Canada single-event sports betting bill gets Royal Assent

A Canadian Bill to legalise bets on single events and sports games has this week received Royal Assent, meaning it will soon pass into law and Canadians will be able to legally place bets on single games or events.

Bill C-218, otherwise known as the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act finally made it through the Canadian House of Commons late last year, and was voted through Senate in mid-June.

Similar bills had previously failed to make it all the way through both houses, falling in 2015 and 2016.

With Royal Assent, Canada’s provinces will be free to decide how to implement legal betting, though some provinces have previously indicated they will waste no time in getting the rules in place.

Specifically, the bill aims to repeal a section of Canada’s Criminal Code, which dictates that consumers are only permitted to wager on at least three games or more, meaning that bets on single matches or events were illegal.

Proponents of the bill, including its sponsor in the Upper House, Senator David Wells had argued the restrictions meant that many Canadians were forced to turn to unregulated offshore sites.

His contention was that allowing Las Vegas-style betting on single games would eat into the multi-billion dollar black market and redirect that revenue to local Governments.