‘Drug wrapped in a game’: Group calls for ban on online gambling ads

A group of students is calling on the province to make it harder for youth to see online gambling ads and for Oilers' McDavid to stop appearing in them.

University of Alberta students are calling on the provincial government to take action to keep young people safe from the harms of online gambling.

Student Advocates for Public Health (SAPH), a group of graduate students currently taking a class about public health advocacy at the School of Public Health, are asking the Alberta government to do three things:

• ban all online gambling advertising on provincially regulated platforms and work with Ottawa to do the same at the national level;
• increase player protection standards, including reducing betting cap limits; and
• commit to long-term funding for data collection and research.

“I refer to it as a drug wrapped in a game,” said master of public health student Sarah Toay. “People often misconstrue gambling to be different because it’s a behaviour as opposed to an actual substance. It’s still addictive, particularly for children when their brains are still developing.

“And so when you create an environment that is designed to pull them in, it doesn’t matter how many times you tell them don’t do it.… If their friends are doing it, if they see athletes doing it, if it’s there and available, they’re more likely to do it.”

The group pointed to data from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), whose research suggests one in three young adults in the country gamble online, as well as a recent rise in gambling concerns reported to Ontario’s 24-hour mental health and addictions helpline.

According to the CCSA, almost one quarter of young people who gamble online report experiencing harm like reduced savings, increased debt, and feelings of regret and failure.

“When you look at sporting events, while the advertisements may not be specifically (targeted) to children, sporting events are advertised as family events, so we want children and families to come and enjoy the Oilers and whatever other sports are offered. But, when you tailor the ads to that it could be open to anyone, you’re just allowing children to be advertised to, but through a back door,” Toay told CTV News Edmonton.

Regulations coming soon: province

The U of A students have also written a public letter to Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid asking him to stop participating in ads for online gambling.

That is one wish that will be fulfilled when Alberta begins to regulate online gambling in July. Then, Alberta will restrict celebrity endorsements like Ontario started in 2024, require player age verification, and introduce self-set bidding restrictions and a self exclusion process from all gambling websites, casinos and racing centres in the province.

The government will also put one per cent of gross gaming revenues toward research, education, and treatment, according to Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally.

“We know that gambling will never be safe, but you can make it safer and you can make it more responsible,” Nally told CTV News Edmonton in an interview.

According to him, only about one third of online gambling in the province is done through PlayAlberta, the province’s only legal, regulated iGaming site.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sean McClune and Connor Hogg