The Senate of Canada is set to vote today on whether to grant its final approval to a bill that would allow for legal single-game sports betting in the country.
If Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, is passed on Tuesday by senators and read for a third time it would require only Royal Assent before it becomes law, which is more of a formality than a serious legislative hurdle to clear in Canada. After that, it would fall to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to schedule a date for the legislation to come into force.
Update on #C218: Debate has ended. There will be no more amendments. The vote is deferred to tomorrow, Tuesday June 22 at 3:30pm. A sincere thank you for your interest, engagement and comments. Your voices have been heard in the @SenateCA. #cdnpoli #nlpoli @KevinWaugh_CPC
— Senator David Wells (@wellsdavid) June 21, 2021
Sports betting is legal in Canada, but only in the form of a parlay, which is intended to prevent match-fixing. Canada also allows for pari-mutuel betting on single horse races.
However, the arrival of the internet has led to Canadian gamblers making what is estimated to be billions of dollars in wagers with offshore and illegal sportsbooks, rather than their onshore, parlay-only competition.
C-218 would shake up this status quo. The bill would make it legal for Canada's provinces or those they license to conduct and manage a lottery "scheme" that could involve single-game sports betting. Doing so, supporters hope, could pull bets away from grey and black-market sportsbooks and redirect them back towards their provincially-run or regulated counterparts.
Despite this, passage of C-218 has not been automatic. It does not have the priority or weight of a government bill, as it was introduced and sponsored by a member of the Conservative opposition, Saskatchewan MP Kevin Waugh, in the elected House of Commons.
Moreover, some senators have voiced concerns about match-fixing and Indigenous rights in connection with the legislation. During its time in the appointed Senate, there has been the looming possibility of amendments being attached to C-218 that could create further delay and increase the bill’s chances of being killed by an election, which has happened in the past.
There have been attempts to change the bill in the Senate as well. Notably, the owners of Sports Interaction, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, supported amending C-218 in a way that would have explicitly allowed for an Indigenous entity to conduct and manage a lottery scheme, which would include sports betting.
“We have been crystal clear since day one on this issue: amended, the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke do not oppose Bill C-218,” the group said in an email last week to senators. “Any suggestion to the contrary is patently false. What we have requested, however, is equally evident: the accommodation of Indigenous interests and the protection of our economic future in gaming.”
Un-amended
Manitoba Sen. Mary Jane McCallum moved an amendment that would make the tweak being sought by the Mohawk, but it was defeated on Monday by a vote of 43-21 against the proposed change, with another 13 senators abstaining.
“Absent a compelling need to address a serious flaw in the bill, which I do not believe exists, I cannot justify standing in the way of this opportunity to bring jobs and resources to my province, most particularly to First Nations people and communities, an initiative they fully support,” said Saskatchewan Sen. Brent Cotter, C-218’s critic, during Monday’s debate.
Vote result on the amendment to Bill #C218:
— Senate of Canada (@SenateCA) June 21, 2021
Yeas: 21??
Nays: 43?
Abstentions: 13#SenCA #cdnpoli
The Senate’s banking, trade and commerce committee did make some non-binding observations about the legislation when it reported it back to the full chamber.
Those observations were that the committee “strongly” encouraged the federal government to sign a European anti-match-fixing treaty and that it thought the provinces should work with First Nations and other relevant groups on gaming-related agreements.
In the end, however, the Senate’s decision to not amend C-218 means it would not have to go back to the House of Commons if it is read a third time today, as the chambers would have passed identical versions of the legislation.
If C-218 is passed in the Senate today (the vote is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET), the government would then choose a day for Royal Assent to be given to the bill, after which it becomes part of the law and would come into force on a day named by Trudeau and his cabinet. Trudeau has been supportive of the legislation, having voted in favor of it at the second-reading stage in the House of Commons.
Provincial lottery corporations could start taking single-game bets before the end of 2021. For instance, British Columbia Lottery Corp. has said Bill C-218 would allow it to provide single-game betting “almost immediately” on PlayNow.com, an online gambling website that is owned and operated by the Crown corporation. Depending on provincial regulations, private-sector firms could be allowed into the new betting ecosystem as well.
“Legalized single-event sports betting would support BCLC to shift play from unregulated websites to PlayNow.com, where numerous safeguards support healthy play and where revenue goes back to support B.C. communities,” said Lynda Cavanaugh, president and CEO of BCLC, in a May press release.
