Niagara and Windsor facing similar challenges
The Niagara region isn’t alone with the challenges its facing from competition across the border in the United States. Perhaps the biggest border town facing challenges from America is Windsor, which is very close to the border of Michigan. That state recently legalized single-game sports betting, which has many officials in Canada worried about what that might do to gaming in Windsor.
“Time is critical,” Masse said. “I can’t understand why we don’t have this, to begin with. It is important not only for our current footprint for infrastructure and our current employment base, but also for new innovations, new opportunities to invest, and more accountable sports betting.”
Lost revenue in Ontario is a very real thing in the near future, and Masse along with other legislators and sports betting backers is trying to make this fact very apparent.
“In Niagara Falls, they are faced with similar situations to Windsor,” Masse said. “in fact, they’re holding up millions of dollars in construction with regards to new ventures they want to actually propose, to maintain and currently increase customer bases.” If you’re not about traveling to the U.S. for single-sports wagering, or if you aren’t located close to the border, visit the sportsbook below.
No new bill on the floor just yet
Despite the rhetoric in favor of single-game sports betting ramping up significantly in recent months, there is still no new bill that has been introduced in the House of Commons. That being said, Masse has been working with some of his other colleagues in Parliament, and he thinks there is enough support that they can influence the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to act on this.
“What we’ve asked for is a clear position from the Liberals with regards to what they stand on this,” he said. “We’ve asked for an order-in-council to be passed, which would be the quickest way to deal with this, as well as the fairest way. The state of New York is already taking customers away. Michigan will be doing that as well.”
Masse intends to continue the fight as long as it takes. The overall push for single-game sports betting in Canada has been ramping up for the last month or so. Representatives from the lottery commissions and gaming industries met at Caesars Windsor to talk about the issue in earnest.
Two attempts to pass single-game sports betting in the past have failed in Canada over the last 10 years, but plenty of people believe that the current climate is ripe to change that. You don’t have to wait for single-sports wagering to be passed in Canada. You can check out one of the bookmakers below now.