Canadians Bet On Super Bowl At Offshore Sites

Millions of dollars wagered illegally by Canadian residents on the Super Bowl went to offshore online gambling sites. The Canadian Gaming Association has come out strongly against this. It is not against the punters who placed the bets. It is a forgone conclusion that bets will be placed on the greatest single sporting event in North America, if not the world, whether legally or illegally. With simple foresight most of this amount could have been moved through licensed and regulated Canadian online sportsbooks. All that was required was for the Senate to pass Bill C290.

In order to understand how this would have helped, a brief background of Canadian gambling law is essential. All forms of betting, with the exception of sports betting, are illegal under Canadian federal law. The law, however, permits the provinces to run their own games. Federal law allows sports betting only on parlay bets with three or more individual sporting events. Therefore placing bets only on the Super Bowl is illegal. Bill C290 advocated that it be legal to place bets on one or two individual sporting events at a time. However this bill was not passed.

Apart from the Canadian Gaming Association other experts have also expressed surprise at the failure of Bill C290. There does not seem to be any logical reason why Canadian law should prohibit wagering on a single sporting event when parlay bets are allowed. The law has not been updated since the 1960. At that time organized crime was rampant and betting was somehow associated with it. Not many people would place bets. But now things have changed. With the advent of Internet gambling it has become easy for people to gamble. Now states need to ensure regulation of online gambling rather than simply allow people to gamble at offshore sites.

The flip side of the argument is that illegal sports betting activities still surface from time to time. Just this year, a police officer from Montreal was arrested for illegal gambling and involvement in organized crime. The Super Bowl figured in 2013 when the notorious biker gang the Hell's Angels were tied to a massive bust with the infamous Platinum Sportsbook. The point that the Canadian Gaming Association is making is that people are going to bet whether the government wants them to or not. So it makes sense to regulate betting and enacting laws that prevent criminalization of betting rather than banning betting.

Online Casino Articles

A listing of the newest online casino & gambling related articles that have been added to Canadian Casino Sites can be found featured in the listing below.