nearly identical to Bill C-218, the House of Commons opted to move forward with Bill C-218.

Is Sports Betting Illegal in Canada?

With the passage of Canada’s new gambling laws, betting on a single game in the NHL, NBA, NFL, or other leagues is no longer prohibited by the Criminal Code. However, provinces other than Ontario have not yet embraced the changes to open up their markets.

However, that could change quickly as provincial governments nationwide try to dig themselves out of pandemic-related holes as COVID-19 decimated tourism and other industries that bolstered provincial gambling revenues.

According to a report by the accounting firm Deloitte, the time was ripe to make the changes finally enacted after years of stagnation on the file.

In conclusion, whether you’re for or against gambling or a seasoned sports fan wishing to sweeten the action of your favourite game, sports betting in Canada is now legal in most circumstances, regardless of your moral stance on the issue.

After years of political wrangling and debate, sports betting in Canada was finally made legal in 2021. However, that could change again with a change in government; taking bets on Canadian politics in these trying times is a whole other game.

Speak to a lawyer in Canada if you have questions.