There’s a new push underway to ban all sports gambling ads in Canada after a petition addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney was signed by more than 40 senators.
The petition, championed by Sen. Percy E. Downe and Sen. Marty Deacon, says there is “very real harm” being done from sports gambling advertising in Canada.
“People of all ages (are) exposed to a constant stream of advertisements promising a ‘premium gaming experience’ and urging them to turn their phone into a pocket-sized casino,” the petition letter says.
“We are asking for a ban on all advertising for sports gambling apps and websites. Such a measure would be similar to the advertising ban for cigarettes, and for the same reason: to address a public health problem.”
This comes after similar calls from medical experts across the country. The Canadian Medical Association Journal released an editorial in September urging restrictions and cautioning about the dangers of sports betting advertisements.
Sports betting has taken off ever since it was legalized in Canada in 2021, including with the ability for users to place bets on single games using their smartphones. This means legal participants can place wagers on an NHL hockey game, for instance, and sometimes even as the games are happening.
According to a Leger survey released in September, 19 per cent of Canadian adults said they have placed a sports wager in the past year, which is down slightly from 21 per cent the previous year.
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However, the study did not ask Canadians under the age of 18.
Even if they aren’t placing wagers directly, younger Canadians are still being exposed to the gambling world earlier than previous generations because of these ads, experts say.
“I was sitting on the couch with my then seven-year-old son watching hockey highlights and he asked me what the difference was between an over-under and a plus-minus. It was pretty shocking that he conflated these two terms, and it began this ‘dad moment’ there, in that it was an opportunity for a discussion,” says Dr. Shawn Kelly, a pediatrician with the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine.
“But it did ring some alarm bells and caused me to dive deeply into what we know about gambling advertising and gambling harms — specifically in youth.”
Kelly goes on to say: “We know that this worsens mental health, we know it increases school absenteeism, and it increases criminal behaviour or delinquency in minors. For some people with a severe gambling disorder, suicide is the number one cause of death for people suffering from this disease.”
“Adolescents are particularly sensitive. What they see is the possibility of easy money, of a thrill of all of these things, these risk-taking behaviours that are really a hallmark of adolescence. But now they’re directed in a place where profits can be extracted from these adolescents and who are falling victim to their brain chemistry and neurodevelopment.”
Part of the problem, as one psychology expert points out, is how vulnerable younger people are when exposed to these ads.
“The marketing is really targeting youth, who are often looking for quick rewards, and this kind of feeds into that idea,” says Steve Joordens, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto.
“They brag about their victories to each other and feel a lot of pride when they get a bet right. Older people tend to be a little more quiet about what’s going on. It’s just all around them, it’s being presented as normal, and they don’t really understand the risks.”
Joordens says gambling can quickly become addictive.
“The reason it’s so dangerous is because of its use of random rewards. In the brain, with random rewards, if you haven’t gotten one for a while, it keeps feeling like the next one is more and more likely, and so you want to keep chasing. That’s where most people run into the problem, and incur a whole lot of debt,” says Joordens.
“It is now a major suicide issue. When you go to the suicide websites, there are sections just for problem gamblers. And when you’re indoctrinating kids into this activity, in the context of a really beautiful thing like sport, it’s a real shame.”
With advertising gambling sites, particularly for sports betting, Joordens says these ads are intertwined with the act of watching and engaging as a sports fan to encourage viewers to bet as part of the engagement with the game or match.
“Every advertisement is designed just to get people gambling, and the people who are presenting the sports to us are also talking about their bets. This really normalizes it and makes it seem like this is part of being a sport fan because every sport fan they see does this,” says Joordens.
“The ads are always happy. They’re always focused on people winning. It’s exciting. People are young and attractive that are doing it. They’re using every psychological tool in the book to get people just to try gambling.”
Last month, the Senate passed a bill that would ban sports gambling ads, with Deacon one of the main senators behind the bill. However, the bill would also need to be taken up by the House of Commons and be passed there to have a chance at becoming law, and that has not yet happened.
The petition letter sent this week adds pressure on Carney to have his government support the Senate bill, but there’s no indication so far that they will do so.
“We cannot legislate away human weakness, but we can limit the ability of others to profit from that weakness, or indeed to promote the exploitation of that weakness,” the senators’ letter says.
Kelly says he supports the petition letter urging Carney to ban these ads in Canada.
“This new push is a wonderful show of support and willingness and interest in getting this right,” said Kelly.
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