MP Brian Masse said the bill would have helped casinos during pandemic-related closures

Canada: prorogued Parliament delays single sports betting legalization process

In a news conference outside Caesars Windsor, MP Brian Masse, joined by Unifor Local 444 president David Cassidy, said a prorogued government stalls the movement of a private member's bill that sought to legalize single sports betting in Canada.
2020-08-25
Reading time 1:52 min
Bill C-218, authored by Masse, was waiting for second reading. Any existing bills and ongoing committee work have been halted, and will have to be introduced as entirely new when Parliament resumes. Casino workers union Unifor 444 said single sports betting would have made a difference during the pandemic.

A Canadian Member of Parliament driving sports betting legalization efforts warned Friday that the proroguing of Parliament has further delayed the process. 

In a news conference outside Caesars Windsor, NDP MP Brian Masse, joined by Unifor Local 444 president David Cassidy, said that a prorogued government stalls the movement of a private member's bill that sought to legalize single sports betting in Canada, because any existing bills and ongoing committee work have been halted, and will have to be introduced as entirely new when Parliament resumes, CBC News reports

"We were promised in this past election that sports betting ... would be an easy one to get done and here we are a year later, more problems, more delays," Masse said. 

Bill C-218, the single sports betting bill, was authored by Masse and introduced by Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, and it was waiting for second reading. Currently for people to bet legally on sports they must bet on a minimum of three games. 

Masse argues that had the bill been approved, it would have taken money out of the illegal market and allowed a facility like Caesars, whose casino has been closed since March, to be making revenue at this time through online or on-site gaming. "It's a great example though of how we continue to miss opportunities," Masse said. 

Unifor 444, which represents workers at the casino, said single sports betting would have made a difference during the pandemic. "It's so important that we get this facility open, this is the second largest employer in the City of Windsor ... and until we can get moving forward with that, it's a problem," Cassidy said. "We could have already had [single sports betting] moving forward." 

Despite the region being in Stage 3 of reopening, the casino has remained shut as it is only allowed 50 people indoors at a time. Officials for the organization have said they are working on a plan to support a larger number of guests. 

On Friday, the Ontario province announced effective immediately it would begin allowing event spaces to host up to 50 people in "each indoor meeting room or event space within the facility," provided the company sticks to a plan approved by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health. The government said the change is designed to support facilities that rent rooms for meetings and events. While Lisa MacLeod, minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, didn't explicitly name casinos in the announcement, she did say it would apply to convention centres, hotels and professional meeting facilities.

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