A Manitoba court has granted Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL) an injunction against offshore online casino and sportsbook operator Bodog as the crown corporation seeks to prevent the brand from offering online gambling products and services to the province’s residents.

MBLL filed the application against the unlicensed gambling site’s parent company, Il Nido Ltd.and its Canadian trademark owner Sanctum IP Holdings Ltd. in late January.

The application alleged that the real-money bodog.eu and “free play” bodog.net platforms are breaking laws by violating MBLL’s authority over gambling. MBLL’s PlayNow.com is the sole platform authorized by provincial law to offer online gaming in Manitoba.

The lotteries asserted, among other things, that the “sole purpose” of the free-play version of the site is to direct players to the real-money gambling site.

Bodog may not operate or advertise to Manitobans, must geo-block the province

In the court order signed on Monday, a judge ruled in favour of the lottery’s request.

“This court orders and declares that the respondents have no lawful authority to offer online gambling products and services, whether through bodog.eu, bodog.net or any other related successor or replacement websites, or to advertise such online products and services to persons located in Manitoba, as such activities are contrary to sections 201, 202, and 206 of the Criminal Code,” stated the order, which was obtained by Canadian Gaming Business.

The order also states that Bodog’s advertising to Manitobans constitutes a false and misleading representation contrary to the Competition Act, as well as a false description of its goods and services that is likely to mislead the public in violation of the Trademarks Act.

As a result, a permanent injunction has been issued by the court, requiring Bodog’s operators, affiliates, employees and representatives to cease operating and advertising bodog.eu “or any website offering substantially the same or similar products and services” in a manner accessible to persons located in Manitoba. Bodog may not advertise to anyone via TV, streaming, website, social media networks, radio stations or in person at events or public forums.

In addition, Bodog is now compelled to implement geo-blocking technology on bodog.eu to prevent anyone located in Manitoba from accessing, viewing, purchasing or otherwise engaging with any online gambling products or services offered by the companies.

The court will provide the judge’s written reasoning for the approved injunction in the coming weeks, a court spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business.

Nobody appeared at the court hearing on behalf of Il Nido and Sanctum, despite the companies having been served with a court order in March. Canadian Gaming Business reached out to Bodog and Il Nido for comment on Tuesday but had not heard back at the time of writing.

CLC willing to take further action

The filing with the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench was made by MBLL but done on behalf of the Canadian Lottery Coalition (CLC), which consists of MBLL, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan and Loto-Québec.

While the application was filed on behalf of all CLC member lotteries, it pertains only to activity that happens within the province of Manitoba.

However, in February, a CLC spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business that although the injunction is the first of its kind from either MBLL or the coalition, the CLC and its members are “committed to the idea of addressing unlawful gambling through all available means on a pan-national basis.”

“It fits within a broader set of activities undertaken since the coalition was first formed, always with the same overarching goals in mind: namely, to curtail illegal online gambling across Canada, to create a safer online gaming landscape for Canadians and to protect Canadians against the wide array of illegal sites that operate with no federal or provincial regulatory oversight and aren’t bound by anti-money laundering legislation,” the CLC added at the time.

Bodog dark in Québec and Nova Scotia, called out by Ontario

As and when Bodog complies with the injuncton order, Manitoba will be the third province in which the Antigua and Barbuda-based operator does not operate. It has been dark in Québec for several years and last September, it quietly took itself offline in Nova Scotia, where the only licensed online gaming offerings are provided by the multi-provincial ALC.

Bodog.eu’s website says that it “accepts players from all across Canada, except for those residing in the province[s] of Quebec and Nova Scotia.” Despite the implication there that implying that it offers its wares in Ontario, Bodog does not have a license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to operate in Canada’s only regulated commercial online gaming market. CGB also reached out to the AGCO as well as other non-CLC member lotteries for comment.

Two weeks ago, the AGCO specifically called out Bodog in a public statement in which it said it had called upon more than a dozen traditional and digital media platforms to “step up the fight” and stop advertising unregulated gambling sites in Ontario. The regulator said that, by promoting unregulated online casinos and sportsbooks, legitimate media offer operators like Bodog “a veneer of legitimacy.”

The AGCO noted that Bodog is “actively targeting Ontarians by advertising on popular traditional and digital media platforms” despite not holding a licence to operate in the province.