The History of Sports Betting in Canada: From Illegal Parlays to Bill C-218

The Story of How Canada's $2-Billion Regulated Betting Industry Was Born

By Kara Hendricks  |  Last updated: March 2026  |  8 min read

For decades, if you wanted to bet a single game in Canada — a Leafs win, a Canadiens collapse, a Monday Night Football touchdown — you had exactly two legal options: a government-run parlay lottery requiring a minimum of two games, or nowhere at all. Meanwhile, an estimated $10 billion a year flowed offshore to grey-market sportsbooks or to local bookmakers. Canada had criminalized what most of its sports fans were quietly doing anyway.

The story of how that changed is a mix of failed Senate votes, league lobbying, a landmark US Supreme Court ruling, and one Conservative backbencher from Saskatchewan who finally got the bill across the finish line.

The Old Regime — The Criminal Code and Parlay Lotteries (Pre-2021)

The legal foundation for the old system was Section 207 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Under Section 207, only lottery corporations operated by provincial governments were permitted to legally offer sports gambling. Private operators — whether domestic or foreign — were legally prohibited from taking single-game bets from Canadians.

The critical detail was the parlay requirement: single-game betting was illegal. Any sports wager had to involve a minimum of two games combined into a parlay. This was enforced not for any particular moral reason but because the legislation, written decades earlier, had been designed to permit lottery-style entertainment rather than sharp, game-specific wagering.

Provincial lottery corporations filled the vacuum with "Sport Select" products. Ontario had Pro-Line. British Columbia had Sports Action. These government products were notorious for their terrible odds — spreads and totals priced so poorly that a recreational bettor had almost no chance of long-term profit. The government was effectively the only game in town, and it had no competition to keep it honest.

The offshore market operated in a legal grey zone. Parliament's own estimates in 2020 put illegal and grey-market wagers at roughly $10 billion per year. Sites like 888sport, bet365, and Bodog operated without Canadian licences but without meaningful enforcement against individual bettors either. Millions of Canadians were already betting legally, by their own understanding, on platforms that their government refused to regulate.

The Failed Attempts — 2012, 2015, 2016

Parliament came close — three times — to fixing the parlay restriction before it finally succeeded.

2012: Bill C-290. Conservative MP Joe Comartin introduced a bill to amend Section 207 and allow single-game sports betting. It passed the House of Commons at third reading with near-unanimous support — a remarkably non-partisan result. It arrived in the Senate and stopped moving. For four years, the bill sat in Senate committee, lobbied against by casino operators who feared competition for their slot machine and table game revenues.

2015: Parliament dissolved for the federal election. Bill C-290 died without Senate action, four years after passing the House. All that work, gone.

2016: Bill C-221. A nearly identical bill was introduced in the new Parliament. It followed a similar path — passed through the House, stalled in the Senate — and died again when Parliament dissolved in 2019.

The pattern was consistent: broad political support in the elected chamber, inexplicable inaction in the unelected one. Critics pointed to casino industry lobbying, provincial government concerns about lost lottery revenues, and a Senate committee culture that prioritized caution over action on anything touching gambling.

The NHL's Role in Pushing for Legalization

By the late 2010s, the professional sports leagues had shifted their position on gambling dramatically. The NHL, historically reticent about anything connecting its sport to wagering — understandable given Pete Rose's lifetime baseball ban and the gambling scandals that shaped 20th-century sports governance — had done a complete 180.

The NHL's argument to Parliament was clear and practical: legal, regulated single-game betting would drive fan engagement, increase viewership of regular-season games, and bring billions of dollars into a transparent, taxable market. The NHL was particularly motivated by regular-season engagement — a perennial challenge in a sport where playoff hockey dominates the narrative. Giving fans a personal stake in a February game between the Jets and the Flames changes the viewing experience entirely.

The catalyst for the leagues' position shift came from the United States. In May 2018, the US Supreme Court struck down PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act), the federal law that had prohibited most states from authorizing sports betting. Within months, states began launching regulated markets. The leagues watched as betting handles drove measurable increases in TV ratings, in-stadium attendance, and merchandise sales. The data was compelling, and Canadian leagues used it in their lobbying.

By 2019 and 2020, the NHL, NFL, NBA, and MLB were all formally advocating for Canadian legalization. This league-level support helped shift the political conversation from "should we do this?" to "how quickly can we do this?"

Bill C-218 — Finally, Victory (2021)

The bill that finally succeeded was introduced by Kevin Waugh, a Conservative MP from Saskatoon-Grasswood, in November 2020. Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, proposed a targeted amendment to Section 207: simply removing the restriction that had made single-game wagering illegal.

The legislative timeline moved with unusual speed:

This time, the Senate moved. The bill received Royal Assent on June 29, 2021, and came into force on August 27, 2021. The parlay restriction was gone.

There was an important caveat, however. The Criminal Code amendment permitted single-event sports betting in principle, but it left the operational framework to the provinces. Private operators still couldn't simply open up shop across Canada — they needed individual provincial regulatory frameworks to operate legally. The ball was now in the provinces' courts.

Ontario's Launch — The Model That Changed Everything (April 2022)

Ontario moved fastest. The province had been preparing its regulatory framework in anticipation of federal legalization, and on April 4, 2022, Ontario launched the first fully competitive, privately-licensed sports betting and iGaming market in Canadian history.

The framework was designed by the AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) with the operational arm called iGaming Ontario (iGO). The model was deliberately open: any qualified operator meeting AGCO standards could apply for a licence. There was no cap on the number of operators.

The market response was immediate. Within the first year, over 30 licensed operators were active in Ontario. Among them were names familiar to Canadians from years of grey-market use: bet365 (which obtained its first-ever North American licence in Ontario), FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, LeoVegas, 888sport, and Caesars Sportsbook. Canadian-born operators also entered the market. The grey-market operators suddenly had a path to legitimacy, and most took it.

The early performance data was striking. Ontario's regulated market generated handle (total wagered) figures that immediately ranked it among the largest regulated betting markets in North America. By early 2026, Ontario's monthly betting handle exceeded $9.5 billion. Responsible gambling tools, age verification, and consumer protections — entirely absent from the offshore grey market — became standard across all licensed platforms.

The Market Today (2026)

Canada's regulated sports betting industry has matured rapidly in the four years since Ontario's launch.

Ontario remains the only province with a fully open private market. Other provinces have moved at different speeds:

• British Columbia: Government-run PlayNow.com expanded to include single-game betting, but private operators are not yet licensed.
• Alberta: Working toward its own private licensing framework, expected to launch in 2026.
• Quebec: Considering options, with Loto-Québec expanding its Mise-o-jeu product and private operator licensing under discussion.
• Other provinces: Largely still relying on government-run Sport Select products, often with suboptimal odds.

National surveys show the impact of legalization on Canadian sports culture. A 2025 Leger survey found that 41% of Canadian sports bettors now wager on NHL games — the league's strategic bet on legalization has paid off. Overall, 19% of Canadian adults reported betting on sports in 2025, up from roughly 8% in 2019. The shift from illegal to regulated has not dramatically increased problem gambling rates — the evidence suggests most of that 19% was already betting offshore, just now doing so with consumer protections in place.

The NHL's investment in the regulated market has deepened. League-level data partnerships with licensed sportsbooks enable official real-time data feeds for in-play betting. Every Canadian NHL franchise now has official sportsbook partners. Broadcasts routinely feature live odds and betting-adjacent statistics. For a sport that once refused to acknowledge gambling existed, the transformation is remarkable.

What Changed for Canadian Hockey Fans

The legal and regulatory history matters, but the fan-level change is what most Canadians actually experienced.

Before legalization, betting a single Leafs game meant either accepting the terrible odds at Pro-Line's two-game parlay minimum, navigating an offshore site with no Canadian consumer protections, or finding a local bookmaker. None of those options were ideal, and two of them carried legal ambiguity.

Now, a Leafs fan in Toronto can open a licensed app, deposit via Interac e-Transfer, place a single-game moneyline bet at competitive odds, watch the game with live in-play betting available throughout, and withdraw winnings the same day. Responsible gambling features — deposit limits, time limits, self-exclusion tools — are mandatory on every licensed platform.

The odds themselves have improved dramatically. Competition between 30+ licensed operators in Ontario means that a bettor can shop lines across multiple platforms and routinely find the best available price. The government parlay product offered margins of 15-20%. Licensed private operators on mainline NHL games typically run 4-5%. The difference, compounded across a season of bets, is substantial.

It took three failed bills, one Senate that wouldn't vote, a US Supreme Court ruling that changed the political calculus, and a decade of patient lobbying from the sports leagues to get here. But for Canadian sports fans who bet, the result was worth the wait.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did single-game sports betting become legal in Canada?

Bill C-218 received Royal Assent on June 29, 2021, and came into force August 27, 2021. Before this, single-event sports betting was prohibited under Section 207 of the Criminal Code. Only government-run parlay lotteries (minimum 2 games) were legal.

What is Bill C-218?

Bill C-218, introduced by Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, amended Canada's Criminal Code to permit single-event sports betting. It passed the House of Commons in May 2021 and came into force in August 2021.

When did Ontario launch regulated sports betting?

Ontario launched its regulated private sports betting market on April 4, 2022, becoming the first Canadian province to allow fully licensed private sportsbooks to operate. Over 30 operators were licensed within the first year.

Were offshore sportsbooks legal in Canada before 2021?

In a legal grey zone. The Criminal Code prohibited Canadian organizations from running sports betting, but it did not explicitly prohibit Canadians from wagering with offshore operators. Many Canadians used sites like bet365, Bodog, and 888sport without legal consequence.

Did the NHL support sports betting legalization in Canada?

Yes. The NHL was one of the strongest advocates for the legalization of single-game sports betting in Canada. The league argued that regulated betting would increase fan engagement and viewership, particularly for regular-season games.