Lately there has been a lot more talk about how live sports betting in Canada will change with the final reading and approval of Bill C290 in Parliament. This Bill drew its first few breaths months ago when it was introduced as a way to increase tax revenues and casino sportsbook traffic in places like Windsor and Niagara. Currently in Ontario, if Canadians want to place sports bets at Casinos, they cannot make a bet on a single game outcome. They have had to put two games on the same ticket and win both events to have any winnings. This is pretty inconvenient given, many customers may only feel confident in one team winning a game, but they must add a second event to that ticket to get paid. Its much harder to pick the correct outcome of two events as opposed to one, and many in Parliament feel they could increase sports gaming revenues if this rule is dropped from Casino Sportsbooks like Sports Interaction (read our review on them) and Provincial sports betting lottery rules.

Politicians also feel that if single game sports wagering is approved, it will lure US customers from Detroit and Buffalo to Casinos like Niagara and Windsor. In Canada the legal gambling age is 19 whereas in the USA its 21. Cross border traffic to these Casinos were great, but since competition opened up in the US side of these regions, it has declined. Sports Betting in the USA is currently only legal in Las Vegas and now New Jersey as of last month. Giving Americans an outlet for sports wagering close by could be a boon to Canadian casinos, again like Sports Interaction.

Although the Bill is expected to pass shortly, many skeptics feel its negative effects are not being taken seriously. This includes its affect on professional sports, and the ability for Cities to lure in additional professional teams in the future. This is because of the strong stance professional leagues like the NBA, NFL and NHL have taken when it comes to sports gambling. They feel it can have a negative impact on their brands and integrity of their games. This shouldn’t be much of a concern given sports betting limits are strict across Canada and it would be hard to “rig” events based on Casino sports maximum wagers of $500 and $100 on Proline. This argument isn’t really realistic, but these leagues can be a fickle bunch. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.