Winnipeg Free Press

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MARCH 15 TH , 2025 | RBC CONVENTION CENTRE S O N S A N D D A U G H T E R S O F I TA LY Another Project By presents Announcing the 2025 Canadian Italian Business Professional Award recipient IDA ALBO IN SUPPORT OF: Join us on March 15 to celebrate with Ida on receiving this prestigious award Please visit sonsofitaly.ca/gala to purchase tickets & sponsorships O R D E R S O N S A N D D A U G H T E R S O F I T A L Y C A N A D A • • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2025 A4 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I TOP NEWS ‘Significant revenue… has been diverted to Bodog’ Lottery operator seeks gambling site ban M ANITOBA Liquor and Lotteries is asking the courts to ban an offshore online casino, which it says has kept “significant” sums from its coffers, from operating in the prov- ince. Gaming website Bodog and its oper- ators, which are registered in Antigua and Barbuda, are breaking the law by offering online gambling in Manitoba, where the Crown corporation has au- thority over legal gaming, says the no- tice of application that was filed in the Court of King’s Bench last week. MLL said it filed the application on behalf of the Canadian Lottery Coali- tion, which represents Crown gaming authorities in British Columbia, Sas- katchewan, Quebec and the Maritimes, as well as Manitoba. The coalition, which formed in 2022, is aimed at combating illegal online gambling in Canada. Federal law al- lows gambling only when managed and licensed by provincial governments. The notice of application, which names Il Nido Ltd. and Sanctum IP Holdings Ltd., also seeks a declaration from the court that the companies’ advertising of websites bodog.eu and bodog.net in the province as lawful, “safe” and “trusted” is false and mis- leading. The application seeks either a tem- porary or permanent injunction that forces the companies or any affili- ates or successors to cease operations in Manitoba, stop advertising and to implement geo-blocking technology on their website to prevent anyone in Manitoba from accessing it. Currently, anyone in Manitoba can access, register with, deposit funds and place bets on the website, MLL said in the filing. The operators falsely advertise the site as “the most trusted site in Canada to play casino games,” the court filing alleges. The Crown corporation asserts Bodog’s activities divert customers in the province away from Liquor and Lot- teries’ legitimate and regulated online gaming operation, PlayNow.com. “As a result of Bodog’s illegal activ- ities… significant revenue that would otherwise be generated by (MLL) has been diverted to Bodog,” the court fil- ing reads. Manitoba’s Crown gaming corpora- tion would not divulge to the Free Press how much it estimates illegal gambling has affected its bottom line in recent years. William Hill, the executive direc- tor of the coalition, said Wednesday that research conducted by gaming consultant H2 Gambling Capital has estimated illegal online gaming costs Canadian public gaming corporations about $2 billion in revenue annually. He said offshore gambling diverts tax revenue from provincial govern- ments, which have less to spend on health care and education as a result, and unregulated sites don’t have player protections. “You have a consumer protection issue,” said Hill. He added that many illegal gam- bling sites don’t issue financial reports, which allows for potential tax evasion, fraud and money laundering. Liquor and Lotteries said in the fil- ing that online gambling has grown in recent years, in part because of 2021 Criminal Code amendments permit- ting single-event sports betting and the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed ca- sinos and led gamblers to the web. That led the corporation to develop new rules and regulations for online gaming, including measures to prevent money laundering, the filing said. Every dollar Bodog receives is a dol- lar Liquor and Lotteries didn’t, so it has spent “significant time and expense” on trying to stop the online casino from operating, the court filing said. The Crown corporation wants that money reimbursed. The corporation said in the filing it delivers its profit to the provincial gov- ernment to fund public services and is required to implement measures meant to encourage people to gamble respon- sibly. The lottery coalition, the court filing says, sent cease-and-desist letters to Bodog in February and June 2023, but the operators have refused to pull the sites from Manitoba. The notice of application is scheduled to be heard by a judge on March 5. erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca ERIK PINDERA RCMP have released thermal imaging video in which a group of migrants was caught crossing into Canada, near Emerson, from the U.S. in mid-January. Mounties released the brief video at a news conference in Edmonton Wednesday in which RCMP and Canada Border Servi- ces Agency officials detailed two recent border incidents at Coutts, Alta., 100 kilometres south of Lethbridge, as well as the earlier incident near Emerson. The news conference was held to demonstrate law enforcement efforts on border security amid the tariff threat from U.S. Presi- dent Donald Trump. Trump has insisted Canada clamp down on illegal migrants and illicit drugs that cross from Canada into the U.S., without giving evidence to back up his claim incidents are rising. The 37-second video was taken by RCMP in an aircraft equipped with thermal imaging technol- ogy. It detected the migrants and guided officers on the ground to the location of the six people, who were travelling in frigid temper- atures in the dark on Jan. 14. Mounties detected the group at about 7:30 p.m., 15 kilometres east of Emerson. Three of the people were from Sudan, while the others were from Jordan, Chad and Mauri- tania. All were transferred to the border agency. RCMP Asst. Commissioner Lisa Moreland had told the Free Press the aircraft’s ability to re- spond quickly was instrumental in ensuring the migrants weren’t harmed by the freezing temper- atures, which dipped below -20 C. Several ambulances were sta- tioned at the RCMP detachment in Emerson, close to the border, if needed. Moreland noted Wednesday no one in the group wore proper winter clothing. fpcity@freepress.mb.ca RCMP catch 6 crossing border near Emerson Contractors fined for manipulating Manitoba Housing bids BRANDON — A group of local con- tractors admitted on Wednesday that they violated the federal Competition Act during a scheme to bid on Manitoba Housing projects roughly 10 years ago. Geoff Gregoire, Guy Pringle, James Kauk, Ryan Lamont and Doug Gun- narson appeared in Brandon Court of King’s Bench to plead guilty for of- fences under the law. The contractors reached an agreement with the Crown prosecutor to accept fines as high as $61,000 each on the condition that crim- inal charges against them be stayed. The Crown had acknowledged weak- nesses in its evidence that could under- mine the case. Defence lawyers added it was a representative from Manitoba Housing who had encouraged the con- tractors to bid on the projects in a way that led to the violations. Under the plea bargain, the contract- ors would admit they had violated the Competition Act and receive fines of: $61,000 to Gregoire, $53,000 to Kauk, $33,000 to Pringle, $25,000 to Gunnar- son and $24,000 to Lamont. Justice Elliot Leven noted that the fines reflect the length of time each contractor was involved in the scheme. The contractors had been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud over $5,000, a Criminal Code violation, and conspiring to allocate contracts under the Competition Act. The Crown told court Wednesday the contractors discussed their bids with each other and decided who would win before they submitted their offers to Manitoba Housing, an arm of the prov- incial government. The Crown said this created an un- competitive bidding system that ap- peared competitive. Crown attorney Dan Manning said there were several concerns about the strength of evidence had the case gone to trial. Examples included that the contractors’ roughly 10-year-old text messages, seized as evidence, were now harder to submit to court because Canada had strengthened its digital pri- vacy laws. In addition, a Crown witness would have to testify against the contract- ors based on 10-year-old memory and notes, and a separate testimony was shaky as the witness was interviewed by investigators who had used leading questions. Defence lawyers said it was a Mani- toba Housing representative who “brought in” all five contractors to the scheme and encouraged them to bid on projects in an anti-competitive way. De- tails about the representative, such as whether they were charged or penal- ized, were not discussed in court. The defence stressed that the con- tractors delivered high-quality work and netted profit margins that are typ- ical of the industry. Defence lawyer Richard Wolson said they had profit margins of about 10 per cent on the projects in which bids vio- lated the Competition Act. He said that margin is within reasonable bounds for the industry, and noted the Crown agreed the projects for Manitoba Hous- ing were built at an expert level. Manning told court the Crown could prove more than 50 bids were manipu- lated from 2011 to 2016. The total value of those bids was $3.3 million. Leven said he supported the agree- ment that had been reached, the penal- ties were proportionate and the guilty pleas were a sign of remorse. He said with the potential weakness of the evidence, it was possible some of the accused may have been acquitted had the case gone to trial. — Brandon Sun CONNOR MCDOWELL ;