Law Times

LAW TIMES COVERING ONTARIO'S LEGAL SCENE | APRIL 15, 2019 11 www.lawtimesnews.com BY MICHAEL MCKIERNAN For Law Times L awyers in the gambling in- dustry hope the third time's a charm when it comes to the legalization of single-event sports betting in Ontario. Vic Fedeli, the province's fi- nance minister, recently wrote to his federal counterpart, Bill Mor- neau, requesting an amendment to the Criminal Code, which currently prohibits single-event sports betting across the country. The request comes after two failed attempts in the last decade by federal NDP MPs to legis- late the same change via private member's bills brought in the House of Commons. "Maybe it'll be third time lucky," says Chantal Cipriano, a lawyer in the Toronto office of international law firm Dickin- son Wright LLP. "I think it's real- ly time to start moving forward, having been stuck in this archaic state for so long." "It makes absolutely no sense in my mind to prevent sin- gle-event betting," adds Ilkim Hincer, a partner in McCarthy Tétrault LLP's Toronto office, who notes that wagers are al- lowed on accumulator bets in- volving three games or more. "It's a frankly outdated situa- tion that exists in no other juris- diction in the world," says Hin- cer, who, in addition to his role as the head of his firm's gaming, lottery and eSports practice group, also acts as president and CEO of MT Play, its affiliated global gaming consultancy. Back in 2011, NDP MP Joe Comartin came closest to elim- inating the criminal ban when his proposed bill cleared the Commons — only to get held up in the Senate before finally dying after years on the order paper when Parliament dissolved for the 2015 election. A second attempt was shot down at an earlier stage in 2016 when MPs in the new Liber- al government switched their position on the issue and voted down the private member's bill brought by the NDP's Brian Masse at second reading. But Hincer points out that a major development in the inter- vening years south of the border has increased the urgency for Canadian authorities to act. Last summer, the U.S. Su- preme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Originally passed in the early 1990s, the law effectively limited single-event sports betting to the state of Nev- ada, but its demise has opened the way for most other states to get in on the action. "If they can't do it lawfully in Canada, folks are going to cross the border and participate in betting there," Hincer says. "When you have the likes of the NBA and NHL saying they're fine with the idea, and you con- sider the reality that it has been going on for years anyway in the grey market of unregulated on- line betting, it makes sense for us to change the law, modernize and remain competitive." According to Cipriano, On- tario's heavily regulated lottery and gaming market means it wouldn't be such a huge leap to add single-event sports betting under the existing regulatory umbrella. For example, she says the infrastructure is already in place to license casino operators, slot machine manufacturers and others involved in the industry. "As part of that process, com- panies and individuals have to disclose a ton of information about their finances, tax compli- ance, any litigation history and a laundry list of other items," Ci- priano says. "The nuts and bolts are all there, so it would be more about tailoring that rigorous due diligence framework to apply to a new offering." If Fedeli's pitch to Morneau is ultimately successful, Cipri- ano says, the province will have three main options for putting a sports betting offering into practice. First, it could run a provincial monopoly along the lines of the Crown corporation that operates online casino Play- OLG.ca. Alternatively, she says, the province could launch a re- quest-for-proposals competition to identify a suitable operator to run the enterprise on its behalf. Finally, Cipriano says the mar- ket could be opened up to pri- vate businesses operating under licence. Cipriano says she favours the latter option, citing the recent implementation of the private storefront regime for cannabis sales as a regulatory template. "In my opinion, the private operator model is the one that would truly allow for a free mar- ket in which companies and individuals who have been in- volved in the industry for years would be able to bring competi- tive products to market," she says. "If Canadian players feel they're being forced to play via a government-run corporation or website when there are sites in other jurisdictions with new and more exciting features, I don't think it's going to do enough to minimize the unregulated terri- tory that exists." For Hincer, single-event sports betting is just the poster child for Canada's broader prob- lem with gambling regulation. "We have this very odd, bifur- cated model whereby the prov- inces have jurisdiction to oper- ate and regulate gaming, but the federal government is limited to the high level of the Criminal Code, which basically overrides everything else," he says. "It's a big challenge when you're trying to shove a lot of modern concepts into outdated laws," adds Hincer, noting that the last substantial legislative amendments at the federal level occurred in the mid-1980s. Few in the business can Chantal Cipriano says Ontario's heavily regulated lottery and gaming market means it wouldn't be such a huge leap to add single-event sports betting under the existing regulatory umbrella. Will single-event sports betting be legalized in Ontario? FOCUS See Urgency, page 12 CECIL LYON BENCHER CANDIDATE – EAST REGION I AM COMMITTED TO: Reduce both spending at and the size of the Law Society Revoke the Statement of Principles (SOP) Refocus on the Law Society's Core Mandate Reignite the access to justice dialogue and let's involve the government this time VOTE Visit my profile at bencherelection.lawtimesnews.com (East Electoral Region) for more information on my candidacy Untitled-1 1 2019-04-11 12:58 PM

• Cover