Single-Event Sports Betting in Canada After Bill C-218

An ice hockey player carrying the puck up the ice — Photo: U.S. Air Force Academy -- (U.S. Air Force photo/Trevor Cokley), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Since 27 August 2021, a province can offer a bet on the result of a single game. Before that date, paragraph 207(4)(b) of the Criminal Code kept bets on "a single sport event or athletic contest" outside the lottery schemes a province was allowed to run, so provincial sportsbooks could sell only multi-game parlays. Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, rewrote that paragraph. It did not open sports betting to private businesses on their own account, it did not touch the bookmaking offences, and it deliberately left horse racing under its separate federal system.

What follows is a reading of the statute and of the official record of the bill. It is general information, not legal advice.

The old parlay rule in section 207(4)(b)

Section 207 is the provision that lets provinces run gambling at all. Paragraph 207(1)(a) allows "the government of a province, either alone or in conjunction with the government of another province" to conduct and manage a lottery scheme in that province under its own law. Subsection 207(4) then defines "lottery scheme" broadly, as any game or scheme described in paragraphs 206(1)(a) to (g), and lists what is not included.

Before 2021, one item on that excluded list was betting on "any race or fight, or on a single sport event or athletic contest", the wording quoted by the law firm Blakes in its bulletin on the bill. A bet on one hockey game was therefore not a lottery scheme, and a province had no authority under section 207 to take it. A ticket that combined several games was treated differently. As Blakes put it, "certain forms of sports betting, such as parlay betting, have been legal in Canada for decades," while single-event betting stayed restricted.

The practical result was the provincial parlay card: pick the outcomes of several games, and win only if every pick is right. Anyone who wanted a straight bet on one match had nowhere lawful to place it in Canada.

How Bill C-218 became law

C-218 was not a government bill. It was a private member's bill sponsored by Kevin Waugh, the member for Saskatoon—Grasswood, and was reinstated in the second session of the 43rd Parliament on 23 September 2020. The parliamentary record on LEGISinfo shows these steps:

17 February 2021: second reading in the House of Commons and referral to committee, carried 303 to 15.
26 March 2021: committee report presented, with an amendment.
22 April 2021: report stage concurrence and third reading in the House.
22 June 2021: third reading in the Senate, without amendment.
29 June 2021: royal assent, as Statutes of Canada 2021, chapter 20.

Royal assent did not switch the change on. The bill was to come into force on a date fixed by order of the Governor in Council, and Blakes noted at the Senate stage that the date "remains to be determined." On 12 August 2021 the federal government announced the date: 27 August 2021. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) repeated it the next day.

What the amendment actually changed

The historical notes for section 207 on the Justice Laws Website list the 2021 change as "2021, c. 20, s. 2". Paragraph 207(4)(b) now excludes from "lottery scheme" only "bookmaking, pool selling or the making or recording of bets, including bets made through the agency of a pool or pari-mutuel system, on any horse-race".

Question	Before 27 August 2021	From 27 August 2021
Bet on one game, fight or contest	Excluded from "lottery scheme"; no provincial authority	Can be part of a provincial lottery scheme
Parlay on several games	Permitted for provinces	Still permitted
Bookmaking or bets on a horse-race	Excluded from "lottery scheme"	Still excluded
Who may conduct and manage	A province, or a body it licenses under section 207	Unchanged

The mechanism is subtle. The amendment did not create a right to bet. It narrowed an exclusion, so single-event sports bets fell back inside the general definition of lottery scheme, and paragraph 207(1)(a) then let provinces offer them. Everything that depends on section 207 (provincial conduct and management, licensing of charities and other bodies, the agreements between provinces) applies to single-event betting in the same way it applies to slot machines or lottery tickets.

Why horse racing was left out

The surviving words of paragraph 207(4)(b) are aimed at horse racing alone. Bets on a horse-race, whether by bookmaking or through a pool, still cannot be offered as a provincial lottery scheme. The 2021 amendment rewrote the paragraph around that one subject instead of repealing it.

That federal regime lives in section 204. Subsection 204(1)(c) exempts from the betting offences pari-mutuel bets on running, trotting or pacing horse-races, made on the race-course of an association, under a system supervised by an officer appointed by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Racetracks and the people who bet with them work inside that framework. A province's sportsbook cannot set its own fixed odds on a horse-race under section 207, because that betting is not a lottery scheme at all.

What the provinces did with it

Once the date was set, single-event betting became a matter for each province. Blakes summarized the plans announced in August 2021:

British Columbia: the BC Lottery Corporation planned online single-event betting on PlayNow, with land-based expansion not yet announced.
Alberta: Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis planned land-based single-event betting and options on Play Alberta, after consultation.
Atlantic provinces: the Atlantic Lottery Corporation expected a similar online rollout, subject to approval by each province's regulator.
Ontario: the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation was to work with land-based operators, while the AGCO developed standards for online sports and event betting.

Ontario went further than the others by building a competitive online market. On 28 July 2021 the AGCO released a discussion paper and draft standards for sports, esports, novelty, betting exchange and fantasy products. The AGCO's summary says the draft would require operators to watch for questionable wagering, bar insiders such as coaches, athletes and referees from betting on certain events, and permit only event offerings that meet acceptable criteria.

The market itself opened on 4 April 2022. iGaming Ontario's launch notice said players could now "place sports bets on sites offered by igaming companies" that were registered by the AGCO and had signed an Operating Agreement with iGaming Ontario. Thirteen operator brands were live across 17 sites that day. The structure keeps section 207 intact: the private brands operate under an agreement with a provincial agency rather than on their own authority. Our guide to gambling licences explains how registration differs from offshore licensing.

What is still prohibited

C-218 changed one exclusion in section 207. It did not amend section 202, which still makes it an indictable offence to engage in "book-making or pool-selling", to record or register bets, to keep a place for that purpose, or to publish "any offer, invitation or inducement to bet". Those offences apply to anyone who is not protected by section 204 or 207.

Private bookmaking. Taking single-game bets as a business, without provincial authority, remains a section 202 offence. The 2021 amendment helps only lottery schemes conducted and managed under section 207.
Fixed-odds horse racing by a province. Still excluded from "lottery scheme" by the current paragraph 207(4)(b).
Betting outside the provincial framework. A site that is neither run by a province nor operating under a provincial arrangement gains nothing from C-218.

Some things were never prohibited and stay that way. Paragraph 204(1)(b) exempts private bets between individuals who are not engaged in the business of betting, so a wager between friends on a playoff game sits outside sections 201 and 202 as it did before.

Reading a sportsbook offer in this light

Because single-event betting reaches the public only through section 207, the first question about any sportsbook is who is conducting and managing it. In most provinces the answer is the provincial lottery corporation, which is why single-game markets appear on the same platforms that sell provincial lotteries. In Ontario, the answer can also be a private brand registered by the AGCO and contracted to iGaming Ontario. Our overview of gambling regulation in Canada sets out each province's model, and the page on online casinos covers the same distinction for casino games.

None of this changes the odds. A single-game bet has fewer ways to lose than a five-leg parlay, but the price still includes the operator's margin, and a legal market is not a promise of any outcome.

Real-money gambling in Canada is for adults: 19 and over in most provinces, 18 and over in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. This article is general information about the law, not legal advice. If betting on sports has stopped being entertainment, our responsible gaming page lists support services by province.

Questions readers ask

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

Bill C-218 received royal assent on 29 June 2021 and came into force on 27 August 2021, the date fixed by the federal government. From then on, provinces could include single-game bets in the lottery schemes they conduct and manage.

What did the old rule in section 207(4)(b) say?

It excluded from the definition of lottery scheme bets on any race or fight, or on a single sport event or athletic contest. Provinces could therefore offer multi-game parlays but not a bet on one game.

Can private companies now run sportsbooks in Canada?

Not on their own authority. Single-event betting is lawful as part of a provincial lottery scheme under section 207; in Ontario, private brands take part after AGCO registration and an Operating Agreement with iGaming Ontario.

Why can't a provincial sportsbook offer fixed odds on horse races?

The amended paragraph 207(4)(b) still excludes bookmaking and bets on any horse-race from the definition of lottery scheme. Horse-race betting stays under the federal pari-mutuel regime in section 204.

Is a bet between friends on a game illegal?

Paragraph 204(1)(b) exempts private bets between individuals who are not engaged in the business of betting, and Bill C-218 did not change that.