A call for an end to gambling advertisements as athletes and celebrities are excluded from them

USA

As the hockey season comes to an end, many Canadians have two things on their minds: their teams’ playoff chances and a barrage of television advertisements for online sports gambling.

The flood of commercials is an Ontario creation. Canada’s most populous province decided to go for a competitive market just under two years ago after the federal government opened up sports betting. As of Friday 79 online gambling sites, not all of which are sports-based, may relieve Ontarians of their money. In other provinces, sports betting is part of the provincial lottery system.

Just over a week ago, Ontario introduced new rules banning online gambling ads featuring athletes and celebrities, including hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, as well as current NHL stars Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.

But a group that includes some prominent members of Canada’s sports community now wants the federal government to step in and go much further by banning all gambling advertising. The question is modeled after Canada’s strict restrictions on cigarette advertising, which research has shown to be an effective tool for reducing smoking.

The group is part of a growing backlash against online sports betting that my colleagues Eric Lipton and Kevin Draper recently wrote about. And Jenny Vrentas, another colleague, has reported on the push-and-pull that online gambling has brought to the NFL

[Read: First Came the Sports Betting Boom. Now Comes the Backlash]

[Read: N.F.L.’s Rapid Embrace of Gambling Creates Mixed Signals]

The members of the group, Ban gambling advertisements, have a number of different motifs. Like other critics, they argue that sports betting fuels gambling addictions and ultimately imposes costs on the public health care system and the overall economy that exceed the tax revenue it generates.

But Bruce Kidd, the group’s chairman and member of The Canadian track team at the 1964 Olympics told me he had a different motivation.

“There are people who say you like sports more if you gamble,” said Mr. Kidd, professor emeritus of sports and public policy at the University of Toronto. “I say you are ruining the sport if you promote betting because it epitomizes the sport in the first place – it takes the fun out of physical activity. And second, it reduces this extraordinarily rich, multifaceted cultural experience to one or two decisions, such as whether the referee throws a flag in the first quarter.”

He added that athletes are now the target of sometimes racist online abuse – not because they lose a match, but because they don’t score enough or score too much to match some punters’ bets.

The Canadian Gaming Association, the industry’s national trade group, did not return my request for comment.

For starters, the group is in favor of a bill introduced in the Senate last year that would do this regulate sports betting advertisements. But it is not backed by the government, something Mr Kidd acknowledged could hugely limit its chances of becoming law.

Last year, a study in Australia recommended phasing out online gambling advertisements over three years. But in November the government arrived seemed to reject this approachciting the importance of online gambling revenue for many sports clubs and leagues.

But further restrictions on advertising are being considered in other countries, including Britain. The Guardian announced last year that this would be the case no longer accept gambling advertisements on its news websites to address the “pervasive nature of retargeted digital advertising that traps some people in an addictive and unhealthy gambling cycle.”

(Jordan Cohen, a spokesman for The New York Times Company, said it accepts gambling ads if the advertiser “completes a certification form certifying that its advertising and gambling products fully comply with all applicable laws.” The Athletic, owned by The Times Company and provides sports articles to The New York Times, is BetMGM’s “sports betting partner” in Canada and the United States. It has an exclusive advertising arrangement in the two countries, he added.)

Mr Kidd said any advertising ban could ultimately rule out things like raffles and 50-50 charity draws at sporting events. But he added that he was confident that the continued growth of online gambling, and the problems that come with it, would bring change to Canada.

“For the most part, we think international pressure is moving toward more regulation,” he said. “Gambling addiction is the only non-substantial form of addiction.”

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Ian Austen, born in Windsor, Ontario, educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has been writing about Canada for The New York Times for 20 years. Follow him on Bluesky: @ianausten.bsky.social

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