The situation with the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) in Canada has been a bit complicated lately. The thing is that local players are not forbidden to participate in any online contests by the federal authorities, but the legislation’s provisions do not explicitly allow them to take part in such events. What is more, the Canadian Parliament has not been keen on making the DFS legality issues part of its agenda, despite the increasing presence of this industry.
Currently, online gambling is considered as a legal grey area in the country, with more and more players demonstrating interest in betting on the Internet. The situation has been created due to the unwillingness of the country’s federal government and local jurisdictions to put more efforts into the legislation of online casinos and online gambling activities as a whole.
For years now a large number of experts have talked of Daily Fantasy Sports as a form of gambling, but the legal opinions in the region are still not clear enough on the matter and vary between jurisdictions. What makes the situation even more difficult is the fact that the centralised government has so far prosecuted operators’ websites which servers are located in Canada.
Recently, another specialist in the Daily Fantasy Sports sector has urged provincial lottery operators to become more focused on DFS. McGill University Professor Jeffrey Derevensky has shared his belief that the DFS industry could offer them a great opportunity to add a gaming product with a growing market share to their portfolios.
Daily Fantasy Sports are a delicate matter, which is still controversial primarily due to the entry fees collected by gaming operators and relatively small prizes they offer to players. Professor Jeffrey Derevensky claims that Daily Fantasy Sports should be considered as part of the gambling industry, because players put some money down to win a cash prize, but there is also a possibility that they do not win anything. That is exactly the reason why the expert has been trying to encourage provincial operators to seriously consider adding DFS options to their online gaming offering.
Over the last few years there have been a lot of discussions on the matter, and many industry experts have bet whether Canada would shut down DFS websites, or not. On the other hand, there are some states in the US, including Massachusetts, New York and Virginia, which have already regulated Daily Fantasy Sports, so that the local authorities require DFS providers to pay certain registration fees and take care of special policies to verify no underage gambling is allowed.
As mentioned above, according to Professor Derevensky, the DFS sector is a great opportunity for the provincial lottery operators of Canada to add a relatively new product to their product suites.
- Author
Daniel Williams
