The Olympic Movement shouldn't sell gambling.
Our letter to the Canadian Olympic Committee's Board of Directors, urging the COC to terminate its “official supplier” relationship with the OLG and to bar gambling sponsorship in its Code of Ethics.
November 1, 2024
To President Smith and Members of the Board of Directors
Canadian Olympic Committee
Dear Tricia and friends:
As lifelong participants in the Olympic Movement, we are dismayed by the COC's decision to engage the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) as an “official supplier”.
Gambling is an industry that systematically harms millions of people, including sports-loving children and youth, drawing them into a lifetime of social problems, including addiction. Sports betting, which OLG encourages through Proline, disembodies sports, detaching them from active physical activity, healthy personal growth and cultural development. It is the antithesis of the ‘way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for internationally recognised human rights and universal fundamental ethical principles’ that the Olympic Movement is dedicated to foster.
A recent report by the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling estimated that 80 million adults worldwide experience gambling disorder or problematic gambling. ‘Problem gambling’ has been classified as a non-substance-related addictive disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. According to a recent survey by Mental Health Research Canada, 7% of Canadians present high risk of problem gambling and this proportion is even higher among younger Canadians (18–34 years old: 15%). While the percentage may seem small, the numbers they represent are huge: 7% of Canadians is 2.7 million people.
Gambling also harms sport when dissatisfied bettors abuse athletes and referees when their performances are associated with losing wagers.
The harms created by gambling and sports betting are well documented. If you require any more information, we would be happy to supply it.
The COC's stated purpose is ‘to transform Canada through the power of sport’ and to promote a safe, healthy, and fair sport environment (safe sport). It is incongruous that it has an official supplier whose raison d'être is the promotion of a product that threatens the mental health and well-being of Canadians. Associating the Olympic Movement in Canada with the gambling industry legitimates harmful practices.
We are also distressed that, as you say in your media release of July 16, 2024, ‘OLG's campaign features Team Canada athletes Andre De Grasse, Penny Oleksiak, Maggie MacNeil, Jillian Weir and other Ontario athletes and Para athletes’. The rules of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario prohibit the use of celebrities in gambling advertisements if a celebrity would likely be expected to appeal to minors. Olympic athletes strongly appeal to minors. The appearance of Team Canada athletes in the OLG campaign not only undermines the values of the Olympic Movement but violates Ontario rules.
We strongly urge the Canadian Olympic Committee to terminate its relationship with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
We ask you to publicly support Senator Marty Deacon's Bill S-269, An Act Respecting a National Framework on Advertising for Sports Betting.
Canadian Olympic Committee Code of Ethics. We also recommend that the COC's Code of Ethics be amended to include, as a policy, that it will not accept sponsorships from the following industries:
- Tobacco
- Vaping
- Alcohol
- Cannabis
- Gambling
- Pharmaceutical
- Firearms
Thank you for your consideration. We would be pleased to discuss this with you in person at an appropriate time.
With best wishes,
Joel Finlay OLY
Bruce Kidd OLY
For Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling
Copies to: Senator Marty Deacon · Hon. Carla Qualtrough, MP, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity · Hon. Neil Lumsden, MPP, Ontario Minister of Sport