Canada Gambling Law

by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
Sept 26, 2006
 

History of Canada Gambling Law:

Gambling has been prohibited in Canada since 1892. The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits all kind of gambling in Canada. According to Criminal Code, gambling is inherently criminal in nature. In 1900, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that gambling was exclusively a matter of the criminal law and therefore federal govt. had only right to entertained the matter regarding gambling.

Later in 1985 Canada government took new approach towards gambling and it was considered to have both criminal (federal) and commercial (provincial) aspects.

Present Gambling Law:

Present Canadian law permits gambling in Canada. In 1969 the Criminal Code was amended to permit certain exemptions to the ban on gambling. Law permits lotteries on a limited basis if they contribute to the public good. You can play govt. lottery in Canada without any hesitation as law permits them.

Law allows provincial govt. and other charitable institutions to operate certain gambling activities like, lottery, electronic gambling, bingo, and etc. federal govt. can run Pari-mutuel betting on horse races in Canada. Charitable trust uses the collected amount of gambling for the benefit of public. But every kind of gambling activity in Canada is operating under certain restrictions.

Casino gambling is legal in Canada and lots of gambling varieties are available in Canada. You will also find riverboat casino in Canada. Cruise casino gambling is legal in Canada and it’s really exciting for the tourist. Canadian govt. earns good revenue by legalizing riverboat casino gambling.

Online Gambling Law in Canada:

Online gambling is a daily activity for Canadian. Canadian’s love Internet gambling. But law is very rude regarding online gambling in Canada. Online gambling is illegal in Canada. But Criminal Code put some special attention on online gambling considering its popularity. The Code specifically restricts the way in which Internet gambling can be introduced. But it allows only provincial govt. to operate computer-based lottery schemes like Internet gambling. Provincial govt. is not authorized to give license to others to run lottery. Further, any province that did wish to offer Internet gambling could not take bets from out of province residents unless that other province allowed it.

Though online gambling is prohibited in Canada but it is very difficult to put restriction on online gambling. In spite of restriction Canadian playing online gambling. Increasing popularity of online gambling is really a threatening for Canada gambling law.

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