Hopes fading for Canada’s single-game sports betting bill passing the House

Canada’s single-game sports betting legislation got its second reading in Parliament this week, but the governing Liberal party continues to express opposition to the bill’s passage.

C-221, which was introduced as a private member’s bill in February by New Democratic Party MP Brian Masse, would strike a single line from the Criminal Code that restricts provincial gambling monopolies from offering anything other than multi-game parlay sports wagers.

C-221 had its first reading in April, during which the Liberals surprised everyone by opposing the bill’s passage. The Liberals had voted in favor of the bill’s predecessor, C-290, which was approved with all-party support in the House of Commons in 2012 before dying of neglect in the unelected Senate last year.

On Thursday, C-221 had its second reading, and Liberal MP Bill Blair, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, said he “cannot and will not be supporting it.”