Ban ads for gambling — a safe-sport issue.

June 20, 2023

BAN ADS FOR GAMBLING AS A CONTRIBUTION TO SAFE SPORT
A brief to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, House of Commons, Parliament of Canada
By Robin Campbell, Gretchen Kerr, Bruce Kidd, Karl Subban and John Sewell — Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling

Thank you for this opportunity to submit a brief on the challenges facing Canadian sport, especially those relating to the safety and well-being of athletes and other participants.

We write to urge the Committee to recommend that Canada ban advertising for gambling, the same way and for the very same reasons that it previously banned advertising for tobacco — to minimize harm.

We write on behalf of the Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling, a group of sports-loving Canadians deeply disturbed by the proliferation and content of advertising for sports betting during televised sports, on social media, and on billboards in and around arenas and stadia. We are Olympians, sports leaders, and parents of athletes, as well as researchers and teachers.

We are deeply concerned about the great harm such ads cause, as well as the perversion of the values of sports their messages project.

We see gambling as a ‘safe sport’ issue. The exhortation to gamble demeans the spirit of sport and creates powerful external pressures upon athletes to perform in ways never intended. Instead of the athleticism, kinaesthetic beauty, ethical values, intercultural respect and communal spirit of sports, sports betting reduces meaning to whether a team or a player achieves a point spread or a within-game parley. Addiction counsellors from the Canadian Mental Health Association report that the barrage of ads has changed the way spectators and fans understand and watch sports, so much so that they become preoccupied with the odds and ‘prop’ bets, the bets within a game, and forget about the skill and athletic drama. The resulting changes in the culture of sports intensify the pressures upon athletes to think about the bet, not the team. Throughout your hearings, witnesses have decried the way that external pressures jeopardize the safety and self-agency in high performance sports. Athletes in sports where betting is allowed are increasingly subjected to abusive pressure placed on them by gamblers through the social media.

Millions of dollars are being poured into ads for sports betting, and it's very effective. The allure of sports betting is heightened by endorser stars like Wayne Gretzky, Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid. Addiction counsellors report that ads are particularly attractive to young Canadian sportsmen, many of whom already suffer from confidence and other mental health issues. Moreover, the legalization of single-sport betting, which gives gamblers a greater sense of control, has also unwittingly encouraged a rapid growth in sports betting, with unfortunate financial and social circumstances for thousands.

Given the relative newness of single-sport betting, survey research on the harms in Canada has just begun. But the international research is clear: gambling ads — in both content and frequency — are particularly enticing to adolescents and other vulnerable persons, especially those struggling with gambling addiction. It is estimated that 10% of the audience for sports on television in Canada is made up of children and youth under 18. The Australian Gambling Research Institute has reported that ‘research into the advertising of other harmful products suggests advertising increases uptake and consumption, especially in the adolescent starter market.’ Research from the United Kingdom indicates that children, young people and those already at risk from current gambling activity are more likely to be influenced by gambling advertising.

A CMHA-Saskatchewan counsellor recently reported that with the rapid spread of sports betting among the young, she has now reduced the target age for educational programs to children in Grade One.

For adults, Statistics Canada recently reported that 1.6% of adult gamblers in Canada, or 304,400 persons, are at moderate to high risk of gambling disorders. It says that sport gambling can lead to significant harm, including runaway debt, stress to families, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and even suicide — among other documented economic and social issues that negatively affect Canadians. Gambling-related harms represent a significant potential driver of health inequalities, because those already experiencing financial, social and mental health disadvantage are also at increased risk of experiencing gambling-related harm.

The American Psychiatric Association classifies addiction to gambling a ‘Gambling disorder’, the only non-substance-related disorder so classified.

Gambling in sports also intensifies the pressure upon athletes, coaches, managers, and officials to fix matches, and manipulate players, referees' decisions, and scores. Earlier this month, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports held a conference to develop ‘a harmonized, pan-Canadian competition manipulation policy.’ The urgent necessity for such a policy is entirely an artifact of the burgeoning sports betting market.

We do not oppose the legalization of sports gambling. We agree that it's preferable to have it out in the open, regulated, and taxed, rather than operate in illegal markets. But it's deeply troubling that when Parliament legalized sports betting in 2021, no consideration was given to the harms created by sports betting, despite the overwhelming evidence of such harms documented in other countries with which Canada shares information.

While advocates and defenders of sports betting point to the new tax revenues generated for governments by the billions being wagered, both the rate of taxation and the distribution of those revenues bear scrutiny. We worry that very little if any of that money addresses the social cost of gambling, let alone contributes to the development of equitable, accessible and safe sport in Canada. Whatever the case, betting revenue should never be a substitute for a fair and progressive rate of personal and corporate tax as a means of addressing the vital needs of Canadian society.

A recent survey of international research found that advertising policies could reduce gambling-related harms. In the face of such research, the respected Guardian newspaper has declared that it will no longer accept advertising for gambling.

It's also important to recognize that many other countries have begun to restrict advertising for sports betting. Italy and Belgium have banned ads altogether, and other European countries restrict ads to times and venues that are not seen by children and youth.

We ask you to endorse a ban of advertising for sports betting in Canada.

Such a recommendation would have widespread support. An Ipsos survey published on January 18 found that 48% of Canadians agree that “the volume of advertising is excessive and needs to be cut back”. An accompanying ‘social listening analysis’ by Ipsos found that negative posts about sports betting advertising on social media had surged by 820% between July and October 2022. The Canadian Mental Health Association supports such a ban, as does the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Thank you for your consideration.

Robin Campbell · Gretchen Kerr · Bruce Kidd · Karl Subban · John Sewell
Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling