Protect national sport from the betting industry.

April 25, 2023

Hon. Pascale St-Onge, MP
Minister of Sport, Government of Canada
25 Eddy Street
Gatineau, QC  K1A 0N9

Dear Minister St-Onge:

We write as lifelong participants in Ontario and Canadian sport concerned about the risks of the gambling industry upon sports.

We ask you to amend the Sport Canada Sport Funding and Accountability Framework to:

1. prohibit the participation by any of the National Sport Organizations (NSOs) and Multi Sport Organizations (MSOs) in sports gambling in any way, including entering into any agreements with betting companies and/or allowing their names, trademarks, and images to be used in connection with sports gambling; and
2. require the NSOs and MSOs to impose a similar prohibition on their participants (athletes, coaches, officials, etc.).

We also ask you to withhold funding from or terminate funding to any NSO or MSO that participates in any way in sports gambling and to suspend or revoke recognition of any NSO or MSO that participates in any way in sports gambling.

It is our understanding that you have the full power to do this under the Physical Activity and Sport Act, just as you have already done by requiring NSOs and MSOs to affiliate with the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner.

To date, sports betting has been limited to the large, corporate sports cartels, such as the NFL, CFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB. We do not believe that sports gambling should extend any further. In particular, sports betting should not extend to the Olympic, amateur or educational sports. We are also writing the Attorney General of Ontario to ask him to exercise his powers under the Alcohol and Gaming Commission Act of Ontario, 2019 to prohibit the sports betting companies from expanding the sports included in their betting books to Olympic, amateur, or educational sports. We ask that you support this important restriction by making the requested amendments to the Sport Funding and Accountability Framework.

While we accept the legalization of single-sport betting as preferable to its black-market operation, we believe such legalization should be strictly limited and regulated. As individuals concerned about the health and well-being of our families and friends and as administrators, researchers, participants, and fans of sport, we are very concerned about the harm created by the intrusion of gambling into sports, especially the effect upon children, youth, and other vulnerable persons. The legalization of sport betting gave rise to a flood of advertising and marketing in all media.

The engagement of sports in gambling demeans the spirit of sport, and the highest ethical values and standards set out in the Physical Activity and Sport Act. Instead of the athleticism, kinaesthetic beauty, education, intercultural respect and communal spirit of sports, sports betting reduces meaning to whether a team or a play achieves a point spread or a within-game parley is made.

Gambling in sports also intensifies the pressure upon athletes, coaches, managers, and officials to violate the integrity of sports, to fix matches, and to manipulate players, referees' decisions, and scores.

It is our deepest concern that Canada's newly legalized gambling regimes will be extended to the Olympic, amateur, and educational sports. Last month, there was an attempt by a sports betting company to add betting on the Boston Marathon. The resulting media articles and social media commentary indicate that this may be just the beginning of a possible expansion of gambling activity beyond the large, corporate, professional sports organizations. Such an expansion would not only pollute the spirit and integrity of sport but jeopardize the safety of our children and youth. This is a safe sport issue. If gambling on events such as swimming trials, track and field events, and rep league soccer matches is allowed, the safety and well-being of the participants will be put at risk. We have already seen professional athletes and college athletes in the US targeted with demeaning comments and even threats when their performances don't meet the expectations of those with bets riding on that performance. We do not want participants in amateur, publicly funded sports to be put at similar risk by allowing sports gambling activity to expand.

While the gambling industry proclaims its ability to self-regulate, we see no evidence that it can limit its appetite for expansion, let alone curtail the widespread ads targeting children and youth.

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

We strongly urge you to take the necessary steps to protect the sport governed and conducted by any of the NSOs or MSOs covered by the Sport Funding and Accountability Framework from the harms of the gambling industry.

We would be pleased to meet with you and your staff to discuss this in detail.

Thank you for your consideration.

With best wishes,

Bruce Kidd, O.C., OLY, Ph.D., LLD.
Professor Emeritus, Sport Policy and Politics, University of Toronto

Gretchen Kerr, Ph.D.
Dean, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto

Robin Campbell, LLB, BA

Copies to: Hon. Pablo Rodriguez, MP, Minister of Canadian Heritage · Isabelle Mondou, Deputy Minister, Canadian Heritage · Emmanuelle Sajous, Assistant Deputy Minister · Jaimie Earley, Deputy Director General, Sport Canada