Supporters of Bill C-218 to allow single-event sports betting in Canada are in a race against time



For hockey fans and stakeholders in the push for the legalization of single-event sports betting in Canada, Tuesday night delivered an almost certain first-time, second-screen experience.

For hockey fans and stakeholders in the push for the legalization of single-event sports betting in Canada, Tuesday night delivered an almost certain first-time, second-screen experience.

On one screen, the Leafs were riding the dynamic offence of William Nylander and the smothering puck-stopping of Jack Campbell to a shutout win and a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.

On another screen — using a tablet, phone or laptop — you could see Sen. Brent Cotter speaking on Senate ParlVU about his grandfather, Bill Cotter, a forward with the Kenora Thistles a few years before their first Stanley Cup championship in 1907. The senator was presenting his family ties to Canadian hockey’s history in making his case for why it’s time for the Criminal Code of Canada to be amended to allow Canadians to legally wager on a game, match or event.

“Given my grandfather’s love of sports, when he could afford to he occasionally placed bets on the outcome of sports contests, but not for one minute did he ever consider he was committing a crime by doing so,” said the independent senator from Saskatchewan.

“The structure of our existing law is no longer needed,” he later added. The amendment “is a call to move from criminalization to regulation. It took leagues 100 years to see this better path. We should, too.”

To borrow a piece of puck parlance, Tuesday’s session needed overtime for the Senate to pass second reading of Bill C-218 and send it to the standing committee on banking, trade and commerce for consideration. And while Leafs fans have seen leads disappear in past playoff outings, chances are they weren’t as nervous watching Campbell and Co. controlling the Canadiens as the advocates of the bill watching the clock tick down on the Senate debate.

“It was really touch and go,” said Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, among the dual-screen viewers. “Of course, I was (nervous).”

The Senate had already been called back once for an evening session, which was allowed to go past the scheduled 9 p.m. “curfew” after a motion was approved to allow the debate to finish and vote on referring C-218 to the standing committee. That committee, composed of 12 senators, will hold hearings that could start as early as next week and likely involve presentations by both proponents and opponents of legal wagering. The NHL, MLB, NBA, MLS, CFL, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport are among the leagues and organizations that testified in support of the bill to a House of Commons standing committee this past winter.

“The Senate does a lot of work in committee, so (getting through second reading) was an important step,” Burns said. “Senators have taken the time to learn and educate themselves on what’s going on, and they’re now going to ask questions. We know there are solutions and answers to a lot of those questions.”

Getting the bill referred to the standing committee gives it a fighting chance of being returned to the Senate for a third and final reading before it adjourns at the end of June for the summer, and then on to Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner for royal assent.

“After thorough study and debate in the House of Commons, I am hopeful that the Senate Banking Committee will undertake a study and return the bill for third reading in an expeditious manner,” said Kevin Waugh, the Conservative MP from Saskatoon who introduced C-218 as a private member’s bill.

“This legislation is important to our economic recovery and it is crucial that it is passed prior to Parliament’s summer adjournment.”

The bill will allow the provinces to establish single-event wagering marketplaces. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is expected to offer licences to sportsbooks as part of an expanded gaming business while other provinces are leaning toward limiting sports wagering.

“Bill C-218 will enable BCLC to provide single-event sports betting — as well as betting on racing and fighting — almost immediately on PlayNow.com (the province’s only regulated online gambling website),” the British Columbia Lottery Corporation said in a statement this week, calling on the Senate to approve the bill.

While Cotter says he has regained some optimism about the bill being passed before the summer shutdown in Ottawa — “Above 50/50 it’ll happen,” he said — it could face resistance from other senators, some of whom have voted against similar legislation over the past decade. Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne referred Tuesday to studies showing an increase in public health problems stemming from single-event betting and online gambling.

 
Sen. Vernon White expressed his concern that single-event betting could open the doors to match fixing among athletes, coaches and officials. The retired police chief cited a case in New South Wales a year ago in which charges were laid against five people for match fixing of an esports event. And in January, police in New South Wales laid charges against an Australian table tennis player and brought down an international match-fixing syndicate.

“I am not suggesting that we stop the bill,” White said. “I have spoken to our legal experts in the Senate, and they suggest this could be accomplished through a small amendment in Bill C-218 to create a new match-fixing offence in the Criminal Code.”

Any amendments mean, however, that the bill has to be sent back to the House of Commons for approval and then returned to the Senate again.

“If the argument (on the amendment) is persuasive, I’d be supportive,” Cotter said. “(But) I’d like to not hold up the bill for this.”


This article is a reprint from TheStar.com. To view the original story and comment, click here. 


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