Canadian province gambling success hampered by current betting laws

Canada’s restrictive laws on sports betting are ensuring that offshore operators are enjoying success at the expense of local operators like the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, according to an interesting article in The Chronicle Herald.

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation offers online games and wagering on behalf of the provincial governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.

According to H2 Gambling Capital, an online industry researcher, Atlantic Canadians bet $90 million through offshore sites between January and November of this year. The Atlantic Lottery Corp., meanwhile, did $10 million in online business during the same period. Of the $90 million that Atlantic Canadians bet offshore this year, $22.4 million was on single-event sports games, which cannot be offered by local operators in terms of Canadian laws.

The problem will continue to grow, based on H2’s projections that the market will grow by 80 percent in Atlantic Canada provinces by 2022.

The Atlantic Lottery is struggling to compete against more attractive offers to Canadian punters by offshore rivals not constrained by Canadian betting laws, observers contend.

Toronto gaming law expert Michael Lipton summarised Canadian law on betting for the Chronicle Herald:

• It’s legal for any Canadian to gamble via offshore sites.
• It’s illegal for a Canadian to operate offshore sites.
• A non-Canadian operating an offshore site that takes bets from Canadians could probably be prosecuted if they entered Canada and the government took an interest – which thus far it hasn’t.

Lipton pointed out that Canadian provincial policy and federal laws prevent Atlantic Lottery from offering some of the most popular online games.

Federal law also currently prohibits anyone from offering bets on single matches – the most popular option for punters. That means that Atlantic Lottery and other Canadian authorised operators can only offer what they call “parlay” betting on multiple matches, placing them at a disadvantage with offshore betting companies.

“Government is aware of our position,” said Joey Cormier, director of marketing for Atlantic Lotto’s iLottery. “It is with them to evaluate. The case is becoming more and more compelling year after year.”

Atlantic Lottery hasn’t been given permission to offer the other two most popular types of online gambling, casino (Cdn$28.9 million) and poker (Cdn$18.9 million).

Related and similar