More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The NFL is spending US$6.2 million to help expand programs to prevent or treat problem gambling across the country.
The league is launching a responsible betting initiative aimed at getting fans to set limits on their wagers, understand the risks of betting, and know where to get help if things get out of hand. It is partnering with the National Council on Problem Gambling to improve the group's nationwide help line, create new treatment programs and expand existing ones, and educate football fans who gamble on how to do so responsibly.
A three-year effort will include in-game messaging, social media outreach, broadcast, print and in-stadium messaging. Some of it will target people who are too young to legally gamble but may feel tempted to do so.
More than 45 million Americans say they plan to bet on NFL games this year, according to the American Gaming Association, the casino industry's national trade group. That's an increase of 36% from last year.
“Sports betting is supposed to be fun,” said Christopher Halpin, the NFL's executive vice president, chief strategy and growth officer. “We feel it is critical that the NFL uses the power of our voice to educate and encourage fans who choose to gamble to do so in a safe and responsible way. We also recognize that responsible betting programs across the country are under-resourced, especially as legalization spreads nationwide.”
Keith Whyte, executive director of the council, said the NFL's funding will enable it to “exponentially” expand its advocacy, awareness and assistance efforts regarding problem gambling.
“We will be able to help so many more people as a result of this,” he said. “The NFL has set an example for the other professional sports leagues who also need to realize their obligation to address the downside of sports betting as much as they embrace the upside.”
Whyte said about 2% of the U.S. population has a gambling problem, but among those who have gambled within the last 12 months, the rate is 5%.
He said the need for compulsive gambling treatment and prevention has grown since New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case in 2018 clearing the way for all 50 states to offer legal sports betting. Half the states currently do.
“We think the risk has doubled since then,” Whyte said.
He said the council is seeing more respondents to its surveys say they believe gambling is a good way to make money; that they frequently rely on it as a way to pay for daily living expenses; and that they lie about their gambling to family members - all indicators of a potential gambling problem.
Whyte said the council plans to offer grants to local groups to develop programs aimed at young people, including those under the legal gambling age of 21.
“By the time kids come to college, the majority of student-athletes has already bet on sports,” he said.
Whyte said talks are under way that could lead to similar agreements with the NBA, Major League Baseball, and the Women's Tennis Association.
The NFL says it will work with its official sports betting partners - Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, and FanDuel - to share information and support the effort. Each of those sports betting operators has developed its own responsible gambling program.
“Anyone with a role in legal gaming shares a mutual interest and critical role in reducing the incidence of and harm caused by problem gambling,” said Chris Holdren, co-president of Caesars Digital.
A central message of the campaign will be the slogan “Stick to Your Game Plan. Always Bet Responsibly.”
It will encourage gamblers to decide in advance what and how much they will bet on, to know their own limitations and tendencies, and to understand how betting and sports books work. It also will direct them to the website responsibleplay.org for additional resources.
Halpin said about 17% of NFL fans aged 21 and over describe themselves as frequent sports bettors, although the term has not been defined. An additional 30% describe themselves as casual bettors (who may enter office Super Bowl pools) or aspirational bettors, who say they want to bet once it becomes legal in their state.
“As legalization expands, problem gambling grows,” Halpin said. “For the casual bettor, now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to teach them what responsible betting looks like: mindfulness, setting betting budgets, knowing your operator, knowing how parlays and other kinds of bets work. We intend to get this right.”
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”