Bulletin No. 16, November 18, 2024
This Bulletin is published by the Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling, a group of individuals interested in securing legislation to ban advertisements for gambling, just as has been done for tobacco and cannabis. Our website is BanAdsForGambling.ca
**
In this Bulletin:
In this issue:
1. Bill S-269 approved by Senate
2. What you can do
3. Globe and Mail editorial in support
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
****
1. Bill S-269 approved by Senate
On Tuesday, November 5th, Bill S-269 - The National Framework on Advertising for Sports Betting Act - was passed at third reading and sent to the House of Commons. During its time in the Senate, the bill received thorough study at the Senate Committee of Transportation and Communications where senators heard from witnesses such as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Canadian Psychological Association, Lord Michael Grade from the British House of Lords and former Olympian and advocate Bruce Kidd; the bill was passed unamended.
A recent poll conducted by Maru Public Opinion this spring found that 75% of respondents believe there’s a need to protect youth from these kinds of commercials, while 62% believe sports betting owners are not acting responsibly with their ads. What’s more, a recent online survey conducted by Mental Health Research Canada found 7% of Canadians met the criteria for problem gambling. Rates of problem gambling were even higher among younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 years old, reaching 15%.
The Bill now proceeds to the House of Commons where it must be introduced, although the House is now tangled in a filibuster and business is at a halt. But we are hopeful it can soon be introduced. We urge you to write your MP to vote for the bill.
Bill s-269 requires the Minister of Canadian Heritage to conduct broad consultations to `identify measures to regulate the advertising of sports betting in Canada, with a view to restricting the use of such advertising, limiting the number, scope or location — or a combination of these — of the advertisements or to limiting or banning the participation of celebrities and athletes in the promotion of sports betting.’
During those consultations, the Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling will call upon the federal government to ‘restrict’ the use of advertising by implementing a complete ban, just as ads for tobacco and cannabis are banned by federal legislation. We strongly believe, supported by the international research, that a complete ban is the most effective way to address the public health harms created by gambling.
We hope that you agree.
2. What you can do
Please write your Member of Parliament and the Minister of Heritage asking for support for the bill. A draft letter is included on our web site which you can send, and you can modify it if you wish.
3. Globe and Mail editorial in support
Time to ante up on sports betting ads
Forgive us for disrespecting an old Rodney Dangerfield joke, but we went to a betting parlour the other night and a hockey game broke out. Such is the state of advertising for sports betting in Canada.
Anyone who has recently watched a National Hockey League game, or any other professional sport, gets the joke.
Viewers' synapses are inundated with ads for online betting during sports broadcasts. The CBC teamed up with researchers in Britain this year and found that there are almost three pro-gambling messages a minute during games.
This is happening even as evidence shows that problem gambling is harming hundreds of thousands of adults and children around the world, including Canada. Other countries - Britain, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy and Australia - have taken concrete steps to limit advertising for online gambling. But in Canada's multijurisdictional regulatory environment, the rules are so inconsistent as to be irrelevant.
Fixing that will require a federal framework for sports betting advertising of the kind that already exists for alcohol and tobacco. Which is why the House of Commons must quickly enact a Senate bill to create just such a framework. Bill S-269 has been passed at third reading in both houses of Parliament but is being held up, like other bills, by the political shenanigans of the Trudeau government.
With the House at a standstill over the government's refusal to comply with an order to produce documents related to the Sustainable Development Technology Canada scandal, the bill is at risk of not making it across the finish line.
There are only 22 more sitting days to enact it before the House rises for the holidays. If the Liberals needed another reason to bow to the inevitable and do what the House ordered them to do, making Bill S-269 into law is a good one. Every day the urgent need to address the issue of sports betting advertising goes unheeded will harm Canadians.
Ottawa decriminalized single-event sports betting in Canada in 2021. The federal government's stated goal at the time was to take betting on the outcome of a single game, or on various events within a single game (such as who scores first), out of the hands of "a black market that evaded taxes and directed funds to organized crime."
The change was also supposed to let bettors operate in a "regulated and safe environment, at the discretion of the provinces and territories. But that environment is regulated inconsistently, with different rules in different provinces, and it can in no way be considered safe for children or for people with gambling addictions to watch a hockey game on Saturday night and be exposed to relentless pro-gambling messaging.
The rush of companies into the online gambling space (there were 49 different gambling companies operating 72 different gambling websites in Ontario alone in December, 2023) has resulted in a glut of advertising extolling the ease of making bets on a smartphone.
The participation of hockey players in some advertising, combined with sponsored segments during game broadcasts devoted to the odds, have contributed to the normalization of gambling.
Marty Deacon, the Ontario senator who tabled Bill S-269, said last week that 7 per cent of Canadians already meet the criteria for problem gambling, and that the rates are even higher among younger Canadians aged 18 to 34, reaching 15 per cent.
Her bill gives Ottawa a year to negotiate national standards for advertising with the provinces and territories, and to develop a plan for implementing those standards consistently across the country.
The framework would be similar to rules for alcohol, which regulate the content, message, location and timing of booze advertising, and prohibit associating booze with social status, or with the idea that drinking is necessary for the enjoyment of an event, among other things.
Canada is lucky in one way. Other countries that legalized sports betting long before this one, such as Britain, have learned the hard way that unregulated advertising is an invitation to widespread problem gambling, and have had to correct course.
We are still new to the game and have the opportunity to get it right. The MPs in the House need to make sure they don't blow this chance, and enact Bill S-269 before Christmas.
3. Subscribe to the Bulletin
There is no charge for the Bulletin, and we will not share subscriber names. We need as much support as we can get, so please send this Bulletin to your friends and colleagues.
Subscribe at info@banadsforgambling.ca We are also delighted to receive your financial support. Donations to support our work can be made through our website: BanAdsforGambling.ca
Please follow us on Instagram to help spread the word: https://www.instagram.com/banadsforgambling.ca