WINDSOR — The MP who introduced a private members bill to legalize single-event sports betting in Canada hopes to debate the issue this spring.
As heard on AM800 news on Tuesday, Saskatoon-Greenwood Conservative MP Kevin Waugh introduced the bill with hopes to amend the Criminal Code and allow for single-event sport wagering.
170 votes are needed in the House of Commons for the bill to pass and then it would proceed to the Senate.
"We should have a pretty good opportunity to present this bill in the next month, probably vote on it late April, May and if it passes it would then go to the Senate," says Waugh. "So it's all the luck of the draw. I looked at his bill from the previous four years, I liked it and with the changes in the United States, I knew I had to bring it forward."
Windsor West MP Brian Masse brought the bill forward during the last parliament but it died.
If the bill is passed, Waugh says provinces like Ontario would have to decide if they want to bring it to casinos, grocery stores or horse racing tracks.
"This is a provincial jurisdiction so it still rests for Ontario to deal with this if it, in fact, does pass the House of Commons, if it does get the reading it needs in the Senate so I'm thinking maybe the fall," says Waugh.
In 2012, the bill passed through the House of of Commons and it died in the Senate with the 2015 election.
Waugh adds Canada needs a level playing field with the United States.
He says 21 states have adopted single sports betting.