This is a guest contribution by Johnny Jaswal, Managing Director of the Jaswal Institute. If you require further information, please contact Johnny Jaswal.

If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

Many people would be surprised to hear that, in 1985, the federal government announced an agreement that would effectively exclude the federal government from lotteries and lottery schemes. For 100 million dollars, to be directed towards the 1988 Winter Olympics, and reaffirmation of an agreement to make annual payments of 24 million dollars, indexed to the CPI, the federal government agreed to amend the Criminal Code, no later than December 31, 1985, to grant the provinces exclusive authority, either alone or in conjunction with the government of another province, to conduct and manage lottery schemes in accordance with any laws enacted by the legislature of that province.

The abovementioned arrangement is substantial for several reasons. The expressions lottery and lottery schemes are legally interpreted broadly and incorporate additional forms of gambling and games of chance including betting on sports, bingo, card games such as poker and, potentially, fantasy sports if the activity is eventually caught by the Canadian Criminal Code as a game of chance or a game of mixed chance and skill.