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Regulated online gambling providers in Ontario will be able to offer services to those outside of Canada, setting a new legal precedent.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on November 12 that regulated online gambling sites can legally allow Canadian users to play with those outside of Canada. The decision faced heavy opposition from other provinces throughout Canada, but opens the door for those in Ontario to take part in community-based games, such as online poker and fantasy sports, that engage with those outside of Canada.
The vote went four to one, with four judges ruling in support and one voting against. Chief Justice Michael Tulloch wrote that “legal online gaming and sports betting would remain lawful under the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, if its users were permitted to participate in games and betting involving individuals outside of Canada.”
What’s next for Ontario gambling providers?
Setting out the situation in law is only the first step for this new gaming precedence. How it works in practice remains to be seen, with the door now open for Ontario gaming providers to expand their userbase.
The decision could also still face an appeal, which would send the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which is entirely possible given the opposition from elsewhere in the country. Specifically, lottery and gaming agencies in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the four Atlantic provinces all lodged concerns on the record, forming the Canadian Lottery Coalition.
“The Proposed Interveners (meaning the Coalition) have suffered and continue to suffer direct harm from illegal online gambling,” reads the document. “Most significantly, when Canadians engage in online gambling on platforms hosted by illegal operators, they unwittingly divert significant sums of money to private operators that would otherwise have gone to support public programs.”
The document goes on to lay out concerns around loss of revenue, exposing Canadian gamers to gambling-related harm, and the proliferation of unregulated ads on TV and social media.
ReadWrite has contacted the Ministry of the Attorney General for comment.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0
