ONTARIO OFFERS NO SET TIME FRAME FOR COMMERCIAL ONLINE SPORTS BETTING

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

When Canada legalized single-game sports betting on Aug. 27, Ontario became the target market for expansion. Legal sports betting throughout Canada has been legal for years with one major caveat.

The only form of sports bet that could be legally placed was a multi-team parlay. Efforts to amend that law were successful in 2021. However, the province-run lottery corporations still control all forms of legal gambling throughout Canada.

Most of the provinces in the country have turned to their existing lottery operations to institute the change in law. As the country’s most populated province, Ontario also moved to allow additional commercial operators. Other changes would bring retail sportsbooks to land-based casinos.

Major players in the legal US market initiated plans to enter the Ontario market. This list includes FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM along with Penn National and PointsBet Canada.

Three months later, the actual time frame to go live in Ontario remains up in the air. The province does offer legal single-game wagers through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The online betting site is operated by ProLine+.

The holdup appears to be a lack of direction from OLG. This entity is responsible for managing land-based gaming in Ontario. Until all the specifics concerning rules and regulations are put into place, new online commercial ventures remain in a holding pattern.

Ontario casinos looking to add retail sportsbooks to their gaming options are also on hold. Without the proper direction from OLG, they cannot move forward at the present time.

Tony Bitonti is a spokesperson for OLG. He mentioned that the corporation continues to work on an implementation strategy. The end result would allow the land-based casinos to offer retail sports betting. This would then pave the way for online operators.

Ontario has become the center of the universe for all of Canada’s sports betting industry. Any changes to the current gaming system in this province would likely trigger changes in other Canadian provinces.

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation had the capability to accept wagers on single games in conjunction with the change in state law. Working through the PlayNow platform, the betting handle for single-game wagers in the first two months totaled $25 million.

Right now, provincial government revenue from legal sports betting is tied to each province’s lottery corporation. The potential increase from moving to a commercial-based system has caught the eye of every Canadian province.

With Ontario taking the lead on the matter, the start-up process could probably be easily duplicated. However, the heavy lifting needed to move forward still needs to be completed. Best guess projections still earmark the first quarter of 2022 for online commercial and casino launch.

Patiently waiting in the wings, the US-based operators involved in the process will make the most of the opportunity. Revenue projections for North America as its owned legal sports betting market make it worth the wait.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab