The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that the province’s regulated online gaming websites can legally allow gamblers in the province to play with people outside of Canada.
The precedent-setting legal opinion — which was opposed by lottery and gaming agencies from nearly every other province in the country — could open the door to Ontarians playing peer-to-peer games, like online poker and daily fantasy sports, against players located outside of Canada.
Four judges ruled in support of the measure in a decision issued on the court’s website Wednesday afternoon, with one dissenting judge ruling against.
Chief Justice Michael Tulloch wrote that the ruling is based on the court’s interpretation of the Criminal Code and “a majority of the court has concluded that online gaming and sports betting would remain lawful” under Ontario’s proposed plan.
What this means for the province’s immediate plans for online gaming isn’t totally clear. In an email, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General said they “cannot provide comment on a court matter that remains within the appeal period.”
An appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada is possible. The lottery and gaming agencies that oppose Ontario’s plan — those that manage gambling in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the four Atlantic provinces — say in a court document they’re concerned that it “could lead to the further proliferation of illegal online gambling in the jurisdictions in which they operate.”
The case was triggered by an order-in-council from Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet last year.
That cabinet order asked the court to rule on this question: “Would legal online gaming and sports betting remain lawful under the Criminal Code if its users were permitted to participate in games and betting involving individuals outside of Canada?”
At stake here, according to industry insiders, are hundreds of millions of dollars in potential wagers on online poker and daily sports fantasy betting sites, which currently cannot legally allow Ontarians to mix with their global pools of players.
More to come.
