Fatal Blow For Canada’s Online Gambling Fans?
October 12, 2016
Or is this simply another step along the way? Most likely you saw the recent news about recent online gambling discussions in the House of Commons. In case you missed it, here is what just transpired. In a vote that quite clearly shocked some observers, the House of Commons essentially said NO to the proposal on the table to legalize online sports betting.
Interestingly, once the final vote count was tallied up, the results were reported as 156 to 133. In other words, a difference of a mere 23 votes made a huge difference. You may well recall that hopes and expectations were exceeding high that Canada was on the edge of becoming the first North American nation to fully embrace legal online sports betting action. Alas, not so much, at least not now.
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or the record, the Bill under close consideration was C-221 which bears the name Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act. Here’s how this played out during this legislative session. As hinted at above, hopes were high when Bill C-221 first appeared on the scene. Bill C-221 was put forth by New Democratic Party MP Brian Masse way back in January. At that time, hopes were high and early appearances suggested that C-221 would make it all the way through the legislative process and become law.
Unfortunately for the Canadian sports betting fan at large, the hope for full passage began to darken when the ruling Liberal Party came out against the Bill. For some reason that is yet to be revealed the Liberal Party which had backed a Bill that was very similar to a previous Bill submitted by the now retired MP Joe Comartin did not follow through and support the latest Bill. Get the point here: the Liberal Party had backed the original Bill but suddenly and without not only withdrew its support but spoke out against Bill C-221.
What is this all about? Is this yet another case of politics and legislators gone awry or is this something else entirely? You can readily understand that Masse has a comment or two on the defeat of Bill C-221. Speaking to the CBC, Masse was quoted as saying: “Tonight organized crime is celebrating and popping a cork. And the the Americans are laughing straight at us.”
Take note of that comment from Masse which really gets to the heart of the matter. The fact is that online sports betting is not going away. The real question as Masse made clear in his comment is that online sports betting is going to happen whether or not the activity is made legal.
