Yes. And it could come down to Canadian state and federal politics: the casino/poker offering is currently legislated by the QC govt; and sports betting by the ENTIRE Canadian govt. I'll explain (warning: this is long and wonky).
The current laws regarding offshore operators offering internet gambling to Canadian citizens are opaque....but there *is* a difference between poker and sportsbetting in the eyes of the government and the consumer.
Poker/Casino: Loto Quebec is in the process of running a state run monopoly on online gaming offerings from casino to poker. They want sites like Pokerstars and TonyBet and PartyPoker out and wish to install the Dutch model (i.e. high taxes) for this style of gaming to drive up revenue for the govt. Uncle Patrice over at Loto Quebec wants a piece of that dollar de Canada whenever you play online in the QC jurisdiction. Poker/Casino for the most part is not all that popular online and there is no where near the amount of voter opinion push back on it than there is on sportsbetting (more on this in a sec).
Bovada is an unregulated competitor of Loto Quebec, in a territory no less where the Quebec govt and the Kahnawake already feud over stuff like this as it is, as Quebec can't just serve a warrant and shut down operations at the Bovada offices in the Kahnawake because a lot like here in the US, the Native Canadian lands get special privileges in terms of taxes and sovereignty (for example: you can get $0.75 gas and $0.50 cigarettes in the Kahnawake lands, and they also have poker rooms which compete with Casinos du Quebec, which are state run). The Quebec govt does NOT like that. Bovada would still like to offer poker to these customers, without interference, as well as have uninterrupted service to the US (and even more enticing, to fence off the US/Canada players from the ROW because they know the US/Canada poker regs like Druff are a negative ROI for their site; even Amaya admitted as such, and they fucking own Pokerstars). They kill two birds with one stone with this pivot, Druff puts that sentiment perfectly with this post.
There have been rumors that the latest round of lag experienced by ALL user on Bovada's poker sites has actually been driven by ISP's in QC throttling at the (in)direction from the Quebec govt. They want to block Bovada/Bodog as a poker site.
Sportsbetting: This is different because sportsbetting in Canada, and the companies that offer it, have had way more time to entrench their feet into the legislature as well as to voters. Canada has tried to ban sportsbetting several times under Tory leadership, but have failed because it does not poll well and there no major political will to do so on a Canadian federal level. There are way more people who fancy a bet on the horses or a CFL game than want to play online poker (a comparison would be how DFS has made quick inroads to state legislatures over the last year, and online poker has had its dick in the sand for 10+). They also know that folks in the United States, like in Ohio and Michigan, are more likely to cross the border to place a sports bet in a B&M casino, than to play poker. It actually creates jobs; Ceasars Windsor said that the new sports betting bill alone created 100 jobs, which politically looks good for any government.
So instead of fighting it every tooth in nail, they passed a bill that allows for a regulated market that could be joined by anyone wishing to submit to proper regulation, as well as make way for state run sports betting (like Quebec's Mise-O-Jeu).
Bodog, which is "technically" a different company than Bovada, is a legit business in the UK. They just became the sponsor for the Aston Villa FC kits today. Methinks that besides maybe some bookmakers and customer service people (who I know for a fact work from within Kahnawake; I've had a few deal to me at Playground), the sports betting operation is already out of Quebec and the only "operations" left were some servers in Quebec for the poker. And why? A lot like PartyPoker when they left the US market in 2006, Bodog can go to the Canadian government and say, "hey look, we complied, we want to be a part of the legal sports betting market once the Canadian casinos have been vetted and the online boarding process begins." And now legally, when questioned on whether Bodog, Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, and Ignition are the same: bodog can claim ignorance (and according to some 2p2 posters, they called bodog CS and they don't even recognize what bovada is if you ask them) AND the Canadian state can't just go into the Kahnawake area and serve warrants.
Today was about legal jiu-jitsu and corporate ratfuckery, IMO. Quebec won't step on the Canadian govts toes (their relationship isn't great to begin with) when it comes to this because of the national conversation that has occurred on about sports betting over the last 25 years. Online poker, while we are all 10+ year vets, is still kind of a new thing, and the provinces (like Quebec) can exert more control over that because there isn't as much of a political will to stop them from doing that.
The potential for provincially regulated sports betting could also change the game for many online operators once Canada develops even more regulations for the offerings. Hell, you can already bet sports on bodog right now in Canada if you want to....so I am sure they've already hedged that bet years ago in terms of moving the operation. Canada, and QC when it comes to sports betting, simply doesn't care because I think they also (correctly) view they can't stop it except at the transaction level, like here in the US.
With poker, they can, because it requires an actual connection to a server and the state can easily set up a gate keeper with this product moreso than sports betting, which can be done by anybody who has a spreadsheet and knows HTML.