Ontario Pushes Online Gambling, Revives Sports Betting
- The Ontario Conservative government had its yearly budget delivery and announced major losses due to COVID-19.
- The losses have motivated the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corp (OLG) to push forth competitive online gambling initiatives.
- Canadian lawmakers have also revived a previously failed sports betting bill.
ONTARIO, Canada – Sports bettors and gamblers alike in Ontario may soon be adding new gaming options as the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corp (OLG) has officially announced plans to launch online gambling and revived their failed sports betting bill.
Following the Ontario Conservative government’s year budget report, it was revealed that the effects of COVID-19 have cost the province to lose millions.
Due to the shutdowns of land-based casinos, the gambling market in Ontario suffered drastically, leading to a motivated approach for legal online gambling.
OLG Pushes Online Gambling
The lack of competitive legal online casino’s came back to haunt the Limestone City as major losses were suffered due to COVID-19 closers.
The 2020-21 Q1 budget delivery revealed the losses suffered. The OLG monopoly collected C$2.3 billion in the last fiscal year, this dropped to C$200 million in 2020.
In addition, the OLG was granted C$500 million as a lifeline by the province. This has led to Ontario’s decision to create a more competitive online gambling operation.
Right now, the only online casino in Ontario is the OLG’s PlayOLG. At the budget report, the province declared all new legislation that would allow the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario 9AGCO) the authority to run iGaming operations.
The belief is that the added competition for online gambling will increase the potential revenue for the gambling market in Ontario altogether.
Legal Sport Betting
The other element presented in the budget meeting was the revival of the legal sports betting bill. As sports betting is a federal law in Canada, Ontario bettors are only able to partake in three-game parlay betting.
Ontario revealed a plan to revive bill C-218, better known as the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act that would allow for single-game wagers at sportsbooks.
There have been several attempts to bring a single game or single event wagering to the Canadian legislation, but they have all been failures. Ontario believes with the major losses the country suffered, the bill could pass this time around.
COVID-19 has affected the gambling market on a global scale, many new innovations are expected as countries, states, and provinces work to recoup the losses.