Sports betting is one of the most popular forms of online gambling. Every single day, millions of punters from all over the world visit different online sportsbooks to place their sports bets. Unfortunately, some place their bets on the black market as the authorities in the jurisdictions they reside in prohibit online sports betting. Well, this was the case for many punters in Canada in the not so distant past. All fans of sports betting were restricted to placing their bet on the black market as online sports betting was prohibited. However, things changed on August 27, 2021, when the Canadian government legalised single-game betting. In this article, we are going to explore what single-game betting is and how it works.
What is Single Game Betting?
Single-game betting is arguably the easiest of all forms of sports betting. When we talk about single-game betting, we are talking about placing a bet on the outcome of one game. Single-game betting is quite simple, isn’t it? Well, in Canada and many other jurisdictions, single-game betting was (and still is in some jurisdictions) prohibited. If you are wondering why this is the case, worry no more as we are going to explain the logic behind the ban later on. First, however, lets briefly put into practice how single-game betting works.
How Single Game Betting Works in Ontario
To understand how single-game betting works, we are going to use an example.
- Suppose you want to place a single game bet on your favourite team Real Madrid in its upcoming clash against arch-rivals Barcelona, the first thing that you need to do is to login to your sportsbook account
- Once you access your sportsbook account, you need to search for the event that you want to bet on, in this instance, you need to search for the upcoming event between Real Madrid and Barcelona
- Once you locate your event, choose the betting market you want. On this front, punters can choose to place a 1×2 betting market (choose the team to win regardless of scoreline) or opt for the correct score market (choose the team to win and state the actual scores of each team). It’s also possible to choose a handicap market and state the margin with which the winning team will win by
- Once you pick your betting market (just one), place your bet and generate your ticket
- Wait for the event to start. Depending on the outcome of the event and also depending on your bet, you either win or lose.
How Single Game Betting Has Changed in Ontario
Most jurisdictions used (while some still) to prohibit single-game betting. Instead of single-game betting, they accepted parlay betting. Parlay betting entails placing bets on the outcomes of several games at once. Most jurisdictions prohibited single-game betting on the logic that it prevented match-fixing. While this logic was based on evidence, as most folks charged with match-fixing only placed single-game bets, it became apparent that the ban on single-game betting was now leading punters to place bets at offshore sportsbooks and the black market. The ban essentially had become worthless as punters simply circumvented the ban. To address this, most jurisdictions have since changed the laws and now accept single-game bets albeit employing very strict and tough anti-match fixing measures.