A proposed law that would "open the door to Vegas-style sports gambling in Canada has run aground in the Senate, which has still not put it to a vote two years after the new law received all-party approval in the House of Commons," according to Sean Fine of the GLOBE & MAIL. The law would give each province the "power to allow single-game betting." Billions of dollars "could be at stake," but the Conservative leadership in the Senate "hasn’t put the new law to a vote because it doubts it has the simple majority needed to pass it." Former Canadiens coach and current Conservative party Senator Jacques Demers "denounced the proposed law," while Blue Jays President Paul Beeston told a Senate committee that legalization of single-game betting would "create more problem gamblers, and send the wrong message to children about the purposes of sports." However, former Liberal party Senator and Hockey HOFer Frank Mahovlich said that today’s hockey players "earn enough money that they would not be bought off by gamblers." A House committee spent just "one brief session consulting experts -- all of them from the gaming industry." Betting on single games is now "deemed a crime" in Canada, but provinces are "allowed to offer parlay-style wagers on multiple games" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/22).
