Coalition Wants to Push Offshore Sportsbooks Out of Canada

A coalition of regulated online gambling websites in Canada are looking to rid the nation of offshore companies still taking bets there.

Canada has previously taken a relaxed stance when it comes to unregulated sites accepting bets from those in the country.

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The Canadian Lottery Coalition, which was formed in 2022, is hopeful for a court ruling to help crack down on gambling across several provinces.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries is seeking an injunction to specifically block Bodog from operating or advertising in the province.  Bodog began operations out of Vancouver in 2002 but for many years excluded Canadians from betting there.  Instead their Vancouver office served as a marketing headquarters.  Since that time, Bodog and its sister site Bovada have evolved into one of the world's most successful internet gambling websites.

The Crown corporation alleges in an application filed with the Manitoba Court of King's Bench last week that the website bodog.eu and its sister "free play" site, bodog.net, are breaking the law by offering their services in Manitoba, where Liquor & Lotteries has sole authority over gambling.

"Bodog's illegal activities are diverting customers in Manitoba away from MBLL's legitimate operations," it said, referencing PlayNow.com, its online gaming platform. "Significant revenue that would otherwise be generated by MBLL has been diverted to Bodog."

The Crown corporation said in an email it filed the injunction on behalf of the Canadian Lottery Coalition, an advocacy group whose membership is made up of provincial gaming corporations in B.C., Saskatchewan, Quebec, Atlantic Canada and Manitoba.

"There's really two particular goals here," head of the Coalition, Will Hill, said. "One, securing an injunction against an illegal operator within Manitoba, but two, validating the coalition's general position on illegal gambling more broadly."

Hill is hopeful the Coalition can use  a court interpretation to reinforce similar efforts to crack down on unregulated gambling sites across its members' jurisdictions.

"They're forced to deal with hundreds of illegal operators," he said, complicating "what is a really noble pursuit, quite frankly. The provincial lottery corporations are set up to return 100 per cent of their proceeds to their provinces to benefit provincial priorities.

Prior to regulation, Canada has long served as a worldwide hub for licensing of online gambling sites via the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, just outside of Montreal.  Sports Interaction became the first online sportsbook ever to be licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.  Today, a few dozen gaming websites, including the enormously successful GGPoker, hold licenses here.

Sports Interaction is operated by Mohawk Online, which is owned by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and is still regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in the province of Quebec.