Bulletin 8, February 26, 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.
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In this Bulletin:
1. An update on our campaign
2. Ontario, the wild west for gambling
3. Can’t see the game for the gambling ads
4. Social media
5. Subscribe to the Bulletin
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1. An update on our campaign
We never expected it would be easy to get legislation banning gambling ads, similar to legislation banning ads just for tobacco and cannabis. But things are moving forward.
We understand that discussions have been held between those in the Senate, so that debate on Bill S-269 is expected to come before the Senate in the next few weeks, hopefully by mid-March. This is good news, since at the end of last year the Senate was swamped by legislation from the House of Commons and the Bill was set aside. But it now seems it will again get attention.
As well, we believe that one piece of the puzzle of getting the government to own the issue once it has been approved by the Senate, is ensuring the New Democratic Party supports the issue. We are contacting NDP MPs to ensure they are onside. Subscribers to the Bulletin living in ridings represented by the NDP are asked to contact their member for support, and then send us any responses to us at info@banadsforgambling.ca.
Trustee Shelley Laskin is sponsoring a motion supporting our legislative request at the Toronto District Board of Education. We will be speaking to the matter at a Board committee meeting on February 28, and it then goes to the full Board in early March. Laskin’s motion also asks staff to contact all other school boards in Ontario and across the country asking for their endorsement, as well as writing various politicians about the matter. A similar motion has already been passed by the Bluewater Board of Education in Owen Sound.
Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, advises that the Board of Health adopted a report in November 2023, Our Health, Our City: A Mental Health, Substance Use, Harm Reduction and Treatment Strategy for Toronto (available here.) The strategy specifically acknowledges gambling as a process-related or behavioural addiction, and includes a gambling-related recommended action under Goal 1, which is “to promote mental health and wellbeing across the lifespan.” The strategy “encourages exploring mechanisms that can be used by municipalities to reduce the health and social effects of problem gambling.”
An updated report will be available at the Board of Health this Spring, and we will address the issue then with the specific request that the Board request the federal government for legislation banning gambling ads and that other Boards of Health be contacted for their support.
2. Ontario, the wild west for gambling
Las Vegas used to be the place where gambling happened in ways that many thought was out of control. But in fact Nevada has strong rules about what you can place a bet on, unlike Ontario where anything goes.
As the Globe and Mail reported just before the Superbowl, “Nevada’s gaming laws place tight guardrails around bookmakers, generally restricting them to bets about what takes place on the field and what can be verified in a box score.
“Not so in Ontario. So long as the product is certified by a testing laboratory – which evaluates the integrity of a gaming system – “you can take bets on almost anything,” said Danielle Bush, a Toronto lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault who is co-lead of the firm’s national gaming, lottery and esports group.
“FanDuel Canada has four Taylor Swift bets open only to people in the province. Will Mr. Kelce propose to Ms. Swift? Will the game’s most valuable player – whoever that is – mention Ms. Swift in his speech? Will she once again wear a Kristin Juszczyk design, such as the custom jacket she sported last month? Will Kansas City coach Andy Reid mention Ms. Swift in his podium interview or speech?”
In Ontario, anything goes when it comes to gambling. It is irresponsible that Premier Doug Ford would allow this to happen.
See https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-taylor-swift-super-bowl-betting-ontario/
3. Can’t see the game for the gambling ads
CBC's Marketplace worked with researchers at the University of Bristol to study five National Hockey League games and two National Basketball Association games in late October. They found that gambling messages filled up to 21 per cent of each broadcast, on average.
The researchers counted gambling messages including betting company logos, commercials, sponsored segments and any time betting odds appeared on screen – a total of 3,537 gambling messages across all broadcasts, or about 2.8 every minute, totalling one-fifth of the viewing time.
See https://www.cbc.ca/news/marketplace/sports-betting-gambling-advertisements-1.7086400
Our political leaders need to address this onslaught. The harm it does is enormous.
4. Social media
Ban Ads for Gambling has started an Instagram account that summarizes key points of each Bulletin to reach a wider audience and increase subscriptions to our Bulletin and to the web site. Please follow our account and share our posts to your followers.
https://www.instagram.com/banadsforgambling.ca
5. 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