Canada legalizes single-game sports betting, opening up billion-dollar market

A very important matter to Canadians. Much more important than all the other things that will die if Parliament is dissolved.

https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/BillsBefo ... Language=E

Boring. I bet Trudeau wins.

Yeah he probably will. Silly me thinking that we should worry about the pandemic and not spend millions on an election

Boring. I bet Trudeau wins.

Well, he will be getting some of that sweet sweet tax revenue into the coffers.

Never screw with a governments revenue stream.

An election plus single sport betting... I must be dreaming!

So will this be comparable to the legalization of weed? A way to get everyone to put their money into the government's hands rather than the "black market"? I'm sure illegal gambling will still happen just as some people have continued to go their buddy rather than a government run weed store.

I dunno about that. I've never seen a car parked in front of or anyone come out of the weed store, but there's a day long stream of people visiting the kids across the street for five minutes at a time....

I bet it will.

I'd put money on it.

Just getting those out of the way.

The black market has the upper hand when it comes to single game sports betting. Both bookies legal and illegal charge 10% vig to place the bets. As long as the bets come in evenly on both sides, the house always wins. The black market bookie does not report your winnings to the government for tax purposes, so they will continue to hold the edge when it comes to single game sports betting.

Parlay cards (multiple game sports betting) are another matter altogether. The legal sports books in Nevada establish the point spreads for all sports betting. These handicappers are pros, and they are scary good at what they do. Most times you would swear they have a crystal ball they are that good. The illegal bookies will use the Vegas lines to print up their own parlay cards. They will use the same point spreads but the payouts for hitting will be much worse than what you would get if you were to bet through a legal Nevada sports book. The shitty payouts are the vig that the illegal bookies charge (and get away with) because there is very little legal sports betting in North America. Also the illegal bookie has to kick a percentage of his money up to whatever organised crime syndicate controls the area that he happens to be operating in. Squeezing illegal bookies makes up a large part of the revenue stream for organized crime in North America. If the bookie does not like it, what is he going to do? Call the cops? Lots of people get the bright idea to make some extra money printing up parlay cards. Its all fun and games until Kevin Weeks shows up at your door with an overdue bill demanding payment.

So to summarize go with the illegal bookie for single team sports bets, and get a friend living in Nevada to place your parlay bets for you.

Boring. I bet Trudeau wins.

Well, he will be getting some of that sweet sweet tax revenue into the coffers.

Never screw with a governments revenue stream.

I don't think the feds get any gambling income, just the provinces, so this shouldn't be that big a deal to Trudeau. And let's face it, even if this generated $10 billion/year for Alberta, Kenney would still be antagonistic towards any Liberal government.