Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling

The overarching statute that governs gambling activity in Canada is the federal Criminal Code (the 'Code'). Sections 201 through to and including section 206 make all types of gambling, betting and lotteries illegal throughout Canada, with very limited exemptions such as pari-mutuel betting on horse races (provided for in section 204). The Criminal Code of Canada deals with a wide array of illegal gambling offenses, but the following are the most common: Section 201 – Includes a large number of offenses, but the most common involves keeping a common gaming or betting house. Section 202 – Deals with illegal betting, book-making, and pool-selling.

1. Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Laws
2. Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Winnings
3. Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Sites
4. Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Rules

Online gambling is often called a 'legal grey area,' but does that mean Canadians playing a few hands of internet poker in their living rooms should one day expect a SWAT team to crash through the door and seize their laptop?

The short answer is no. The longer answer, as might be expected, is less black and white.

Whether the issue is offshore gambling sites, file sharing, or Uber, the laws of the land are still taking time to catch up to the complexities of a connected world.

Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Laws

In Canada, gambling falls under provincial jurisdiction. That much is clear. The greyness stems from the internet, which doesn't pay attention to provincial boundaries. Thousands of offshore gaming sites are based in locales such as Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, and Cyprus, where gambling rules are wide open and governments welcome the tax revenue.

I don't think [the law] is grey.- Michael Lipton, lawyer

As for the legal status of these offshore operators in Canada, Michael Lipton, a lawyer and gaming law expert with Dickinson Wright in Toronto, says the issue is best understood by looking at the legality of offshore sites accepting bets from Canada, as well as what the law says about bets made by Canadians.

For gamblers, he doesn't see anything in Canada's Criminal Code that makes wagering through an offshore site illegal.

'As far as I'm concerned, you as a player aren't committing any criminal offence by being in a position where you are engaged with an offshore operator playing poker, playing slots, or whatever the case may be,' Lipton says.

Provincial jurisdiction

The trickier part of the equation is the legality of offshore operators taking bets from Canada.

Prior to the internet, the legal ins and outs of gambling were more straightforward. Each province determined its own rules for gambling, whether casinos, bingos, or lotteries. An exception is horse racing, which is regulated by the Canadian Parimutuel Agency, a unit of the federal agriculture department.

Over time, every province except for Saskatchewan has moved towards online gambling.

B.C. began offering online lottery tickets and sports betting in 2004. It added poker in 2009 and online casino games and bingo a year later.

Manitoba and Quebec have a similar menu of online gambling options, as does Ontario as of January. Alberta is likely to join them later this year.

On the East Coast, the Atlantic Lottery Corp. oversees the sale of online lottery tickets and bingo for the Maritime provinces, but so far does not offer casino games such as poker, blackjack or slots online.

Aside from a few inter-provincial agreements, outside bettors are restricted from playing on provincial sites.

Since gambling is a provincial concern, any legal uncertainty comes down to whether the Criminal Code prohibits offshore operators from doing business with Canadians.

The B.C. Supreme Court offered some clarity in 2001 in a case involving Starnet Communications International. The company, which had a gambling licence from Antigua, also kept an office in Vancouver. The court found that a Canadian-based gambling site couldn't legally accept bets from Canadians.

Offshore sites a click away

The part of the law that hasn't yet been tested in court concerns offshore sites that don't have a physical presence here. Just a click away for gamblers, is what they're doing illegal?

According to Lipton, the answer is yes.

'I don't think [the law] is grey,' he says. 'You may want to call it anything you call it, but I think I can point to a particular provision in the Criminal Code and I can tell an offshore operator, under the circumstances, that if you do such and such then you could be prosecuted under that particular section of the Criminal Code.'

Until offshore gambling has its day in court, uncertainty will linger over its legal status. Lipton, however, says other cases, for issues such as copyright protection, show that foreign operators that maintain a substantial connection to Canada can be found to be violating Canadian law.

If an offshore site, for example, does business here – advertises here, enters into contracts and knowingly accepts bets from Canadians – then that would bring the operator under Canada's jurisdiction.

More to the point, since gambling is the sole purview of the provinces, offshore sites could be breaking Canadian laws every day.

Whether Canada chooses to enforce those laws is another matter.

Kahnawake Gaming Commission

To date, the RCMP hasn't brought a case forward against an offshore gambling operator. It's possible this could happen, but doing so would take time and resources not to mention navigating the complexities of international extradition.

An arguably more fraught aspect – whether from a legal, political, or law enforcement point of view – of prosecuting a case against an offshore site is the jurisdictional claims of the Kahnawake First Nation in Quebec. Just down the road from Montreal, it's not physically offshore, yet the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is one of the world's largest online gambling hosts.

For the RCMP to pursue an overseas operator may first require a serious legal and political engagement with First Nations territorial sovereignty. At best, that would mean a drawn out court case. At worst, memories of an Oka-style standoff serve as a warning.

Of late, Canadian law enforcement seems preoccupied with terrorism, drugs, and biker gangs. In that context, it's understandable to see why the RCMP, which didn't respond to requests for comment about Kahnawake gaming, may have put online gambling on the back burner.

Now that more provinces are committing to online gaming, it remains to be seen whether gambling will become more of a priority. Given the money that's currently flowing to offshore sites, though, reasons appear to be mounting for any legal grey areas to become more black and white.

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti is expected to introduce legislation as soon as Thursday to legalize single-event sports betting in Canada — ending a decades-old prohibition on gambling that experts say has funnelled billions of dollars into the black market.

The proposed government legislation, if passed, would allow gamblers to place a bet on the outcome of a single sports game, like a football match or a hockey game.

Currently, sports bettors in Canada are limited to 'parlay' bets — meaning they have to place bets on more than one game, and pick the winning team in each contest, to see any sort of windfall. The odds of a winning parlay bet are low. Canadians spend roughly $500 million a year on parlay bets through lottery games like Pro-Line.

Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Winnings

MPs from communities with large casinos — notably Windsor and Niagara Falls in Ontario — have been pushing the federal government to remove a single line in the Criminal Code that restricts gambling to parlays to give a boost to Canadian gambling operations, which face increasing pressure from foreign online outfits and U.S. casinos.

Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk, who was elected last fall to represent Windsor-Tecumseh, said in a Facebook post Wednesday that he's been 'working hard since day one' to push the government to make the necessary Criminal Code changes, which could allow casinos like Caesars Windsor or racetracks like Toronto-based Woodbine to offer enhanced sports wagering.

Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Sites

'Excited our government will be introducing single sports betting legislation this week,' he said in the post. 'Total team effort.'

A spokesperson for Lametti declined to comment on legislation that has not yet been introduced in Parliament.

Paul Burns, the president of Canadian Gaming Association, said he's happy that years of advocacy work by MPs and local communities finally pushed the government to stem the tide of wagered money moving offshore.

'It's just been a horrendous year for our businesses,' Burns said, adding pandemic-related health and safety measures have devastated in-person gaming at casinos and racetracks.

'It doesn't cost the federal government a thing but it gives us another product, another channel, to help us attract customers back to our businesses when it's safe to do so.'

There's already a similar bill from Conservative Saskatchewan MP Kevin Waugh on the Commons order paper that would make it lawful for a provincially licensed entity to allow betting on a single sporting event or athletic contest.

'Implementing this change would be a massive boost to the tourism, sports, and gaming sectors, as well as a significant win for the workers and communities that rely on them,' Waugh said, calling the legalization 'common-sense.'

'Though I'm encouraged by the government's apparent support for this proposal, I remain skeptical of their commitment to making it a priority,' he said, adding he won't withdraw his private member's bill just yet to ensure the government proceeds with the amendment.

While provinces and territories control gambling operations in Canada, all operators work within the limits of the federal Criminal Code, which addresses gambling regulations and laws.

Burns said the expectation is that the government will simply replicate Waugh's bill (it's a single line) in its own legislation. Government legislation is often easier to pass in Parliament than private member's bills because the government has more levers to pull to get bills through both houses of Parliament in a timely manner.

NDP MP Brian Masse, who represents Windsor West, also introduced a private member's bill in 2016 that would have made changes similar to those the Liberal government is now considering.

The government voted against that legislation, citing major sports leagues' claim that single-event betting might lead to match-fixing. But that opposition was blunted when sports leagues — including the NBA and NHL — partnered with U.S.-based casino operators like MGM Resorts to bolster sports betting in the U.S.

As recently as January, a spokesperson for Lametti told CBC News that gambling law reforms were not an 'immediate priority' for the minister.

Canadians gamble $14 billion annually on sports events

The pandemic has blown big holes in federal and provincial budgets and the legalization of this sort of betting could produce some much-needed government revenue.

An estimated $14 billion in annual sports betting — $10 billion through the black market through bookies and $4 billion more through off-shore online outlets, according to figures from the Canadian Gaming Association — is wagered by Canadians via illegal channels beyond the regulatory control of the government. The biggest draw for these other outlets is the fact that they allow bettors to gamble on just one game.

Federal and provincial governments don't get a cut of the money flowing through these illegal channels, Burns said, and the legislative change will put Canadian casinos and gambling sites on an even playing field with those who already offer these bets illegally.

'Sports betting is such a huge part of the online business. It will really just allow Canadian companies to compete. Everyone will have the same regulatory relationship,' Burns said.

As for the legal status of these offshore operators in Canada, Michael Lipton, a lawyer and gaming law expert with Dickinson Wright in Toronto, says the issue is best understood by looking at the legality of offshore sites accepting bets from Canada, as well as what the law says about bets made by Canadians.

For gamblers, he doesn't see anything in Canada's Criminal Code that makes wagering through an offshore site illegal.

'As far as I'm concerned, you as a player aren't committing any criminal offence by being in a position where you are engaged with an offshore operator playing poker, playing slots, or whatever the case may be,' Lipton says.

Provincial jurisdiction

The trickier part of the equation is the legality of offshore operators taking bets from Canada.

Prior to the internet, the legal ins and outs of gambling were more straightforward. Each province determined its own rules for gambling, whether casinos, bingos, or lotteries. An exception is horse racing, which is regulated by the Canadian Parimutuel Agency, a unit of the federal agriculture department.

Over time, every province except for Saskatchewan has moved towards online gambling.

B.C. began offering online lottery tickets and sports betting in 2004. It added poker in 2009 and online casino games and bingo a year later.

Manitoba and Quebec have a similar menu of online gambling options, as does Ontario as of January. Alberta is likely to join them later this year.

On the East Coast, the Atlantic Lottery Corp. oversees the sale of online lottery tickets and bingo for the Maritime provinces, but so far does not offer casino games such as poker, blackjack or slots online.

Aside from a few inter-provincial agreements, outside bettors are restricted from playing on provincial sites.

Since gambling is a provincial concern, any legal uncertainty comes down to whether the Criminal Code prohibits offshore operators from doing business with Canadians.

The B.C. Supreme Court offered some clarity in 2001 in a case involving Starnet Communications International. The company, which had a gambling licence from Antigua, also kept an office in Vancouver. The court found that a Canadian-based gambling site couldn't legally accept bets from Canadians.

Offshore sites a click away

The part of the law that hasn't yet been tested in court concerns offshore sites that don't have a physical presence here. Just a click away for gamblers, is what they're doing illegal?

According to Lipton, the answer is yes.

'I don't think [the law] is grey,' he says. 'You may want to call it anything you call it, but I think I can point to a particular provision in the Criminal Code and I can tell an offshore operator, under the circumstances, that if you do such and such then you could be prosecuted under that particular section of the Criminal Code.'

Until offshore gambling has its day in court, uncertainty will linger over its legal status. Lipton, however, says other cases, for issues such as copyright protection, show that foreign operators that maintain a substantial connection to Canada can be found to be violating Canadian law.

If an offshore site, for example, does business here – advertises here, enters into contracts and knowingly accepts bets from Canadians – then that would bring the operator under Canada's jurisdiction.

More to the point, since gambling is the sole purview of the provinces, offshore sites could be breaking Canadian laws every day.

Whether Canada chooses to enforce those laws is another matter.

Kahnawake Gaming Commission

To date, the RCMP hasn't brought a case forward against an offshore gambling operator. It's possible this could happen, but doing so would take time and resources not to mention navigating the complexities of international extradition.

An arguably more fraught aspect – whether from a legal, political, or law enforcement point of view – of prosecuting a case against an offshore site is the jurisdictional claims of the Kahnawake First Nation in Quebec. Just down the road from Montreal, it's not physically offshore, yet the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is one of the world's largest online gambling hosts.

For the RCMP to pursue an overseas operator may first require a serious legal and political engagement with First Nations territorial sovereignty. At best, that would mean a drawn out court case. At worst, memories of an Oka-style standoff serve as a warning.

Of late, Canadian law enforcement seems preoccupied with terrorism, drugs, and biker gangs. In that context, it's understandable to see why the RCMP, which didn't respond to requests for comment about Kahnawake gaming, may have put online gambling on the back burner.

Now that more provinces are committing to online gaming, it remains to be seen whether gambling will become more of a priority. Given the money that's currently flowing to offshore sites, though, reasons appear to be mounting for any legal grey areas to become more black and white.

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti is expected to introduce legislation as soon as Thursday to legalize single-event sports betting in Canada — ending a decades-old prohibition on gambling that experts say has funnelled billions of dollars into the black market.

The proposed government legislation, if passed, would allow gamblers to place a bet on the outcome of a single sports game, like a football match or a hockey game.

Currently, sports bettors in Canada are limited to 'parlay' bets — meaning they have to place bets on more than one game, and pick the winning team in each contest, to see any sort of windfall. The odds of a winning parlay bet are low. Canadians spend roughly $500 million a year on parlay bets through lottery games like Pro-Line.

Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Winnings

MPs from communities with large casinos — notably Windsor and Niagara Falls in Ontario — have been pushing the federal government to remove a single line in the Criminal Code that restricts gambling to parlays to give a boost to Canadian gambling operations, which face increasing pressure from foreign online outfits and U.S. casinos.

Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk, who was elected last fall to represent Windsor-Tecumseh, said in a Facebook post Wednesday that he's been 'working hard since day one' to push the government to make the necessary Criminal Code changes, which could allow casinos like Caesars Windsor or racetracks like Toronto-based Woodbine to offer enhanced sports wagering.

Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Sites

'Excited our government will be introducing single sports betting legislation this week,' he said in the post. 'Total team effort.'

A spokesperson for Lametti declined to comment on legislation that has not yet been introduced in Parliament.

Paul Burns, the president of Canadian Gaming Association, said he's happy that years of advocacy work by MPs and local communities finally pushed the government to stem the tide of wagered money moving offshore.

'It's just been a horrendous year for our businesses,' Burns said, adding pandemic-related health and safety measures have devastated in-person gaming at casinos and racetracks.

'It doesn't cost the federal government a thing but it gives us another product, another channel, to help us attract customers back to our businesses when it's safe to do so.'

There's already a similar bill from Conservative Saskatchewan MP Kevin Waugh on the Commons order paper that would make it lawful for a provincially licensed entity to allow betting on a single sporting event or athletic contest.

'Implementing this change would be a massive boost to the tourism, sports, and gaming sectors, as well as a significant win for the workers and communities that rely on them,' Waugh said, calling the legalization 'common-sense.'

'Though I'm encouraged by the government's apparent support for this proposal, I remain skeptical of their commitment to making it a priority,' he said, adding he won't withdraw his private member's bill just yet to ensure the government proceeds with the amendment.

While provinces and territories control gambling operations in Canada, all operators work within the limits of the federal Criminal Code, which addresses gambling regulations and laws.

Burns said the expectation is that the government will simply replicate Waugh's bill (it's a single line) in its own legislation. Government legislation is often easier to pass in Parliament than private member's bills because the government has more levers to pull to get bills through both houses of Parliament in a timely manner.

NDP MP Brian Masse, who represents Windsor West, also introduced a private member's bill in 2016 that would have made changes similar to those the Liberal government is now considering.

The government voted against that legislation, citing major sports leagues' claim that single-event betting might lead to match-fixing. But that opposition was blunted when sports leagues — including the NBA and NHL — partnered with U.S.-based casino operators like MGM Resorts to bolster sports betting in the U.S.

As recently as January, a spokesperson for Lametti told CBC News that gambling law reforms were not an 'immediate priority' for the minister.

Canadians gamble $14 billion annually on sports events

The pandemic has blown big holes in federal and provincial budgets and the legalization of this sort of betting could produce some much-needed government revenue.

An estimated $14 billion in annual sports betting — $10 billion through the black market through bookies and $4 billion more through off-shore online outlets, according to figures from the Canadian Gaming Association — is wagered by Canadians via illegal channels beyond the regulatory control of the government. The biggest draw for these other outlets is the fact that they allow bettors to gamble on just one game.

Federal and provincial governments don't get a cut of the money flowing through these illegal channels, Burns said, and the legislative change will put Canadian casinos and gambling sites on an even playing field with those who already offer these bets illegally.

'Sports betting is such a huge part of the online business. It will really just allow Canadian companies to compete. Everyone will have the same regulatory relationship,' Burns said.

'It's encouraging. The industry has been asking for this for over a decade. Substantial revenues flow to unregulated, illegal operations and offshore Internet sites without providing any financial benefits to Canadians.'

Criminal Code Of Canada Illegal Gambling Rules

A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned decades-old federal limits on sports betting in states other than Nevada. The result has been a push by state lawmakers — notably in New Jersey and border states like New York and Michigan — to legalize single-game bets at casinos and racetracks and online.

Single-event legalization has unleashed a revenue boom for state coffers already. New Jersey casinos collected $4.5 billion in revenue last year alone.

'Communities like Niagara and Windsor — they're competing with sports betting across border. Now, they'll have a new product to entice customers to come back to their properties when they're able to do so, safely,' Burns said.