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Three years into its existence, the Canadian Elite Basketball League includes more teams than the CFL

Accomplishments of the CEBL
It was three years ago when the CEBL first opened its doors as a six-team enterprise. Upon its first year, the league felt they could add a seventh club, in Ottawa. Then came Covid-19. It could have destroyed the new endeavour, had it not been for the commissioner and former CFL receiver Mike Morreale. In the summer of 2020, Morreale organized a two-week contest in St. Catharines, Ont., to allow CEBL to crown a champion. Thanks to the resulting boost from that championship run, in 2021, the CEBL again had a complete and steady schedule.
In 2022 the CEBL has added the Montreal Alliance, the Scarborough Shooting Stars and the Newfoundland Growlers. Just like that
The league continues to expand. After the addition of clubs in Toronto, Montreal, and St. John’s, the CEBL locations are now spread from Langley, B.C. to the east of the country. So now it can truly be called a national league. In fact, there are now 10 teams, making the CEBL the largest professional sports league in Canada. That’s more Canadian based teams than the NHL (7), the NBA (1), and MLB (1) combined! It also makes the league larger than the CFL.
The Scarborough (Toronto) Shooting Stars included a rap celebrity. J. Cole (Jermaine Cole) signed a contract with Scarborough, along with former local NBA star Jamaal Magloire as an executive. With J. Cole, there’s a trick component to signing a 37-year-old with insignificant experience consisting of three rounds last year in Rwanda. It is also uncertain how available he is going to be, as the artist has tour dates starting with June 10 — only five games into the season. But his acquisition has already attracted a lot of media attention. You can learn more about players and teams in different kinds of sports, and place bets on them online at https://bookmaker-ratings.net.za/bonuses/ , follow the link to learn about bonuses.
CEBL lost its Michael Jordan. Three years in a row Xavier Moon earned the CEBL Player of the Year prize. The American guard (Now with the LA Clippers) also directed Edmonton to the title in both of the last two seasons and accepted Finals MVP honours. He’s one of the CEBL players who leaped to the NBA during the last season as it grappled with COVID-affiliated problems. Another one is Lindell Wigginton, the Canadian Player of 2021, who has joined the Milwaukee Bucks upon exiting Hamilton. While losing such stars is sad, at the end of the day it might have a positive effect on the CEBL as it proves to players and fans the league can serve as a gateway to the NBA.
A new Moon might be rising. Since the departure of their celebrity, Edmonton may rely more on the forward Jordan Baker, winner of the 2020 Canadian Player of the Year award, who got 14.9 points and 9.4 rebounds on average last season. Kadre Gray is another powerful Canadian, previously a Laurentian U Sports star who averaged 15.3 points last year and 4.6 assists for Ottawa and is now part of the Fraser Valley Bandits. Guelph’s Cat Barber can take over the title, an American guard who averaged 17.6 points last season before getting a short break with the Atlanta Hawks.
The Elam Ending is still a thing. For years basketball geeks have been telling the NBA to embrace this inspiring way of ending matches. It removes the irritating custom of the losing team purposely fouling when the game is coming to an end. The NBA successfully tried it in 2020 at its All-Star Game, but they have not had the courage to try it in significant games. The CEBL has been doing it since 2020.
Also Interesting
The bizarre story of Taro Tsujimoto

The National Hockey League (NHL) has seen its fair share of strange moments, but few compare to the bizarre and hilarious tale of Taro Tsujimoto, a player who never existed. His “selection” in the 1974 NHL Draft remains one of the most legendary pranks in hockey history. If you want to wager on actual players, making the 1xBet app download is definitely a great idea.
In the 1970s, the NHL Draft was a much less glamorous event than today. It was a tedious process conducted over the phone, with teams calling in their picks. The 3 biggest highlights of what happened during that year’s draft were:
- the draft dragged on for hours;
- there were multiple rounds and teams selecting unknown prospects from obscure leagues;
- frustrated with the monotony, Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach decided to have a little fun.
As the 11th round approached, Imlach instructed his team’s representative to draft Taro Tsujimoto, a supposed forward from the Tokyo Katanas of the Japan Ice Hockey League. The name sounded authentic enough. The league officials, unfamiliar with Japanese hockey, accepted the pick without question. By downloading the 1xBet app you will also be able to wager on great NHL teams too.
A small problem
There was a small problem with all of this, as 2 things didn’t exist: Tsujimoto and the Tokyo Katanas. Imlach had completely fabricated the player as a joke, taking advantage of the NHL’s lack of verification. When it comes to NHL wagers, there is no better platform than the 1xBet Canada site.
For weeks, the league listed Tsujimoto as an official draft pick, and even some newspapers reported on Buffalo’s mysterious new Japanese prospect. Eventually, the Sabres admitted the hoax, and the NHL was forced to retroactively erase the selection from its records.
Despite being a fictional player, Taro Tsujimoto took on a life of his own. Buffalo Sabres fans embraced the prank, and over the years, his name has become a cult legend in hockey culture. Some fans even wore jerseys with “Tsujimoto” on the back. The joke persisted so much that when EA Sports released NHL video games, players could occasionally find Tsujimoto in the game’s draft pool as a hidden Easter egg.
More than just a prank, the story of Taro Tsujimoto highlights 2 things: the quirks of old-school sports management and the creativity of one of hockey’s most colorful executives. Today, with the draft process being highly scrutinized and broadcast live, such a prank would be impossible. But Tsujimoto’s legacy lives on as one of hockey’s greatest inside jokes. What is not a joke are the great rewards that a platform like the Canadian 1xBet site can give you.
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60% of Canadians gamble each month – why the industry is going from strength to strength

When it comes to regulating gambling, Canada has a somewhat relaxed approach. The Canadian Gaming Association oversees the industry, but it’s up to individual provinces to enact and enforce any laws relating to online casino gaming, sports betting, traditional casino gaming, and other forms of gambling.
Canada’s online casino gaming laws are not totally clear, but individual provinces are starting to put this right. Ontario was the first and did so when it launched its own regulated igaming market in April 2022. Now some other provinces have followed suit, creating a safer igaming environment for players in those provinces. Below is a look at gambling in Canada compared to other parts of the world, at gaming laws in Alberta compared to other provinces, and at the future of the Canadian, US, and UK gambling industries.
Canada: a forever love of gambling
Gambling in some form or other has always been popular in Canada. Way back in the 1990s, research found six in ten Canadians (60%) gambled every month. Additionally, four in ten (43%) spent between 1 and 20 Canadian dollars on gambling. Fast forward to today and the Canadian gambling market is worth 14.2 billion US dollars as of January 2024, according to data on the website of consumer and market data company Statista.
It seems Canada enjoys wagering just as much as two other countries that love a gamble: the US and the UK. Data on the Statista website shows that 49% of US adults took part in gambling activities in 2023. Fifty-six percent said their attitude towards gambling had relaxed, compared to the 50% of 2019.
The UK returned similar stats for the same year. Forty-eight percent of adults reported engaging in gambling activity. Online casinos generated the most gross gambling yield in 2023, but it was the nation’s National Lottery that people played the most.
Alberta: following Ontario’s lead
The regulatory developments in Ontario have triggered movement in Alberta. In May 2024, Bill 16, the Red Tape Reduction Amendment Act, made it through the process and later received Royal Assent to become law. The act removes the monopoly of gaming by a single government entity and will allow private operators, licensed by Alberta’s provincial regulator, to provide online gaming services in Alberta, meaning players will have a choice of more than one Alberta online casino to play at.
The regulation transforms Alberta into one of the more liberal provinces when it comes to online gambling, others being Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia.
Several provinces, such as Novia Scotia and Northwest Territories, have no provincially regulated online gaming sites. Some also restrict betting on horse racing and/or other types of sports betting, obliging citizens to use international betting sites for freedom from caps and betting on as many events as they wish.
What lies ahead for the Canadian, US, and UK gambling industries?
Canada’s appetite for gambling is clear, and the industry’s online sector is beginning to thrive. Ontario has enjoyed vast success by creating its own regulated market, one which, in just its first year, saw Canadians place billions in wagers and the industry itself generate more than a billion in total gaming revenue.
Canada can expect to see other provinces follow Ontario’s lead and allow private operators to provide services in the province under license. The purpose of the regulation is player protection. Any province that develops a regulated market will focus on this, so there will also be regulations around the advertising of gambling services.
The US
Gambling online is the future for the US, too, although states are slow to legalize it. As of September 2024, 38 states had legalized sports betting, following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that states could regulate sports gambling directly.
Despite allowing sports betting, some states only permit in-person betting, and only a few states allow online casino gaming. Operators believe online casino gaming is the future of gambling.
The UK
In the UK, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will get bigger and bigger. Companies have realized AI can enhance players’ experience and are embracing it more and more. For instance, sports betting websites can use it to crunch data and provide iGamers with stats and other data to make better betting decisions. They’re also understanding they can use AI to prioritize content players are likely to be interested in and to personalize their offerings and services to players’ preferences.
Canada enjoys gambling as much as America and the UK. Although laws around igaming are more of a grey area in Canada, some provinces are clearing the issue up by creating regulated markets and experiencing great success. As time goes by, more are sure to follow.
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