Offshore Sportsbook Bodog Exits Manitoba After Uncontested Court Order

Bodog is bowing out of Manitoba.


The ". eu" domain for the offshore sports betting and gambling establishment gaming site now notes the province as one of 3 in Canada from which it does not accept players.


The other two provinces are Quebec and Nova Scotia, the latter of which was only limited by Bodog last September.


Bodog's current addition of Manitoba to its "limited regions" follows a court in the province recently purchasing the business behind the Antigua and Barbuda-based online betting site to stop running in a manner that is available to residents, and to stop marketing to them as well.


Bodog says it is no longer accepting players from Manitoba, which follows a court in the province generally telling the overseas sportsbook to knock it off. pic.twitter.com/PV2FvhyD49


The injunction against Bodog in Manitoba was successfully looked for by the province's lottery game and gaming corporation, on behalf of the Canadian Lottery Coalition (CLC). The advocacy group's members are government-owned lottery games from provinces across Canada, minus Alberta and Ontario.


Getting an injunction versus Bodog, which has actually long been available and popular to Canadian bettors, and the operator saying it will restrict access in reaction to the court order, is a win for those lottos.


It's likewise similar to what has taken place in the U.S., where various states have recently handled to oust offshore operator Bovada from their backyards.


Lotto Six-Forty-Enough


Canada's so-called "grey market" for online betting (in which companies might be managed abroad or outside a province, however not by the province itself) has actually long taken on government-owned entities like Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corp.'s PlayNow website. That website is the only authorized one in the province.


However, the CLC and its members have actually been working to raise awareness of and go after unregulated operators, consisting of by intervening with issues in a court referral in Ontario regarding shared iGaming liquidity.


It was during the hearing for that reference that the union's attorneys were asked if an overseas operator had ever been brought to justice in Canada. This was obviously not the case until the Bodog proceeding in Manitoba.


Lacking shades of 'grey'


The grey market is now getting squeezed like never before in Canada.


While Alberta is approaching something comparable, Ontario is the only province in Canada that licenses private-sector operators of online sportsbooks and gambling establishments to take bets from its citizens.


Some of those operators were formerly "grey" entities before given the opportunity to transition into Ontario's brand-new, regulated iGaming market. That has actually permitted Ontario to move more than 80% of all online betting in the province onto in your area controlled apps and websites.


Bodog, though, remains uncontrolled by Canada's most populated province. This recently led to the operator being singled out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as a bookie that media companies must stop promoting.


Required to (obedience) school


Meanwhile, the non-Alberta and non-Ontario lottos are pursuing uncontrolled operators in their own method, such as with the Manitoba court injunction. In Manitoba, the lottery coalition had alleged Bodog was running unlawfully in the province.


The injunction that was consequently issued by Court of King's Bench Judge Jeffrey Harris on May 26 likewise needs Bodog to put in place "geo-blocking technology" on its.eu site (the one where users can bet real cash) to stop Manitobans from accessing its product or services.


No orders were provided specifically for Bodog's ". net" website (and the have not yet been launched), which states it is for "free play" and "amusement functions just."


However, both the operator's. eu and.net sites were called by the judge in the order as having no right to provide online Manitoba sports wagering or casino games in the province. Bodog did not reveal as much as defend itself in the Manitoba court.