Betting on sporting events is perfectly legal in Canada. Most significantly, on April 4, Ontario opened up a new market for sports betting, which increased the province’s overall footprint in the industry. It turns out that wagering on sports has been accessible as a parlay option through provincial lotteries for a few years now.
In August of 2021, however, more robust alternatives will become available to people in Canada. In that same month, Canadian politicians passed Bill C-218, which made changes to the nation’s Criminal Code to permit betting on a single event sports betting in Canada, which led bettors to wager freely and securely. Single-game wagering refers to the form of sports betting that is legal in Las Vegas as well as in many other states in the United States.
The most important thing to keep in mind about the law is that it did not, on its own, make betting on sports legal anywhere in Canada. Comparable to what occurred in 2018 when the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the federal ban on sports betting in the United States, this legislation gives individual provinces the authority to determine for themselves whether or not they will permit sports betting and in what forms.
What does the future hold for betting on sports in Canada?
That is generally determined by each of the provinces individually. At this point, all attention is focused on Ontario because it is the first province to allow commercial sports betting operations within its borders. The province with the most people in it is currently serving as the pilot project for fair sports betting markets across the country.
Others, such as the one in British Columbia, might simply be extensions of the lottery system that is already in place. The government of Alberta has suggested that it is seeking bids for retail sportsbooks, and the government of Saskatchewan has said that they anticipate the launch of online sports betting soon.
Withdrawals and Deposits
As the legalisation of sports betting spreads across the United States, Canada can turn to its neighbours to the south for an example of how regulated single-event betting would operate.
The vast majority of the most popular banking methods are accepted for deposits at American online sportsbooks.
In certain other markets, such as the United Kingdom (UK), your choices for making deposits are more restricted. It is my hope that Canada would follow the lead of the United States and permit sports fans to finance their online sportsbook accounts using common payment methods such as Interac (Visa, Mastercard), credit cards, or PayPal. However, introducing different types of payments such as crypto will attract more customers in the long run since this way of payment is changing the world. When gambling on sports becomes legal in Canada, these are some of the payment methods that we anticipate being available to bettors.
| Deposit Methods | Withdrawal Methods |
| Visa | PayPal |
| Wire Transfer | ACH echeck |
| PayPal | Wire Transfer |
| ACH echeck | Money Order |
| Mastercard | Couriered Check |
Daily Fantasy Sports
At the moment, daily fantasy sports, sometimes known as DFS, are permitted in Canada. In point of fact, both DraftKings and FanDuel already have daily fantasy sports (DFS) operations in Canada. Popular sportsbooks in Canada have a huge advantage over other sportsbooks in Canada because they will be able to capitalise on their enormous user bases for daily fantasy sports when it is possible for private sportsbooks to offer online sports betting.
Horse Racing in Canada
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that horse racing is a significant sport in Canada given the country’s abundance of verdant and expansive outdoor areas. However, the sector that deals in horse racing in Canada was not overly pleased when single-game gambling was permitted since they anticipated that more people would bet on sports other than horse racing online if it were made legal.
Bets Can Be Placed on the Following Sports in Canada
As a result of the recent legalisation of betting on individual sports games, gamblers in Canada now have a wide variety of opportunities to place bets both inside and outside the country.
NHL
We are all aware that hockey is Canada’s most beloved form of recreational activity, and the fact that the country is home to seven National Hockey League clubs attests to the popularity of the sport across the Great White North:
- Montreal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Vancouver Canucks
- Winnipeg Jets
The Maple Leafs and the Habs are two of the Original Six teams in the National Hockey League (NHL), and the fanatical fan bases of both teams are sure to attract a lot of sports betting action.
NBA
The venerable Toronto Raptors are the only active National Basketball Association franchise in Canada at this time.
The Raptors managed to win their first NBA championship in 2019 with Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, and Pascal Siakam at the helm. The Raptors have a fanbase that spans the entire country (especially since the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001), and their success contributed to the growth of this fanbase.
MLB
Since the Montreal Expos ceased operations, the Toronto Blue Jays are now the only current Major League Baseball franchise in the country of Canada.
But what a team they turned out to be. The Toronto Blue Jays have proven on multiple occasions that the city of Toronto is an excellent location for major league baseball teams to call home. The Blue Jays won the World Series in both 1992 and 1993. They even won the East Division championship in 2015, which was the first time they had done so since winning back-to-back championships.
NFL
Regrettably, there are currently no active National Football League clubs located in Canada. Having said that, the Buffalo Bills have a sizable fan base in Ontario due to their close vicinity, and there are a number of other National Football League teams that Canadians follow that are located in close proximity.