It was a big anniversary for legalized sports betting in Canada yesterday, but there wasn’t much celebrating or spiking of footballs. Which is pretty telling.
While the fanafare was minimal, Monday marked five years since the Senate of Canada passed Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act.
The bill had passed the House of Commons in April of 2021, and, a week after clearing the Senate on June 22, 2021, the bill had obtained Royal Assent. Its provisions would eventually come into force on Aug. 27, 2021.
- Five years after Bill C-218 legalized single-game sports betting in Canada, its biggest impact has been the rapid growth and visibility of regulated sports wagering.
- The law gave provinces control over implementation, leading to different models, including government monopolies in most provinces and competitive private markets in Ontario and Alberta (soon).
- The expansion of sports betting has sparked ongoing debates over advertising, Indigenous gaming rights, problem gambling, and how to rein in offshore operators.
So, happy five-year anniversary to perhaps one of the most noticeable legislative changes made in our lifetimes. Even if you had no idea the bill passed, if you've watched a sporting event recently, you probably felt its effects. Without C-218, for example, Canadians would probably see fewer sports betting ads during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
How is that possible? Well, the passage of the private member's bill in 2021 made a small yet significant tweak to Canadian law, making it legal for provincial governments to “conduct and manage” gambling that includes single-game sports wagering.
Before that, Canada’s Criminal Code had long blocked the provinces from offering the opportunity to bet on a single sporting event. They instead had their lotteries offer parlay cards and futures. But betting the moneyline on a lone football game? Don’t even think about it; there would be no “funny games” played in Canada.
Just moments ago, #C218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act passed third reading in the Senate. Now, the only step left is for it to receive Royal Assent from the Administrator of Canada.
— Kevin Waugh (@KevinWaugh_CPC) June 22, 2021
The prohibition on single-event sports betting in Canada is just about over! pic.twitter.com/2Xf9zDsG02
Yet with the arrival of the internet, that prohibition became easier and easier to circumvent. Bettors across Canada could download the app or log into the site of their choosing, and they’d have access to the full sportsbook menu.
“The legislation in fact doesn’t create a single-event sports betting market, it just legalizes it and regulates it,” now-former Sen. Brent Cotter said during a June 17, 2021 debate on C-218. “That market already exists in the grey and dark corners that trouble us.”
So the bill passed, and two months later, provinces were free to adopt a more flexible form of legal sports betting in Canada. A same-game parlay was both possible and permitted.
Why no celebration five years later, then? Probably because legalized sports betting may not exactly be the apple of the voting public's eye right now. Indeed, polling results published in May by the Angus Reid Institute suggested nearly half of Canadians believe the growing presence of sports betting is a "bad thing."
Whomst could have predicted?
There is a bit of buyer's remorse among lawmakers responsible for C-218's passage as well, as they failed to predict exactly what would come next. Even in 2021, there were looming issues, such as concerns that the bill failed to include any explicit acknowledgement of gaming-related rights for First Nations. And now, five years later, Canadian lawmakers and the broader public are grasping that more has changed than just a few lines of the Criminal Code.
Issues involving advertising, Indigenous gaming rights, game integrity, and addiction and problem gambling continue to swirl. They are crying out for more fulsome debate and possible legislative fixes.
And as those preexisting issues linger, new ones are emerging. Among other things, the rise of prediction markets looks like it will eventually include Canada, albeit maybe in a more restrictive fashion.
Yet if Canada had a "PASPA moment," it was C-218's passage. And, as in the United States following the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, lawmakers and regulators are recognizing that sports betting is not just something you can legalize and leave alone. It requires constant attention. That focus can be hard to attain and maintain, especially since our governments have much more important issues to focus on (healthcare, education, etc.), but it is slowly concentrating.
This is becoming apparent in provincial and federal legislatures, the courts, and the court of public opinion. But it arguably all began with C-218, which extended the umbrella of legality over a much less clunky form of legalized sports betting in Canada.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account
Good luck, have fun
Because C-218 didn’t lay down a detailed blueprint for what would happen next. It handed that responsibility to the provinces, which have formally controlled legalized gambling since striking a deal with the federal government four decades ago. That agreement ensured the feds got cash, including $100 million for the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and the provinces got jurisdiction.
There was, of course, that little line stating the provinces couldn’t offer single-game sports betting. And when that was edited in 2021, it meant it was still up to the provinces to determine how single-game wagering would be offered.
That was it: no instructions, no orders, no detailed rules or regulations. We trust you, provinces, said (most) federal lawmakers.
“Have some faith in the provinces to get this right,” Cotter said. “They have so far.”
So, did the provinces get it right? Well… let’s just stick to the facts for now.
Keeping it in the family
There have been basically two approaches adopted in the wake of C-218's passing. And that has arguably led to the most contentious issues, even if they’ve mostly been aired in court.
Most provinces decided to stick with legal monopolies for government-owned lottery and gaming corporations. That left the implementation and offering of single-game wagering over the internet to entities like British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s PlayNow platform and Loto-Québec’s Mise-o-jeu.
Then there is the path that Ontario has walked and that Alberta intends to walk, starting next month, which is the opening of regulated and competitive markets for online gambling. In Ontario, for instance, there are now more than 30 provincially authorized online sportsbooks offering single-game wagering, and much, much more. There is also the local lottery corporation, OLG, and its platform, PROLINE+. C-218's passage made it so Ontario could seamlessly have the type of legalized sports betting offered elsewhere.
Yet advertising by Ontario-licensed brands (and, soon, Alberta-authorized brands) is being seen in other provinces that don’t permit those operators, much to the irritation of the local lotteries. That irritation has come out in court, as Ontario has sought to determine if it’s legal to connect its iGaming market to those abroad, in the hopes of bolstering online poker and, perhaps, rejuvenating paid daily fantasy sports contests.
It doesn't look like there will be any provincially regulated options for DFS in Alberta's soon-to-launch iGaming market. There are, however, some ongoing efforts that could help change that (maybe):https://t.co/9OR8m8rjFn @Covers
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) June 15, 2026
In short, the non-Ontario provinces are claiming that they see their local players being nudged by Ontario-licensed brands toward offshore sites. And so as Ontario seeks international iGaming liquidity, and as Canadian politicians crave unity in turbulent times, some provincial lotteries want Ontario stopped in its tracks because of the alleged track record of its private iGaming market.
The matter is now before the Supreme Court of Canada. That's a sign of how important this gambling-related case has become. Time will tell what Canada's highest court makes of all this.
In the meantime, federal lawmakers are taking more of an interest in gambling as well, particularly with an eye toward advertising, which could perhaps tamp down the interprovincial irritation. More private members’ legislation is percolating in Ottawa, but whether it ever becomes law remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the federal government has bigger fish to fry, such as dealing with the 1,000-pound tuna that is the American government.
Still, Bill S-211, which proposes to put in place a national framework for sports betting ads, has already passed the appointed Senate and seems well-positioned to pass the elected House of Commons. However, the bill may create new conflicts, as politicians in Quebec are already grumbling about possible federal intrusion on provincial responsibilities.
Good chance of Alberta being the only jurisdiction in North America to authorize new forms of online gambling this year (not counting Missouri, that happened in 2024):
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) May 8, 2025
Alberta iGaming, Sports Betting Bill Passed By Legislature https://t.co/XJ6D9TgtAM @Covers
So, did federal lawmakers foresee all of these issues back in 2021? Their comments in the years that have followed suggest otherwise.
“We have the privilege of sober second thought,” said Ontario Sen. Marty Deacon, the sponsor of the sports betting ad legislation, during a 2024 hearing. “We have the opportunity to fix this.”
Now, not everybody agrees there needs to be a “fix,” or at least not the fix some politicians would like. Some people think the provinces are handling it just fine, but wish more would go the Alberta and Ontario route. Amid all the debate that may (and perhaps should) come, it's probably worth bearing in mind that there is an appetite for sports betting in Canada. That demand will be met somehow.
This is because the “grey and dark corners” mentioned by Cotter in 2021 still exist. In Alberta, for example, the provincial government, citing recent survey data, says an estimated 70% of all online gambling in the province happens with operators that are based offshore or outside its borders, via entities that pay no tax and heed no local regulation. You can quibble with the methodology and estimates, but if you asked an Alberta sports bettor right now who they're gambling with, it probably isn't with the province's only authorized platform, Play Alberta.
Plus ça change
Let's zoom out, because history shows us that we aren't really having a new debate. It's just an updated one, about how to give some people what they want, safely and thoughtfully, without undermining the faith and trust of everyone else.
And Canada's approach toward gambling has always tried to reflect the public's thinking. What began as a blanket ban starting in the 1890s has been tweaked over more than a century to legalize wagering on horse racing, lotteries, casinos, and sports betting.
There was a gradual modernization, a growing acceptance and understanding that prohibition, while appropriate for some, was perhaps impractical and impossible to enforce for all. Similar debates have been had regarding liquor and cannabis in Canada.
So we should argue about the right approach to legalized sports betting all day long, to gauge where we're at as Canadians. It's our way. And this week it's also worth noting the importance of C-218, a bill that was supposed to be the start of a conversation and not the end.
