Elys Game Technology In Support Of Canadian Sports Betting Bill

Canadians wager an estimated $4 billion a year on sporting events using unregulated sportsbooks.
The Canadian Federal Government is open to hearing legislation that would make single-game sports betting legal in Canada.
Elys Game Technology came out with a statement in support of any legislation that would make gambling on single-game sports legal for Canadians.

OTTAWA – November has seen an interest in discussions for sports betting legalization in Canada and Elys Game Technology has come forward to speak in favor of any legislation that would make the activity legal for Canadians.

At the beginning of the month, Paul Burns, the President, and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) said that legalizing gambling on sporting events would help Canada a great deal in generating funds to relieve some of the financial burden caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic.

As it stands, the country wagers $4 billion annually on sports through the use of outside sources. That would equate to a tremendous amount of revenue for the general economy that has been lost to Canada without any laws in place for a regulated market.

Elys’ Support Of Canadian Sports Betting

The legislation being proposed in Canada’s Federal Government would amend the current criminal code to allow for single event wagering on sports matchups. Should Bill C-218- The Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act pass or Bill C-13, then Canadian sports betting laws could mirror those of the United States as they’d vary by province like they vary by state in the US.

Each of these pieces of legislation would no longer refer to gambling on sports as a criminal act and make the pastime eligible for provinces to vote on whether or not they’d like to have a legalized sports betting market in their part of Canada.

This is similar to how states in the US differ in their stance on sports wagering with each state having their own individualized structures for the industry.

Elys, a gaming technology company specializing in betting on sports and interactive wagers is behind this idea. When they heard of the Canadian Federal Government’s plans to consider legalizing the sports gaming industry, they spoke in favor of the idea.

“We commend Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General for introducing this important legislation in support of single-event sports betting,” said Mike Ciavarella, Chairman, and CEO of Elys Game Technology, Corp. “We believe there is strong bipartisan support for this bill and, if passed, would have a very positive impact for both Elys, given our strong leadership in the space, as well as the overall industry, which has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimate that approximately CDN$80 Billion is wagered on sports each year in Canada. With our established relationship foothold in Canada, sportsbook experience, and cutting-edge Elys betting technology, we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to expand our business across the provinces.”

What Would Canada Allow For Sports Betting?

Presently, the proposals would make sports betting legal at a province-to-province level. Both retail and mobile/online sportsbooks are included within these documents to be offered.

Outside of that, not much else has been disclosed as the more detailed pieces of information would come later should it become legal for provinces to decide on the activity for themselves.

Elys is just one in a slew of organizations that want to see legal sports betting for single games open up in Canada.

With the amount of support and the need for more money because of COVID-19, policymakers in the country could give Canadians legal local sportsbooks by late 2021 or early 2022 should they see the pastime favorably as so many others in Canada do.

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Christina Monroe

Christina has been writing for as long as she can remember and does dedicated research on the newly regulated sports betting market. She comes from a family of sports lovers that engage in friendly bets from time to time. During the winter months, you can find Christina baking cookies and beating the entire staff at Mario Kart…the N64 version of course.