Atlantic Canadians prefer Straight-Up Sports Betting Online

ALC can’t compete with offshore online gambling in Atlantic Canada.

For years, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) has provided residence of its associative provinces with a limited variety of online gambling services. For most of those years, they’ve implored local governments to allow an expansion of those products. Yet for all those years, they’ve been denied.

Now, with new research emerging and legislative changes brewing to the south, the provinces of Atlantic Canada may be forced to listen, or suffer potentially disastrous consequences. If the latest research report – in particular the industry forecast – is to be believed, these provinces are losing a lot of money, and could lose a lot more in the coming years.

Offshore Online Gambling Offers Better Options

There are a lot of things you can do online in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (collectively Atlantic Canada). Residence can purchase lottery draw tickets and instant win tickets online. They can play instant bingo games. They can even participate in Canada’s infamous Pro-Line sports betting.

However, there are many more things that residence aren’t permitted to do – at least, not on the ALC website. Online casino games like slot machines, table games and video poker are off the menu. Online poker is not an option either. It may be the online sports betting limitations that are having the most notable effect on potential players.

Atlantic Canadians Prefer Straight-Up Sports Betting Online

According to the latest review by H2 Gambling Capital, residents of Atlantic Canada spent a staggering $90 million wagering at offshore sportsbooks from January to November 2017. Offshore casinos raked in $28.9 million, and online poker $18.9 million.

That may not seem like much compared to the $60 billion US citizens spent betting online with offshore companies. But it’s still a much larger number than the $10 million Atlantic Canadians spent buying Pro-Lines at ALC.ca.

To make matters worse, H2 Gambling Capital doesn’t think it will get any better any time soon. The research firm predicted that figure – the $90 million spent on offshore sports betting – will increase by 80% by 2022.

US Legal Climate Could Bring Change to AC

The United States has done a much better job of regulating online gambling. In states where it’s authorized, offshore operators tend to keep their distance. With valid threats from the US Department of Justice looming, who can blame them? That’s certainly not the case in Canadian provinces, where offshore online gambling is considered a ‘gray market‘ that the federal government doesn’t have time for.

There’s a big issue brewing in the federal waters below the 49^th parallel, though. The US is on the cusp of legalizing sports gambling. If that occurs, the odds are very high that more states will legalize online gambling to get in on that highly lucrative action.

Atlantic Canada is already having a terrible time competing with offshore companies. If our neighbors to the south manage to succeed in ousting international rivals, and delivering a product their ganlbing enthusiasts can appreciate, there’s every chance Canada will follow in step.

It could mean the Atlantic provinces will, 1) open the doors to online casino and poker gambling, and 2) push the federal government for a better, more competitive sports betting market.

Due to federal law, Canadian provinces may only offer Pro-Line sports betting, which means betting “parlay” style. For years, we were forced to select 3+ contests. That number recently recently dropped to 2+. But every pick has to win to collect a prize, resulting in terrible odds.

Offshore online gambling sites, on the other hand, offer much better odds on single-event bets. If Canada doesn’t do something soon, the amount of revenue flowing out to offshore online gambling from Atlantic Canada is only going to grow.