The clash of dated language and modern technology is why the Ontario Court of Appeal is deliberating questions involving daily fantasy sports and online poker, according to Canadian Gaming Association president and CEO Paul Burns.
And Burns doesn’t feel those questions will be answered any time soon.
The Ontario government wants the court to rule on the legality of online gamblers in the province playing peer-to-peer games, betting against rivals from outside Canada.
Clarity on Cross-Border Gaming Rules
“The reason is…the criminal code has been in its current form since the 60’s,“ Burns said in an interview. “There’s a lot of language that’s open to interpretation. The principle is the people of Ontario would never leave the Ontario regulated marketplace; they would always, when playing, be covered by the Ontario regulatory regime, the operators responsible to that regime. The question was, if they played people from other jurisdictions, poker or peer to peer…daily fantasy sports – where you need a pool of people to make the games viable, can you do that and still be compliant with the criminal code as its interpreted?”
The wagering industry feels the answer is yes.
But the province wants a ruling, or at least advice, on whether it needs to enter into formal agreements with other jurisdictions that players come from.
“The question is whether the court is going to ask Ontario to do specific things to ensure it’s compliant, and that’s where the door was left open to interpretation, or for some advice if it felt it was required,” said Burns. “In the U.S., there are six states that have a formal agreement on liquidity, so that six-state compact offers pokers players and daily fantasy players…the opportunity to play together, and that’s how they decided to do it. Other jurisdictions don’t require anything like that, and international liquidity is fine.”
The court hearing was late last year, and Burns says he thinks it will be baseball season before a ruling comes down.
“The Ontario Court of Appeals general guideline says six months,” he said. “It all depends on their caseload and their work. That’s all we know. I suspect it will be in the spring.”
The future of gaming regulation in canada
The feeling in the industry continues to be that Albertawill be the next province to adopt regulated gaming, as other provinces seem to be content with the status quo for now.
Burns said his group is hopeful more provinces will realize the benefits of expanded regulation, which has proved to be so profitable for Ontario.
“We’re just wondering why they haven’t taken the steps to begin, and that’s something we will continue to talk to governments about.”
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