B.C. Government Exits Ontario’s Online Gambling Court Reference

British Columbia’s government has bowed out of a court matter in Ontario that aims to determine if it’s legal for residents of Canada’s most populous province to play daily fantasy contests, poker games, and other forms of online gambling against competitors outside the country.

Ontario referred its question about legal sports betting and iGaming to the province’s Court of Appeal earlier this year. The Attorney General of British Columbia was later approved as an intervener for the reference, with a full hearing scheduled for late November.

B.C. fought to introduce evidence for the reference as well, including documents alleging residents of the Western Canadian province were being nudged by some Ontario-regulated iGaming operators toward international affiliate sites.

An Ontario judge granted leave for B.C. and members of the Canadian Lottery Coalition (which includes the British Columbia Lottery Corporation) to file evidence in July, but B.C. has recently had a change of heart.  

B.C.’s evidence has been removed from the Court of Appeal for Ontario website, leaving only that of the Attorney General of Ontario and the lottery coalition members (including BCLC). When asked about the disappearance, B.C.’s attorney general did not offer much explanation. 

“The Attorney General of British Columbia has withdrawn from the reference,” said Aara Ramesh, a spokesperson for the AG, in an email to Covers on Friday. “As this matter is still before the courts, we cannot comment further.”

Checking in on the Ontario iGaming market… the major sports betting/iCasino players have signed up for another year or two in what is Canada’s only competitive market (still waiting on Alberta).

365, DraftKings, FanDuel, Pinny, etc. all re-registered over the past few months. pic.twitter.com/YVsyNjUfKW

— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) September 12, 2024

B.C.’s exit from Ontario’s court reference removes a potential opponent from the latter province’s path as it tries to bolster part of its competitive iGaming market that has sagged since launch — namely, the DFS and poker businesses. 

Ontario launched a first-of-its-kind market for iGaming in April 2022, allowing private-sector operators of legal sports betting sites, casinos, and poker rooms to legally take action from provincial players. 

No other province in Canada has launched something similar — most others have granted government-owned lottery and gaming corporations a legal monopoly on online gambling —  although Alberta is working toward a competitive market of its own. 

DFS exodus

However, the rules of the Ontario sports betting and iGaming market require all participants to be within the province to play. This had negative consequences for fans of paid DFS contests and poker games after the market launched, as the pool of available players for fantasy and card contests shrunk.

Major DFS operators DraftKings and FanDuel now offer sports betting and casino gaming in Ontario but shuttered their daily fantasy businesses in the province. Ontario’s court reference could help bring those contests back and breathe new life into the province’s poker scene, so long as the appeals court agrees it would be legal to allow foreign players back into the games. Residents of other provinces would not be invited.

“Using poker as an example, a player in Ontario would be able to sit down at a virtual poker table and compete with players from around the world,” said George Sweny, vice president of regulatory affairs for a division of FanDuel-parent Flutter Entertainment PLC, in a May 31 affidavit filed in connection with the court reference. “Similarly, if daily fantasy sports were to be offered, an individual in Ontario could wager and participate in a daily fantasy sports league involving individuals from outside of Canada.”

But B.C. and the lottery coalition members pushed back against Ontario’s plan. 

While B.C. has withdrawn from the court reference, the province had reservations. Its evidence included an affidavit stating the province’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch was “concerned that an interpretation of the Criminal Code that would permit international player liquidity would further exacerbate the impacts of unregulated online gambling in British Columbia by further incentivizing international gambling websites affiliated with Ontario Operators to advertise and acquire players from British Columbia.”

Stay on topic

In response, the Canadian Gaming Association and related parties fought against the attempt to introduce the court reference as evidence. Arguments against its introduction included that it was irrelevant to the question before the court. The CGA also sought and failed to obtain a permanent sealing order for some of the proposed evidence, claiming it could damage the reputation of some Ontario-regulated operators. 

“We wanted this to be about the question that Ontario put before the Court of Appeal and nothing more,” CGA President and CEO Paul Burns told Covers in July. “And that’s why we chose to pursue what we did, because we didn’t think it would be productive.”

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