Comparison of Canadian and U.S. gambling markets

Unlike gambling, sports betting has been legal in the United States for more than 10 years. The story of casino gambling started when the government paid attention to the huge income from gambling in the state of Nevada and realized the amount of money that could be potentially made in other states. After much time spent studying the industry, the Illegal Internet Gambling Act was released in 2006, which banned all online gambling except online sports betting.

The recognition of the fact that sports betting had been delineated from gambling prompted operators to grow their business outside of Nevada. However, another change awaited the operators here: each state was allowed to decide for itself whether or not to allow gambling and sports betting.

Today, the states of West Virginia and New Jersey have fully legalized sports betting, while a number of others are just preparing amendments. This should have a significant impact on stopping the outflow of large sums of money abroad.

Canada, for its part, is in no hurry to respond to public demand for the legalization of gambling and sports betting. Gambling and sports are currently allowed in the provinces of Alberta, Labrador, Ontario, and British Columbia.

In 2016, the government introduced a bill that would have allowed betting on certain games and would have expanded the options for bookmakers and online casinos. However, the liberal part of the government opposed it because it was not sure that the government had enough money to regulate this area of business as well as protect citizens.

Today almost all gambling is prohibited in Canada, but online lotteries are legalized. This allows some operators of online casinos and betting shops to provide their services under the guise of lotteries while paying taxes and working legally.

The fact that the government essentially runs virtually all the companies that own online lotteries and casinos also adds fuel to the fire.