Senator hopes government will regulate 'torrent' of sports gambling ads

Sen. Marty Deacon hopes new legislation will push the government to regulate the “torrent” of sports gambling advertisements she says Canadians are “subjected to on a daily basis,” in an effort to prevent young people and vulnerable groups from developing gambling addictions.

Deacon is introducing legislation Tuesday through a Senate Public Bill to compel the government to set guidelines and regulate the ads, she said, to “get ahead of these problems.”

“The reality is you cannot sit down in this country to enjoy a sport without being exposed to a barrage of such advertising,” she said. “These ads, though, are much more than just annoying, and they can lead to addictions and other harms, through gambling problems.”

According to Deacon, the legislation would see the government working with provinces and other stakeholders to:

• “identify measures to regulate the advertising of game sports betting in Canada, such as limiting or banning the participation of celebrity athletes, restricting the use of non-broadcast advertising, or by limiting the number, scope or location of such advertisements; 
• identify measures to promote research and intergovernmental information sharing in relation to the prevention and diagnosis of minors involved in problematic gambling activities and support measures for those who are impacted by it;
• set out national standards for the prevention and diagnosis of problematic gambling and addiction and for support measures for those who are impacted by this; and
• task the CRTC with reviewing its regulations and policies to assess their adequacy and effectiveness in reducing the incidence of harms resulting from the proliferation of advertising and sport event betting.”

Deacon pointed to other countries, such as the U.K., Italy, Spain, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands, which all have recently introduced regulations on sports betting advertising.

“I think it'd be foolish to wait and see if these same problems arise in Canada and then react to them only when so many lives have been ruined by problem gambling as a result,” Deacon said.

She added an outright ban would be hard to do, if not impossible, citing the historic challenges in regulating tobacco, but said her proposed legislation is “an opportunity to address these problems before they get really rolling and much, much worse.”

Deacon is calling on the government to “find a way to advertise to Canadians without creating addicts,” and said the changes she’d like to see are not confined to the guidelines she’s laid out.

Deacon was joined by Sen. Brent Cotter — a former law professor — who said the pervasiveness of the ads deters from the sports event itself, which should be the focus.

“People can make their own choices about how they enjoy sporting events, but it has detracted from the kind of core and culture of what we have generally embraced with respect to sports,” Cotter said.

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According to David Hodgins, the director the University of Calgary’s clinical psychology program, “sports betting should be viewed as a potentially harmful activity similar to other potentially addictive behaviours/substances.”

He told CTVNews.ca last month the activity should be subject to “thoughtful regulation,” similarly to alcohol and tobacco.

Canada legalized single-game sports betting in 2021 — which both Deacon and Hodgins supported at the time — and left it up to the provinces and territories how they would regulate the industry.

"Sport gambling can lead to significant harm, including runaway debt, stress to families, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and even suicide," Bruce Kidd, former Olympian and University of Toronto professor emeritus, told CTVNews.ca last month. "The American Psychiatric Association classifies addiction to gambling a ‘Gambling disorder,’ the only non-substance-related disorder so classified."

Kidd recently launched the Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling, which states the ads have gotten out of control and should be banned, specifically over the potential harm to young people and to those facing gambling addiction.

With files from CTVNews.ca’s Daniel Otis