Online sports betting in Canada

Betting in Canada goes back before the 15^th century when the first Europeans came into the region. The Canadian natives considered gambling to be a part of their culture, and before the Europeans brought in decks of playing cards, the natives used gaming sticks.

Today sport betting in Canada is under strict regulation by law and cannot be comparable to its next door neighbour down south, who have a much larger and more developed industry. In Canada it has always been illegal to bet on the outcome of a single sports game, so Canadian betting services are not able to offer that to clients. For this many Canadians look for online bookies that are based abroad - where sports betting is allowed. Although online Canadian sportbooks are growing in popularity and give players the flexibilty to use various payment methods for online betting , the Pro Line remains the most popular betting operator in Canada. The Pro Line is a form of betting where the wager is place on a series of games called a Parlay where all games must be won in order to win the bet. Although the payout is usually quite high in the parlay, the chances are slim and because of this the parlay is not a very popular option in online sports betting.
 

Recently the Bill C-290 was passed unanimously by the House of Commons. The bill, an Act to amend the criminal code and make single event betting legal in Canada, became very popular and received a lot of support from provincial government. Provincial governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario sent in letter requesting the amendment with support from Provincial Governments of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
 

If the change is made, we will most likely see growth in the gambling industry in the country. Gambling is seen as a victimless crime or not even a crime at all to most people and is practised anyway. Legalising single event betting would allow for revenue gain from the industry by the government. $10-$40 billion dollars is estimated to be generated in revenue by the government from single event betting in Canada alone. As much as $4 billion is also expected to be recovered from overseas betting companies.
This could also potentially reduce organized crime in the country as a lot of the gambling can now be monitored and regulated by the government. Much of the provincial government are in support and I doubt it would be long before we see this amendment pass.