FreedomAtStake's Blog

Canada wants sportsbooks... everywhere

By FreedomAtStake | View all Posts
Posted Thursday, July 03, 2008 10:40 AM   4 comments
The Toronto Star is rapidly becoming my favorite Canadian news source.

Today, the Star published a couple of complimentary stories, both of which hammer out the idea that the casino industry in Ontario is faltering along with the American economy, and it needs the boost of interest that would come from having actual sportsbooks on the premises.

All I can say is, "Bravo, Toronto Star! You nailed it."

I'll start with the less-direct story by business reporter Tony Wong, which outlines the struggles of the casinos in Windsor and Niagara Falls, both of which have traditionally counted heavily on Americans crossing the border to spend a day gambling. From the stats in the article, it looks like cross-border traffic is down about two-thirds since 2001.

On its own, this is an excellent business article. It lays out the facts, and let's the reader make their opinion.

But what makes it even better is the companion piece, titled Casinos eye sports betting, written by Robert Benzie and Richard Brennan. This story drops the bomb.

This story outlines how Ontario and the Canadian federal government are actively considering the possibility of changing the laws in Canada to pave the way for enhanced sports gambling.

First, a little background...

Up till now, Canada has allowed legalized sports gambling through provincial lotteries. These games are, frankly, pretty lame and offer the worst odds around.

Not only do they force people to only bet on  parlays, which is bad enough, but they combine that with exorbitant odds as well. I recently browsed a provincial website and calculated the per-game odds at somewhere around -155. Those ain't the 10 or 20 cent lines that traditional sports gamblers are used to getting.

The proposed law change would allow bets on single events, which would no longer allow the lottery corporations to hide their ridiculous odds. Plus, if sportsbooks started popping up in casinos, they would have to offer odds comparable to the norm - especially if they are courting American gamblers - which would create a competitive situation where the lotteries would have to compete with the brick-and-mortar locations.

So that's another reason for Canadian bettors to be happy. If and when this law gets passed, the lottery corporations will have to get in line and start offering real odds that don't gouge their users.

The story also notes how this appears to be a bi-partisan effort. The right-minded ruling Conservative party are the ones actually driving this bus, but there appears to be some support even from the far-left leaning NDP party.

Sweet!

Finally, I love how this situation puts additional pressure on America to change it's stance on sports gambling.

Let's face it, one of the driving factors for the recent proliferation of casinos in America over the last 15 years is the fact that border states were getting tired of watching money flow across the border to the Canadian border casinos. If Canada starts allowing legal sports gambling, that flow is going to begin again, trust me.

Times are a-changing.
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libra55 says:
07/03/08 01:56PM
Great article about the T.O. Star coverages. Sent an email to my member of Parliament to find out more info. Canada will get an influx of Americans tourists and the benefits of that. Canadian sportsbettors will no longer feel like pariahs in their own country and will finally be getting good to great odds on our action. The Canadian Mafia must crying in their coffees this morning if this passes.
HeadOverHeart says:
07/03/08 04:00PM
If this gets through, I will definitely be coming over more often to Windsor. I'll give my money to Canada and the U.S. can bite me. Stupid shits...
rubberband-man says:
07/06/08 09:52AM
it would be awsome and cheaper for americans to travel there instead of to las vegas for sports betting they would make a fortune and probably force it to be legal in the us other casinos too
jopiscopo says:
08/07/08 01:26PM
We (loosely...very loosely) Americans are idiots to pass up the opportunity in most states to benefit from revenues from state lotteries. I probably wouldn't ever buy tickets but I would love the chance here in Utah to forego my state income tax. The religous base would never allow it to happen. Poor US!!! There are not enough states that hold these lotteries.

If I were in charge of these lotteries I'd change a few things about them. I would decrease the large payouts so that multiple winners could win $200,000 instead of one winning $300 million. I believe more tickets would be sold if the odds of winning were exponentially increased. Status quo: Im counting on getting sruck by lightning first.

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User: Freedom@Stake
Joined: July 1995
Location: Ireland
Team: Florida State Seminoles
Occupation: Media

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