Bodog has blocked access in Manitoba weeks after Canadian lottery corporations won a court-ordered injunction against the offshore online gambling operator.

As of June 25, the platform’s real-money bodog.eu site notes that it “accepts players from all across Canada, except for those residing in the provinces of Manitoba, Québec and Nova Scotia.”

Bodog blocking players in Manitoba was a direct order handed down by a Manitoba Court of King’s Bench judge in late May as part of the injunction granted to Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL). MBLL took Bodog’s parent company, Il Nido Ltd. and its Canadian trademark owner Sanctum IP Holdings Ltd. to court late January on behalf of the Canadian Lottery Coalition (CLC).

“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 Judge Jeffrey Harris’ order, which was obtained at the time by Canadian Gaming Business.

bodog.eu is the site on which the Antigua and Barbuda-based operator takes cash bets on online sports betting and online casino games from registered users. The company’s bodog.net site is ostensibly primarily used for free play. Such non-cash gaming sites can also help advertise their real-money counterparts.

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

The judge is expected to provide his written reasoning for approving the injunction any day now.

What did the injunction demand?

The injunction required 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 was told to implement geo-blocking technology on the real-money bodog.eu site to prevent anyone located in Manitoba from engaging in any way with online gambling products or services offered by the companies.

The injunction only ordered action regarding the .eu site, but the .net site was also cited by the judge as being in breach.

A precedent set?

The injunction handed down to Bodog relates only to the operator’s activities within the province of Manitoba.

However, in February, a CLC spokesperson told Canadian Gaming Business that it and its members — MBLL, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan and Loto-Québec — 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.

Could Ontario act next?

Bodog has been offline in Québec for years and last year went dark in Nova Scotia. However, it continues to operate across the rest of Canada, including in Ontario, it is not licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to participate in the province’s regulated market.

The AGCO has made an example out of Bodog in its fight to quash the remaining unlicensed operators that continue to operate without a license more than three years into the regulated market’s lifespan.

In mid-May, the market regulator specifically called out the brand in a broader statement wherein it confirmed it had urged more than a dozen traditional and digital media platforms to “step up the fight” and stop giving operators like Bodog “a veneer of legitimacy” by advertising their wares.

“Part of our ability, or our duty, is to make sure that we are squeezing that illegal marketplace down to the smallest possible size by going after their ability to generate revenue,” AGCO Board Chair Dave Forestell said at Canadian Gaming Summit in Toronto last week.

“The market’s matured enough now that people have had an opportunity and if they’re not going to go through the door, it’s time they stop playing in our market,” added Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey on the same panel. “I think you’ll see a little bit more aggressive approach in that space.”