North America Opening Up a Huge Potential Revenue Stream

North America Opening Up a Huge Potential Revenue Stream

The federal government of Canada has just made it legal to gamble on sporting events, giving provinces the go ahead to allow legislation for betting on events. These new measures give a sense of legitimacy to an industry that Canadians were already spending millions of dollars in every single year.

This does not mean that gambling legislation will be the same across Canada – or that sports betting is suddenly perfectly legal. Instead, what it means is that the federal government is allowing provinces to decide for themselves how they would like to legislate for gambling; essentially there is no longer a blanket ban on sports betting across Canada. The law, called Bill C-218 comes into force on August 27^th and it will be interesting to see how each province responds to their newfound freedom when it comes to betting legislation.

A Big Step for Canadians

Even though sports betting is not yet legal in most Canadian provinces, it is still an incredibly popular pastime. The federal government reported that Canadian citizens spend roughly $10 billion on betting on single sport events. This all takes place illegally in the black market economy and much of it is run by organized crime.

As a result, all of the profits are also directed right back to criminal groups. The intention of Bill C-218 is to allow provinces to decide for themselves how to best redirect that money away from organized crime and instead allow the province to regulate the industry, control the money, and cut down on the power of criminal gangs.

There are currently six provinces which allow parlay betting through specific provincial agencies. To place a bet, gamblers must bet on the outcome of a minimum of three different sporting events and they must correctly predict the outcome of all three events in order for the bet to be considered successful.

Obviously these are not incredibly favorable conditions for gamblers and many of them are likely to opt for black market channels instead which are more flexible or through so called grey laws which allow Canadians to gamble through companies which are based internationally, not in Canada.

Other Forms of Gambling in Canada

Although sports betting is just starting to become a legal industry in Canada, gambling both online and in person has been popular in Canada for a number of years. The online casino industry is growing in popularity as more and more people give digital gambling a try for the first time. The best Canadian online casino options give gamblers a wide range of different types of games, competitive bonuses, and secure platforms to play on.

Gambling and sports betting does is not just for gamblers and gambling companies however. The revenue from gambling and sports betting is taxed very heavily and the tax revenue is, naturally, collected by the state to fund infrastructure projects, healthcare, education, and other state costs.

The global health crisis which occurred over the last year and a half put a major strain on the economics of local and federal governments around the world and gambling revenue has become a major potential source of tax revenue.

Online Betting and Gambling South of the Border

The move in Canada to introduce more liberal gambling regulations mirrors what has been happening south of the border in the United States for a number of years. The United States was long considered fairly tough on gambling and only certain geographic areas allowed for legal gambling. The last few years have seen a massive shift in American approaches to gambling in nearly every state.

States are beginning to legalize gambling and sports betting both in person and online in part because of the massive opportunities to tax the winnings. The online betting and gambling industry has become immensely popular across America and state governments will soon be able to profit from the resulting tax revenue.

The Future for Online Gambling and Sports Betting

Although no one knows what the future holds, things are looking good for the online gambling and sports betting industry. Federal and state governments around the world are starting to relax their gambling legislation and reconsider how gambling and betting could actually benefit the economy.

As demand rises for online casinos and betting platforms, the online gambling industry is also growing. There are now hundreds of different online casinos for gamblers to choose from depending on their preferences for registration bonuses, games available, and licensing. As demand and supply continue to grow and increase, it is possible that the industry could surpass other entertainment sectors fairly quickly and dominate the market.