A bill introduced in Canada’s House of Commons February 17 would legalize single-game sports betting. The “Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act” would nullify a section of Canada’s Criminal Code that bans single-event sports betting, and would allow provinces and territories to legalize wagering on “any race or fight, or on a single sports event or athletic contest.”
According to a statement from the bill’s sponsor, MP Brian Masse, private firms would be considered as partners with the provincial lotteries in the sports betting program. Masse commented that single-event sports betting occurs now in Canada, but is “nearly completely unregulated,” adding that companies “operating in the so-called grey-market sports are asking to be regulated.”
Masse’s district includes Caesars Windsor casino, which has been asking for single-event legislation for years to add a sports book that will draw bettors from across the border in the U.S., where sports betting is still illegal, for the most part.
The House of Commons will begin debating the bill next month.
