Tired of being inundated with sports betting advertisements during hockey games and other sporting events on TV? You are not alone. Several organizations are calling – with good reason – to ban online betting advertisements in Canada.
Among those calling on governments to act is a family name well known to Montreal hockey fans: Subban.
No, it’s not ex-star defenseman PK Subban.
Instead, it was his father, Karl Subban, a retired school principal whose three sons were drafted into the National Hockey League, who called on governments to ban sports betting ads during sporting events.
For what ? Because of the devastation that online gambling can represent for the most vulnerable people, particularly adolescents and young adults, argues the Ban Ads for Gambling coalition, of which Mr. Subban is one of the spokespersons.
“They attract the attention of young people. It is a powerful marketing tool that can have a detrimental effect on the realization of the potential and the dreams of young people,” Karl Subban told Radio-Canada.
In Canada, it is indeed impossible to watch a hockey match in English – for example the Stanley Cup final which begins on Saturday – without being inundated with advertisements from Bet99 and DraftKings (these private operators are no longer “illegal” in Ontario, where there has been a licensing system since last year, which is not the case in Quebec, where these paying sites remain illegal). Ads that feature popular athletes like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Wayne Gretzky and Georges St-Pierre.
On French-language TV, sports betting ads are (fortunately) less frequent since Loto-Québec (Mise-o-jeu) kicked out Bet99 ads thanks to an exclusive agreement with RDS and TVA Sports.
Since allowing single betting on sporting events in Canada in 20211, we let sports betting sites advertise as much as they want. Without worrying about the consequences. As if online gambling were a product like any other. While it is an addiction, a mental health problem and a public health issue.
Generally, between 3% and 5% of bettors develop gambling problems. Some of them become addicted. Leave all their savings there. Or worse, their life. In 2022, a 26-year-old Quebecer with no debt or history of depression committed suicide after winning and then losing $100,000 in online poker.
We should treat online gambling like cigarettes and cannabis, two other products harmful to health whose sale to minors and all advertising are prohibited2.
We are not preventing Canadians aged 18 and over from buying cigarettes, but we do not want advertising to encourage them to do so.
The same reasoning must prevail for online gambling. It is already prohibited for minors. Ottawa and Quebec must now pass laws to restrict advertising.
Ontario is currently considering banning sports stars and influencers from advertising for sports betting. This proposal does not go far enough, according to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. The country’s largest mental health hospital is calling for a ban on online gambling advertising during sporting events, like in the UK.
Faced with the incessant stream of sports betting advertisements on Anglo-Canadian TV, any restriction is welcome.
As long as we act, we are leaning towards a complete ban on online gambling advertisements. On everything: sponsorships, traditional media, social networks, the Internet.
In Quebec, only one exception would be allowed for Loto-Quebec, the Crown corporation that holds the monopoly on paid gaming.
It’s already too easy to play online. No need to make the situation worse with the advertising of “illegal” players.
1. Since 2021, Canadian law allows single sports betting (on a single sporting event) on a gambling site authorized by a province. Previously, the law prohibited single bets (for example: betting on a victory of the Montreal Canadiens), but allowed bets on at least two sporting events for the same bet (for example: betting on two matches of the National Hockey League ).
2. Smoking is responsible for 72% of lung cancer, increases the risk of 16 types of cancer, and most smokers will live 10 years less, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.