By: Jon Campbell

Only 88 of the 308 members were present to discuss and debate a smattering of issues that were mostly low priority - issues like Bill C290, a two-clause amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada regarding sports betting.The bill was just 28 words long and proposed to make single-game wagering legal in Canada at the discretion of the provinces.Only three people spoke to the bill, all in support of it, and after less than 20 minutes the third reading was passed unanimously with a voice vote and no objections.Two and a half years later, Canadians still can’t make a legal wager unless it’s a multi-event parlay bet through provincial lottery systems.So, why the hell not?Normally when a bill breezes through the House unanimously, it is rubber stamped by the Senate, given Royal Assent and put into law in about the time it takes to drink a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee.“This bill is a victim of circumstance,” says Paul Burns, Vice President of Public Affairs with the Canadian Gaming Association. “We’re hoping renewed pressure this fall will help bring this to a vote.”What that ‘circumstance’ is exactly is where things get a little complicated.A now infamous Senate spending scandal may be partially to blame. The saga played out in the Canadian media for much of 2013 and lingered like a nasty virus.Arrests were made. Senate leadership changed hands and calls for reform to the Upper House were renewed.Bill C290 was put off.But the Senate scandal doesn’t fully explain the stalling of C290. The members of the Senate could have just as easily voted to approve the bill and get this issue off its plate. An Ipsos poll from 2012 shows that 64 percent of Canadians want the bill to pass and parlay wagering is already legal in Canada.Oddly, it didn’t look like the bill had the votes. And the reason that is so odd is because no bill in Canada’s 147-year history has been shot down by the politically appointed Senate after it was passed unanimously by the elected members of the House of Commons.Not ever.It’s enough to make you choke if democracy is something you value.“I know there are senators that do very good work,” says Brian Masse, MP for Windsor West who has taken over sponsorship of the bill in the House. “But the problem here is that the Senate is supposed to be the sober second thought of the Chamber. And this is not second thought. This is a denial of the Chamber moving forward. “The doubt in the minds of Senators appeared to have come from two key places: the major pro sports leagues - primarily MLB and the NHL - and a couple of Conservative MPs, most publicly Michael Chong for Wellington-Halton Hills.The leagues took a familiar tactic of fear mongering. Chong took a morality stance and said the bill didn’t receive proper scrutiny in the house."The couple of Conservatives that have been stirring the pot on this, they had opportunity to speak and they had opportunity to vote against the bill but chose not to,” says Masse. “They said that because we didn't have a standing vote on the final reading, that it's not democratic, which is completely absurd. We have what's called voice votes that pass all the time in the House of Commons. And it's their job and responsibility to show up.”Masse said he’s heard a smorgasbord of excuses on why MPs didn’t show up for that third reading of Bill C290 - including that they didn’t want to be there on a Friday.“It was just seen as something that would go through…. It was seen as something that would go to the province and that’s why the House disposed of it rather immediately. It was about empowering a province to be allowed to choose,” said Masse.As for the leagues’ stance, we’ve heard all the scare tactics before, notably throughout New Jersey’s ongoing fight to have sports betting legalized there."Such wagering poses perhaps the greatest threat to the integrity of our games,” the NHL wrote in a letter to the Senate, “since it is far easier to engage in 'match fixing' in order to win single-game bets.”The NHL currently holds its annual awards ceremony in Las Vegas and rumors around expansion there have been swirling.Meanwhile, the NFL, NHL and NBA have all had regular season games overseas in places where those games were wagered on in regulated markets. Like the Miami Dolphins’ game against the Oakland Raiders on Sept. 28 in London.Some of the leagues have also signed partner deals with daily fantasy sites that offer huge cash prizes and they promote their own fantasy products as much or more than anything they offer to consumers.“Don’t tell me it’s not happening already and your argument may have some merit,” says Burns. “Ignoring it or saying it won’t occur isn’t legit.”The website C290now.ca estimates that over $35 billion has been wagered illegally in Canada through offshore websites and bar room type books since the bill entered the Senate in March of 2012.And Canadians didn’t see any of it in tax revenues, which would go toward things like health care, education and resources for problem gamblers.The good news is that the fight isn’t over for sports bettors who yearn for the day they can walk into their local corner store and place a wager on the Argonauts plus the points without having to worry about parlaying that with a WNBA team they’ve never heard of before.Burns and Masse are hoping renewed pressure this fall will help bring C290 to a vote in the Senate. It’s up to the sponsor of the bill in the Upper House, Sen. Bob Runciman to bring it forward - and there have been some promising signs lately that may suggest it will pass this time around.One of them is the Governor of New Jersey issued a directive to law enforcement on Sept. 8 to stop prosecuting race tracks, casinos and their patrons for engaging in sports betting despite a federal ban in the United States. There is still a legal hurdle to clear before that can happen but we could see sports betting at Monmouth Park race track in New Jersey as early as the Oct. 24-25 weekend.The peculiar part about that is that the leagues haven’t said anything publicly since the directive was issued, perhaps another promising sign for bettors.There is speculation the leagues have been silent is because they are trying to figure out how to cut a deal with New Jersey to get their piece of the sports betting action. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver even said recently he feels legalized sports betting is inevitable in the U.S. and when it happens, the NBA will be a part of it.These are steps in the right direction that the leagues’ integrity argument, that swayed the Senate in the past, may be evaporating. And the NFL is in no state to be wagging the integrity finger at anyone right now with a domestic assault crisis on its hands Legalizing sports betting is about increasing integrity and transparency anyway, not the opposite. When sports betting is regulated, the leagues and consumers are better protected from match fixing and problem gambling. We'll know who's betting and where the money is going."I think the part that people should understand is that (the passing of the bill) brings about a process that allows the provinces to choose about bringing a process forth if they want single sports betting or not,” says Masse. "It doesn't make anybody have to do anything."Hopefully the Canadian Senate will keep that in mind when the bill is reintroduced.Jon Campbell is managing editor of Covers. Follow him @CoversJon