Feds weigh lifting ban on sports betting in casinos
Janice Tibbetts
Canwest News Service
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says he is receptive to a proposal to lift a criminal ban on betting on individual ...sporting events at the nation's gambling casinos.
The government has been under pressure in recent months from casinos and the province of Ontario to reverse the Criminal Code prohibition to help the dwindling fortunes of gaming establishments, particularly those that are near the Canada-U.S. border and are drawing fewer American gamblers.
"I have encouraged provinces that . . . we have in the past responded to requests to change the laws as they relate to betting," Nicholson said in an interview. "If they want to engage stakeholders, then I am prepared to listen."
Nicholson is the MP for Niagara Falls, Ont., home of two casinos that could benefit from a change in the law.
The justice minister, however, suggested there would have to be consensus among provinces on the issue "because it would affect all of them, of course."
Nicholson also cautioned that allowing sports betting would take a backseat to his current priorities, which include getting tougher on drug dealers and young people in trouble with the law.
Some Canadian casinos are already equipped with sportsbooks, which are lounges equipped with giant TV screens and scoreboards. But gambling is limited to government-run lottery schemes that permit betting on groups of sports, rather than one individual match.
The Criminal Code outlaws bookmaking (accepting wagers), a crime that carries a maximum two-year sentence. The code contains a broad range of exceptions, including government-run sports lotteries such as Pro-Line, Sports Action and Sports Select. There is no exemption for betting on any single sporting event or athletic contest.  |