Offshore Sportsbook Bodog Hit With Manitoba Court Injunction
An overseas sportsbook has formally been told to knock it off by the Canadian legal system.
A judge for the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba gave an injunction on Monday against Bodog, an online gaming operator based in Antigua and Barbuda.
The windows registry states the injunction was given and signed in court. Reasons are to follow at a later date.
Monday's injunction was successfully looked for by the government-owned Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corp. (MBLL), which alleged Bodog was running illegally in the province. MBLL also declared that Bodog was diverting service far from its online gambling platform, PlayNow.
PlayNow is the only authorized iGaming website in Manitoba, and its owner, MBLL, desires Bodog to stop marketing and operating within the province. On Monday, that is what the court told Bodog to do.
"This court orders and declares that the Respondents have no lawful authority to provide online gaming items and services, whether through bodog.eu, bodog.net or any other related successor or replacement websites, or to promote such online services and products to individuals located in Manitoba, as such activities contrast sections 201, 202, and 206 of the Criminal Code," Monday's order said.
- Government-owned Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corp. has gotten a court injunction against Antigua and Barbuda-based Bodog.
- The is trying to stop Bodog from marketing and operating in the Canadian province, declaring the offshore sportsbook and casino gaming website is breaking the law and diverting business away from MBLL's PlayNow platform.
- The injunction is a potentially precedent-setting advancement for Canada, which has a huge "grey market" for online gambling.
The injunction obtained on Monday was filed on behalf of the Canadian Lottery Coalition, an advocacy group that consists of several government-owned gaming corporations, consisting of MBLL.
Those lotteries have actually been pressing back against overseas iGaming operators in Canada. A court injunction versus Bodog could now set an important precedent.
That is because, with the exception of Ontario, the bulk of online gambling in Canada occurs in the so-called "grey market."
The term shows online betting happening on sites that may be controlled abroad or outside a certain province, however not by the province where the bets are in fact being put. Those "grey" sites contend for service with provincially managed websites like PlayNow.
Truly incorrect
Offshore operators have been enabled to take bets from Canadians for years without much commotion being made. That has begun to alter, however, particularly because the decriminalization of single-game sports betting in Canada in 2021, and the launch of a competitive iGaming market in Ontario in 2022.
Monday's order states that Bodog promoting its websites to anybody in Manitoba as "legitimate, lawful, 'safe', or 'trusted'" makes up a "false and deceptive representation," contrary to Canadian law. Moreover, it states the Bodog-related entities, "as operators of unauthorized and unlawful gaming websites" in Manitoba, have "participated in tortious conduct by committing the illegal means tort."
Bodog did not react to an ask for remark before this story was published.
The order issued Monday also kept in mind that no one appeared in court on behalf of the Bodog-related respondents, Il Nido Ltd. and Sanctum IP Holdings Ltd. This was regardless of those companies being "duly served," the order states.
Offshore sportsbook Bodog is telling customers that it is leaving the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in early October. Adds "we'll be monitoring your province for regulative changes."
The only operator that is managed in your area in NS is Atlantic Lottery Corp.'s PRO • LINE. pic.twitter.com/FE8fni0s53
The permanent injunction approved by the Manitoba court requires all Bodog-related entities to stop running in a method that is available to Manitobans and to stop advertising to individuals in the province. The court is also informing Bodog to put "geo-blocking technology" in place to prevent anybody in Manitoba from accessing the operator's websites.
Whether Bodog abide by the injunction stays to be seen. However, the business has pulled out of other provinces in the past.
Most significantly, the overseas sportsbook states it no longer accepts gamers from Nova Scotia and Quebec. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario also just recently called media outlets and inquired "to stop promoting uncontrolled online gambling and sports betting websites" like Bodog.