We are concerned about the impact of gambling advertising on sporting events.

Harms from gambling include financial problems, stress to families, youth and children, mental health issues including addiction and even suicide – among other documented economic and social issues that negatively affect Canadians. Gambling ads – in both content and frequency – are particularly enticing to adolescents and other vulnerable persons, especially those struggling with gambling addiction. Furthermore, the exhortation to gamble demeans the spirit of sport.

As well, Gambling disorder is classified as a non-substance-related disorder within “Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders” in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Gambling can cause low self-esteem, stress, anxiety and depression if gambling becomes a problem. Gambling can become an addiction, just like drugs or alcohol, if you use it compulsively or feel out of control. Gambling can affect the part of our brain that releases dopamine.

Our goal is to have advertising that promotes gambling banned.

It won’t be easy, given the financial muscle of the gaming and sports industries, now firmly in partnership over sports betting, as well as the media which gets revenue from the ads, but we think the public interest is overwhelmingly in favour of doing something about the ads, and that gambling ads should be banned just as tobacco and cannabis ads are.

An amendment to the Criminal Code was made through Private Members Bill C-218 in mid-2021. The Code prohibits gaming but provides an exception to a province which `controls and manages’ gambling, and before 2021 that took the form of lotteries. The amendment permits gambling on sports games, while still requiring provinces to `control and manage’ these activities. Many have asked whether the large international gambling companies are really controlled and managed by provinces, and whether provinces which licence them are skirting the law.

The Campaign to Ban Advertising for Gambling wishes to prohibit advertising of these gambling activities. We do not expect to stop gambling itself. We wish to see the same kinds of controls on advertising for gambling that is in place for tobacco and cannabis, since gambling, too, can become a dangerous addictive problem.

The letter sent by the Campaign to the Minister may be found in the Resources section.

The following are some members of the steering committee of the Campaign:

Alan Broadbent, Robin Campbell, Peter Donnelly, Joel Finlay, Gretchen Kerr, Bruce Kidd, John Macfarlane, Ian Morrison, Wayne Olson, John Sewell, Karl Subban