Online gambling sites are “illegal”, but they appear everywhere. There’s no way to watch a sports program without being inundated with poker or sports betting ads.
I put quotes in “illegal” because the trick is to advertise Bet99.net, which is free to play, not Bet99.com, which is a paid betting site. It would be necessary to be stupid or hypocritical not to see that one leads directly to the other: it is by announcing the free site that we strike the fish for the real site.
On Wednesday, my colleague Ariane Krol told the story of this 26-year-old guy, uneventful, in no way depressed, who had a good job… and who got caught in the nets of an online poker site established in stranger – not quite sure which site it is.
He won $100,000…then lost it all. The site has all sorts of schemes apparently to not pay right away and encourage replay.
He committed suicide.
Of course, most people play reasonably. Like most people drink sensibly.
Of course also, online sports betting is not like poker.
But they have this in common: they’re accessible like never before, more addictive than ever, and more out of control than ever.
The government of Quebec tried to block these sites on internet servers in 2016, to leave exclusivity to Loto-Quebec. The Court of Appeal invalidated the maneuver, which affects telecommunications, which are under federal jurisdiction. Ottawa doesn’t seem to want to get involved.
Despite this, this kind of mechanism could be circumvented in all sorts of ways.
If we cannot prevent them, should we allow their publicity?
The UK said no, and for good reason: tens of thousands of minors are addicted to online gambling.
Sport is an extraordinary advertising vehicle. It’s not for nothing that we see Bet99 associated with CF Montreal, the Alouettes and now the National Hockey League.
The biggest sports stars are associated with online gambling. The world’s biggest hockey star, Connor McDavid, is a Bet99 spokesperson. Wayne Gretzky too. Like Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews.
When CBC reporters wanted to ask him about it, he turned them around. Hockey questions, please!
However, there are legitimate questions to ask these athletes who are the idols of a whole youth, and who sell them gambling questionable, in fact not questionable: illegal in Canada.
Sports betting, taboo in professional leagues until recently, is now authorized in the United States. Both the NHL and the NFL have a team in Las Vegas. At the same time, we have seen the multiplication of gambling and betting sites established in tax havens or hidden behind opaque legal screens.
The use of sports stars is a magnificent system for whitewashing an activity which, in addition to being illegal, puts young people in particular at risk.
According to Public Health France172% of 18-35 year olds play online.
As the experts say, these games are “a casino in your pocket”. They are even more addictive than those in casinos2 : you can play it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at home. We no longer only bet on the result, but on all sorts of things: the number of penalties, the author of the last goal, etc. Even better, the bet can be made during the game.
In short, you can more easily and more dangerously skid with this thing at your fingertips.
Yes, but doesn’t Loto-Québec do the same thing?
Basically, yes. But first, its income goes to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Quebec, not to tax havens abroad.
Second, being a Crown corporation, it is held to certain standards of honesty, transparency, and oversight. It is possible to summon the CEO of Loto-Québec to the National Assembly. Good luck with the foggy online gambling sites…
I am not trying to claim that we can or should ban all forms of online gambling.
I say, however, that the sports teams, which have plunged headlong into this dubious industry, are accountable. The media are obviously in constant danger of conflict of interest, given the appearance of this unexpected godsend in a shrinking advertising market.
But it’s not a bit embarrassing to promote the gambling for the benefit of opaque companies?
It is time to deal with this phenomenon for what it is: a public health, ethical and legal issue.
Smoking isn’t even illegal. However, we do not have the right to advertise it.
There are good reasons to do the same with gambling and sports betting.