A recent report by the Vancouver Sun revealed that just a small portion of online gambling in Canada is done so legally. The report claims that Canadians spend only $450 million on legal gambling in an industry that is worth over $10 billion. The country’s restrictions on sportsbetting and its lack of government-regulated services contribute to this phenomenon.
The Canadian Gaming Association was the resource that originally published these alarming statistics about Canada’s gambling market. The CGA hopes that amendments will be made to the country’s gaming laws in order to encourage more gambling to take place in ‘legal’ settings.
Local lottery commissions like the British Columbia Lottery Commission and Espace Jeux have both launched their own online gambling websites, in which players can access online casino games in regulated environments. However, these are the only two websites of their kind at the moment, so a large portion of gambling still takes place at illegal betting websites.
Another issue is that of single-game sports betting, which is illegal in Canada. Players wishing to make wagers on single events must go online to unregulated websites in order to place bets. The gaming industry has called on the Canadian government to change this law. The response so far has been positive, and it is likely that amendments will be made so that the regulated sites and operators can reclaim some of these funds.
