Bill C-290 Stalls In Canadian Senate, Again

If Bill C-290 is passed, provincial casinos like Caesars Windsor will be able to offer single-game sports betting in Canada. (Photo credit: jpowers65 / Foter / CC BY-ND)


Bill C-290, which would allow provinces to offer single-game sports betting in Canada, doesn’t appear like it will be passed any time soon.

The Canadian senate continues to refuse to pass the bill, even though it breezed through the House of Commons nearly three years ago. That reading was rushed through the House on a Friday afternoon in 2012, and several Members of Parliament have reportedly asked the Senate not to pass the bill because they didn’t get a chance to vote on it.

With a federal election on the horizon this year, MPs like Windsor-Tecumseh’s Joe Comartin – who proposed the bill – are nervous Bill C-290 might die in the senate.

Various media outlets reported Wednesday that this is horrible news for sports betting in Canada. They all lamented the amount of money Canadians bet each year with online sportsbooks and with illegal bookmakers, lumping the two of them together.

This isn’t really fair or accurate reporting, in our opinion. Unlike illegal bookmakers, most of whom are affiliated with organized crime syndicates, online sportsbooks are licensed and regulated in their own jurisdictions and it’s as legal for us Canadians to use them as it is for us to buy electronics from China on eBay.

If Bill C-290 is eventually passed and single-game sports betting in Canada is offered by provinces, we believe many people will still continue to use online sportsbooks. Online sportsbooks offer bonuses that the governments almost certainly won’t match, and we’re sure the odds will be better at online sportsbooks than through the provinces.

Just look at the greed the governments have shown with Proline and other provincial sports lotteries, aiming to pay out only 60% of the money they take in. Online sportsbooks pay out 90% or higher of the bets they receive, and they’re doing just fine.

Hopefully, if Bill C-290 or a similar bill is passed in the future, our governments will see the light and offer fair odds and bonuses to compete with online sportsbooks.

But we wouldn’t bet on it.