Tying Sports Betting To Gambling Built Into Canadian Election Law

While the potential for Canadian players to place their bets on sporting events hangs in limbo, the tradition of games of chance are well known to all levels of our government.

Although many Canadians who have been looking forward to the chance to lay down bets on their favourite sporting events are sitting on the edge of their seats for the potential passing of the Canadian Online Sports Betting Bill, politicians comes down on both sides as to whether gambling in Canada should be legal at all. For people surrounded every day by the trappings of our laws and systems, there seems to be an intricate tie between games of chance and the future of our country and regions.

A Coin Toss Deciding The Future Of A Province Or Country

As recently seen in Prince Edward Island's running for the Vernon River-Stratford riding, two candidates with very similar names were found to be in equal standing with a tie from their constituents. This was solved with a coin toss, a simple game of chance that, while only for a single riding in a small province, still managed to highlight a bond between the rules of the Canada Elections Act and games of chance and complete gambles.

A similar decision in Nova Scotia was also recalled when sources were gathering reactions to the decision to revert to the method. In this case there was a name drawn out of a hat to determine the winner. While more efficient than restarting the entire election competition from scratch, this draws a line that should show our elected officials that we, the Canadian people, overwhelmingly are in favour of betting, to the point of having it built into how we decide our political futures and so should have the chance to put down money on our favourite events.