Rapid technological advances can be great for our business or personal lives, but they can be a real headache for legal regulators. Anyone who has spent time working in and around the legal sector knows that these are wheels that move at their own pace, and it is anything but rapid.
Online gambling has thrown a stone into many a legal millpond around the world over the past decade or two. Across Europe, North America and Australasia we have seen different legal reactions to gambling on the internet, but it is Canada that is taking the most decisive action right now. Over the past year, two provinces have launched regulatory frameworks to allow legal online gambling. It looks increasingly likely that Quebec will become a third.
A little background
This time last year, online casinos were prohibited anywhere in Canada. Those words are important – the legal prohibition related to operating an online casino, but not to gambling at one. The result? Dozens of web based casino platforms based outside Canada, and typically domiciled in places like Curacao. Gamblers could consult independent review sites to find the best online casino deals of the day, and play to their heart’s content.
Naturally, the popularity of these online casino sites increased dramatically during the events of 2020 when Canada’s land-based casinos were either closed or operating with severe restrictions. This might have sent many a regulatory body in a panic, looking for ways to block the offshore casinos’ ISPs or perhaps stop banks from transferring funds to or from betting companies. These are the exact strategies adopted by the Australian regulator, incidentally, and in some US states.
Moving with the times
Ontario and Nova Scotia took a different approach. Blocks and bans will only ever have limited success, and people will continue to find ways to legally circumvent the system and spend their money. That’s money that could be retained and taxed in-state if only there were licensed and regulated operators.
Since launching in April, Ontario now has 24 licensed online casino operators. Reporting on its second quarter of operation, iGaming Ontario stated its licensed operators had generated $267 million in revenue, up more than 60 percent on its first quarter. Nova Scotia has taken a smaller scale approach, launching a state-run licensed online casino through its state lottery website to almost no fanfare.
Alan McMaster is the Finance Minister and he said people will gamble online regardless of what he or his government colleagues do. The new casino will “protect people and recoup some of the money that’s leaving our province.”
Will Quebec be next?
The approaches adopted by Ontario and Nova Scotia make more sense than fighting against the tide. Quebec is Canada’s second most populous province and like most of the world, it is currently facing a significant budget deficit. The tax revenue that legal online gambling could generate it too potentially significant to ignore.
Offshore providers are as available in Quebec as they are in the rest of Canada, so online casino gaming is already a reality. There are those in government who would oppose the perceived approval and normalisation of gambling. But regulation has been proven to be more practical and more effective than prohibition. It is surely only a matter of time before Quebec follows the Ontario model.
