The biggest horse race of the year is nearly here again, but residents of Canada’s most populous province still won’t see any wagering markets on their usual sports betting sites.
Indeed, Ontario sports betting is now offered by more than 30 regulated sites in the province. However, none of them offer wagering on horse racing, and none of them will have markets for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
The reason for the horse-racing scarcity has to do with the rules for legal sports betting in Canada.
While provinces can authorize wagering on most sports, horse racing is not one of them. The only legal form of betting on horse racing in Canada is via the pooled, pari-mutuel model that is overseen at the federal level of government.
