Single-game wagering on sports is becoming a reality in Canada. Canada’s expectation for single-game wagering in online sports betting is nearing realization. While it remains unclear what single-game wagering will look like in each province, there appears to be substantial support in Parliament for the repeal of section 207(4)(b) of the Criminal Code of Canada.

After committee meetings concluded, the bill was returned to the House of Representatives for minor rule modifications. PricewaterhouseCoopers prepared a report on the subject that was included in Rogers Communication’s brief. The report provided an analysis of the economic impact of single-game wagering.

 

Setting Guidelines

The report specifies that it was commissioned by the Compass Rose Group and was intended to address the following four points:

 

The current landscape of Canadian sports wagering sites, both regulated and unregulated

A summary of how international markets imposed regulatory changes

Based on international experiences, scenarios to determine the potential magnitude of the legal sports betting market in Canada.

A summary of the fiscal and economic effects of the new legalisation

The Scenery Has Evolved

In the report’s first section, it is stated that the market is currently segmented. The report also estimates that 39% of sports wagering occurs at brick-and-mortar locations, while only 3% occurs on sports betting websites in states where online sports betting is legal. In contrast, 57% of online sports betting is conducted by unregulated operators.

 

If these numbers are accurate, they indicate that despite having fewer regulated options, Canada appears to retain a substantially larger share of the regulated market than the United States.

 

The Future Of Canadian Sports Betting

The analysis utilized a variety of criteria to estimate the size of the country’s prospective market for sports betting sites. Intriguingly, barring access to unregulated websites was considered to be less feasible in the United States due to constitutional issues. The report examined legalization efforts in the United States and Europe. The results from the analysis of the regulation in Canada follows most closely with that of Denmark.

 

This report on online sports wagering sites appears to be grounded in reality, which is not always the case. In the future months, it appears Canada will remove the barrier prohibiting single-game online sports betting.