The lengthy quest to change the Canadian criminal code to permit single-event sports betting has another wrinkle to contend with: horse racing. While single-game bets would cut into the lucrative black market which draws bettors not interested in betting on multiple games at once, it makes the racing industry nervous.
“The horse-racing market is a zero-sum game,” said Woodbine Entertainment Group CEO Jim Lawson, who runs Canada’s largest racetrack operator. “Horse-racing wagerers that would access fixed-odds betting will move away from the Canadian pari-mutuel pools racing offers. This will dramatically cannibalize the industry’s market share, and these operators would earn their revenue without contributing to the substantial cost of producing our content.”
Under Canada’s parimutuel wagering structure, the odds and payouts vary up to the time the horses take off from the starting gate. Also, some of the profits help out horse associations, breeding programs and equine aftercare programs. But fixed-odds payouts of sports betting don’t change, and there is no profit sharing, according to the Canadian Press.
“This distinction is at the heart of the gravest risk to the Canadian horse-racing industry,” Lawson said.
Conservative MP Kevin Waugh says the main goal of Bill C-218 is to level the track globally against large foreign sites such as Bet365 and Bodog that garner more than $4 billion from Canadian bettors each year, according to the Canadian Gaming Association.
“The more money I put down at Woodbine on Dancers Halo, the less odds I get. Where at the casino, it’s fixed odds; it stays maybe nine to one. At Woodbine it was nine to one to open in the morning, but now it’s a seven-to-two favorite. And that’s what they’re worried about,” Waugh said in an interview.
“It’s a valid argument.”
Willian Ford, president of Racetracks of Canada, seeks amendments prohibiting any organization from accepting a fixed-odds bet on horse racing.
“We can see the writing on the wall. The legalization of single-event sports betting will see the influx of massive foreign companies and leagues entering the Canadian wagering market. Competition will be severe and racing will see market share shrink over time,” said Ford.
Ford also wants Canada to legalize historical horse racing, which permits bettors to wager on past races without identifying the race beforehand.
