Are sports betting ads getting out of control in Canada? Experts weigh in
CTV
A new campaign wants to see sports betting ads banned in Canada over potential harms to young people and those facing gambling addiction.
When tuning into a game, sports betting ads are now about as common as commercials for trucks, beer and wings.
But a new campaign says these gambling ads have gotten out of control and should be banned in Canada over potential harm to young people and those facing gambling addiction.
"I love to watch sports, but watching them on television today feels like I’m in a casino," former Olympian and University of Toronto professor emeritus Bruce Kidd told CTVNews.ca. "The most serious problem with betting ads is that they accentuate the propensity to bet, and as a result, the addiction to gambling."
Along with former Toronto mayor John Sewell and colleagues from the university's faculty of kinesiology and physical education, Kidd recently launched the Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling, which is specifically taking aim at online sports betting ads.
"Sport gambling can lead to significant harm, including runaway debt, stress to families, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and even suicide," Kidd said. "The American Psychiatric Association classifies addiction to gambling a ‘Gambling disorder’, the only non-substance-related disorder so classified."
When Canada legalized single-game sports betting in Aug. 2021, it allowed provinces to regulate the industry. B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces all currently allow a sole provincially-owned lottery operator to offer online and in-store betting, while the territories only permit bets at retail locations.
Ontario has taken a very different approach and has opened its online sports betting market to more than two dozen third-party operators. They are managed by iGaming Ontario, which is a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, a provincial regulator. The provincially-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, or OLG, also offers sports betting in Canada's most populous province.
