For a brief period on Thanksgiving Weekend, Canada emerged as a trendy sleeper pick to reach the knockout stage at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
After a narrow 1-0 defeat to Group F favorite Belgium, Canada opened Sunday’s match against Croatia with a resounding header by Alphonso Davies in the second minute for an early lead. At the time, Canada was projected to advance into the Round of 16 on the Group F live standings. But then the Canadian defense wilted, surrendering two goals in a span of 10 minutes in the 4-1 defeat. In a flash, the loss to Croatia eliminated Canada from the World Cup after just two matches.
GOAL CANADA! ALPHONSO DAVIES! He scores the first World Cup goal in the men’s national team’s history, and it’s a DREAM start https://t.co/AO2NlhmfDA
— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) November 27, 2022
Over the first week of the World Cup, Ontarians bet on the world’s most popular sporting event in droves. At PointsBet, the Canada-Belgium match ranked among the book’s highest single events to date, a company spokesman told Sports Handle. As expected, PointsBet dealt with a large regional bias in Ontario, with more than 80% of the bet count and handle backing Canada.
Other sportsbooks delivered strong results on the World Cup in the opening week. As of Nov. 23, four of the top 10 most-wagered events on any sport over a period of 10 days involved bets on the World Cup at theScore. Now that Canada is headed home, Ontario books may experience a considerable dip. On the futures market, Canada ranked among the top three teams in bet totals to win the World Cup, a spokesman for theScore told Sports Handle.
Another top sportsbook, BetMGM, saw its World Cup handle fall precipitously in certain Ontario markets after Canada’s elimination. At BetMGM, wagers from Ontario accounted for approximately 10% of all bets on the World Cup winner before Canada was eliminated. Following the defeat to Croatia, the figure dropped to 6%, BetMGM data analyst John Ewing told Sports Handle.
Canada lost to Morocco 2-1 on Thursday, departing the World Cup without a victory in three matches.
Ontario bans betting on UFC
Citing a breach of its “Registrar’s Standards,” which govern integrity in sports betting, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario earlier this week banned betting on the UFC, which one commercial operator called “ridiculous” and said would only push bettors back into the black market, according to CanadaSportsBetting.ca.
UFC wagers have already been removed from Ontario’s ProLine retail and ProLine+ digital offerings, and some commercial operators said they will remove UFC events from their bet menus.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) notified sportsbooks today that they must stop offering and accepting wagers on Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events "due to concerns about non-compliance with AGCO’s betting integrity requirements."
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) December 1, 2022
The AGCO’s decision is in reaction to ESPN in November reporting suspicious activity around a Darrick Minner-Shayilan Nuerdanbieke fight. In the U.S., no jurisdiction has made a move to ban UFC wagering, but the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has at least temporarily banned bets on fights involving clients of Minner’s coach, James Krause, who has publicly said he bets on mixed martial arts events.
– Jill R. Dorson
PointsBet Canada opens Toronto headquarters
As the calendar turns to December, PointsBet unveiled a splashy new Canadian headquarters on Thursday — one that has been months in the works. Located in downtown Toronto, the office is in the heart of the city’s entertainment district next to the offices of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media and CTV, the nation’s largest privately owned television network.
The office will serve as an innovation hub, according to PointsBet, as the company maintains a focus on product development with technology recruitment as a key priority. PointsBet, which has partnerships with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks, and Curling Canada, employs about 50 workers in Ontario.
“Our mission since the very beginning has been to build a Canadian sportsbook with Canadian employees for the Canadian market,” Scott Vanderwel, CEO of PointsBet Canada, said in a statement. “We believe that Ontario has the talent and workforce that can help us be at the forefront of iGaming in Canada.”
Too much advertising?
Hockey fans in Canada are already getting frustrated with the amount of sports betting on their television broadcasts, according to the CBC, and fans have been vocal about it.
“It is forced upon us every few minutes,” Gordon Rendell of Newfoundland wrote to the CBC.
Another fan told the CBC that the ads “turn me off,” and yet another said the spike in ads “skews the broadcast.”
Canada legalized single-event wagering in 2021, and in April, Ontario became the first province to go live with digital sports betting. Since then, ads have popped up across the province — not just on roadside billboards and on social media, but during TV sports broadcasts.
– Jill R. Dorson
Kahnawake tribe challenges iGaming laws
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawàke (MCK) has launched a constitutional challenge against iGaming Ontario and Ontario’s attorney general, contending that the regulation of gambling throughout the province is unconstitutional.
In a notice of appeal filed Nov. 28, the council contested Ontario’s reinterpretation of a section in The Criminal Code of Canada which allows provinces to regulate single-event sports betting. Under the appeal, MCK is challenging “unilateral changes” imposed by Ontario in how gaming is managed by the province.
According to the council, iGaming Ontario is not “conducting or managing” the gaming that takes place on private operators’ sites. Instead, the council argues, Ontario is allowing operators to conduct and manage gaming activities themselves, subject to the payment of a portion of their revenues to the province.
The changes to the way gaming is managed will result in the loss of significant revenue to the Kahnawàke community, MCK contends. The legal challenge comes weeks after Ontario vowed to clamp down on gaming operators that conducted business without an Ontario iGaming license, including operators licensed by the Kahnawàke Gaming Commission.
“The plain facts are that Ontario’s actions are causing a significant loss of important revenues for our community,” Council Chief Ratsenhaienhs Mike Delisle Jr. said in a statement. “Until these actions were taken, we were operating legally, safely and successfully across Canada.”
Slow going for options in other provinces
If you live in Saskatchewan, the only way to bet right now is through the Western Canada Lottery Corporation’s Sport Select PlayNow.com platform, which is regulated by the province’s liquor and gaming authority. But while it remains unclear when — or even if — there will be more digital options available, at least one new sports lounge will open there in 2023, according to CDC Gaming.
The Dakota Dunes Casino, on Whitecap Dakota First Nation near Saskatoon, has plans to open the province’s first sports lounge, where fans will be able to watch games on a big screen, dine, and drink — but not place a wager. The lounge will be something of a test case to gauge interest in in-person betting.
“As it stands right now, there are no immediate plans to establish sportsbooks or betting lounges in our land-based casinos,” Shanna Schulhauser, a spokesperson with SaskGaming, told CDC Gaming.
The situation is similar in Alberta, where wagering is available at PlayAlberta.ca but there are no physical sportsbooks. The regulator in that province says there are plans to partner with two sports betting operators to offer wagering at a pair of NHL venues, the Edmonton Oilers’ Rogers Arena and the Calgary Flames’ ScotiaBank Saddledome.
– Jill R. Dorson
ICYMI
A VIRTUAL UNICORN: Unikrn relaunches esports betting platform in Canada provinces outside Ontario [Yahoo Finance].
🔥Betano launches sports betting and casino games in Ontario to mark North American debut👇
https://t.co/ve49dCaZeS pic.twitter.com/dGUeRd89Sm— 88Token (@88Token) November 30, 2022
FAKE, FAKE, FAKE, FAKE: How to recognize a fake binance sports betting site in Canada [BeSoccer.com]
UNRIVALED?: Rivalry faces steep investor challenges, despite record month of profits [SportsBusinessJournal]
