The Canadian gaming industry is losing billions of dollars in sports betting revenue to the black market each year due to federal prohibitions — and a recent legalization push in the U.S. could further threaten the viability of casinos in this country, proponents say.
Casino boosters in Canada, including NDP MP Brian Masse, are hoping the recent legalization of single-event sports betting in U.S. border states like Michigan and New York will force the Liberal government to act now to save casino jobs — especially at places like Caesars Windsor and the Niagara Falls-based Fallsview, which depend on a steady stream of U.S. gamblers to stay afloat.
A years-long effort to legalize single-event sports betting — betting on a single football game, for example — stalled when the federal Liberal government voted against legislation to allow this sort of gambling in Canada.
Voting against the legislation in 2016, the government cited major sports leagues’ claims that single-event betting might lead to match-fixing. But that opposition has been blunted since sports leagues, including the NBA and NHL, have partnered with U.S.-based casino operators like MGM Resorts to bolster sports betting stateside.
The recent legalization of single-event sports betting in U.S. border states like Michigan and New York threatens Canadian casinos like Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ont., where the practice is illegal. The black market and offshore sports betting market is valued at $14 billion a year, according to the Canadian Gaming Association. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Masse, who introduced a private member’s bill to dismantle the prohibition, said the Liberal government should take up the issue when the House of Commons returns next week. The government only needs to drop one sentence from the Criminal Code to end the prohibition — a change Masse said could be made through legislation or an order-in-council from cabinet.
“We are in a lose-lose position right now. We would have been ahead of the curve if we had actually defined our own destiny, but instead U.S. courts, as expected, moved ahead and left us behind. The consequences for Canada are very high,” Masse told CBC News.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned decades-old federal limits on sports betting in states other than Nevada. The result has been a push by state lawmakers — notably in New Jersey, New York and Michigan — to legalize single-game bets at casinos, racetracks and online.
Single-event legalization has unleashed a revenue boom for state coffers already; New Jersey casinos collected $4.5 billion in revenue last year alone.
This June 28, 2019 photo shows one of the betting boards at the sports book in the Borgata casino in Atlantic City N.J. (Wayne Parry/AP Photo)
Sports bettors in Canada are limited to “parlay” bets — meaning they have to place bets on more than one game, and pick the winning team in each contest, to see any sort of windfall. The odds of a winning bet are low. Canadians gamble roughly $500 million a year in parlay bets through lottery games like Pro-Line.
“Capital investments in Canada are being delayed, jobs are being lost, customers are going to be lost for the long-term. We inherit all the problems of sports gambling, but we don’t get any of the benefits or the supports to deal with the situation,” Masse said.
Canada’s gaming industry employs about 180,000 people — many more than the automotive manufacturing sector.
Masse said Windsor-area Liberal candidates in the last election promised voters a re-elected Trudeau government would do away with the Criminal Code prohibition to help those casinos compete, but the Prime Minister’s Office has since shied away from the issue.
Not an ‘immediate priority’: minister says
In a statement, Justice Minister David Lametti’s spokesperson said gambling reforms are simply not “immediate priorities.”
“Minister Lametti was honoured to receive his mandate letter in December, which outlines the immediate priorities he has been tasked with. Reforms to gambling laws are not included as part of these immediate priorities,” Rachel Rappaport said.
“Our government is aware of the recent changes to the legal frameworks for legalized gambling in the United States, which have produced consequences on both sides of the border. We continue to monitor the situation, as well as meet with and hear from individuals and groups that have been affected.”
Masse said the government’s stance betrays the voters in places like Windsor and Niagara Falls who trusted the Liberals when they said they’d take action.
“It’s very much a paternalistic approach by the federal government, denying Ontario, Quebec and B.C. and others. The message is basically, ‘Canadians can go to the internet or the black market, instead of a regulated, open market where provinces can make their own decisions,'” Masse said.
“It’s a bizarre position and I’m quite shocked that they’ve been able to skate on this so long.”
One Bad Boy, second from right, ridden by jockey Flavien Prat, rides in the pack on his way to win the 2019 Queen’s Plate at Woodbine Racetrack, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
An estimated $14 billion in annual sports betting — $10 billion through the black market through bookies and $4 billion more through off-shore online outlets, according to figures from the Canadian Gaming Association — is wagered by Canadians through illegal channels, beyond the regulatory control of the government. The biggest draw of these other outlets is the fact that they allow bettors to gamble on just one game.
Paul Burns is the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, the lobby group that represents casino interests.
Burns said the Liberal government should simply adopt the approach it took to the legalization of cannabis. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed changes to drug laws as a way to take profits out of the hands of criminals and legitimize a practice dominated by illegal sellers. Burns said the same standard should apply to sports betting.
“This would take money out of the hands of bad guys and give real benefit to the hundreds of gaming communities across the country,” Burns said.
“‘This issue isn’t going away. It’s getting worse. We’re saying to the federal government, ‘Don’t put us in a position where we have one arm tied behind our backs.’ These are great, good-paying jobs and they’re threatened. And yet, there’s a very simple solution.”
Federal and provincial governments don’t get a cut of revenues from gaming through these illegal channels. For the province of Ontario, for example, that means an estimated $400 million a year in lost profit, said Jim Lawson, head of Woodbine Entertainment, the group that runs the main horse racetrack in Toronto.
“So much money is moving offshore and offshore now includes sports wagering in the U.S. We’re really starting to feel the pressure — it’s having a dramatic impact,” Lawson told CBC News.
“There’s a huge revenue miss at a time when government is trying to keep up with health care and education costs. And when I say a revenue miss, we’re in the hundreds of millions of dollars range.”
Lawson said Woodbine Entertainment employs 15,000 people in Ontario directly or indirectly, but the horse racing industry is facing “extreme challenges” due to demographic shifts and robust competition from the U.S.
He said flowing some of the sports betting through racetracks and off-track betting shops would help stabilize an industry crucial to rural communities.
“We should be allowed to participate rather than it all going into foreign pockets and for-profit offshore operators,” Lawson said, adding that leaving horse tracks out of the equation would “decimate” racing.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
