How single-event betting became legal in Canada.

The pre-2021 world

Section 207(4)(b) of the Criminal Code made it illegal to offer or place a bet on a single sporting event in Canada. Provincial lotteries were allowed to offer sports betting only in the parlay format, meaning three or more games had to be combined into a single ticket. This is why PROLINE, Sport Select, and Mise-o-jeu required parlays. A one-game bet was illegal.

What Bill C-218 did

Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, received royal assent on 29 June 2021 and came into force on 27 August 2021. It amended the Criminal Code to remove the parlay restriction. Provinces became free to offer single-event sports betting as they saw fit, which is why every provincial lottery now runs a single-event product and why Ontario was able to open a competitive private market.

Why Ontario opened next

In April 2022, iGaming Ontario launched the country's first competitive private-operator sports betting market. Private operators like bet365, FanDuel, and DraftKings could now apply for AGCO licences and take Ontario bets legally. The rest of Canada kept the provincial-lottery-only model but with single-event added.

What it means for you

If you live in Ontario, you have access to a competitive market with 35+ regulated operators. If you live anywhere else, you have one Crown-run provincial book (PROLINE+, PlayNow, PlayAlberta, Mise-o-jeu+, ALC Proline, or Sport Select), plus Kahnawake-licensed operators like Sports Interaction that have taken Canadian bets for decades under a legal grey area. Alberta is expected to open its own competitive market during 2026.

Sources

• Text of Bill C-218: https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/bill/C-218/royal-assent
• iGaming Ontario launch announcement: iGaming Ontario public communications
• Alberta iGaming Act: Bill 16, Legislative Assembly of Alberta