Canadian lawmakers are hearing there are lessons to be learned from other countries that could help them as they consider federal regulation of sports betting-related advertising.
The Senate of Canada's Transport and Communications Committee met Tuesday to hear more testimony regarding Bill S-269, “An Act respecting a national framework on advertising for sports betting.”
One of the witnesses who testified before the committee was Michael Grade, also known as Lord Grade of Yarmouth from the United Kingdom’s House of Lords.
The Senate of Canada's transportation and communications committee is meeting again today to hear more testimony regarding Bill S-269, which proposes a national framework for sports betting ads. Today's witness is the U.K.'s Lord Grade, the former BBC and Ofcom chairman. pic.twitter.com/W6C4eL2nle
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) September 24, 2024
Grade, a former broadcasting executive and current chairman of the U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom, has experience with the gambling industry’s advertising efforts, and chaired a House of Lords committee that investigated the sector's social and economic impacts.
The committee’s findings were “shocking,” Grade said, such as that, on average, one person a day ("usually a young man") committed suicide because of gambling-related harm. He also said advertising was one of the greatest contributors to that type of harm.
Grade added later that Canadian lawmakers were lucky they could draw on the lessons learned abroad.
“With the knowledge that you have of what's gone on around the world, most particularly in the U.K. and Australia and other places, you would be in dereliction of duty, if I may be so bold, if you ignore this problem now that you've legalized [sports betting] in the way that you have,” he told the committee. “There is a serious problem of regulation that you must address, and there's lots of case studies and case histories that will inform you and help you to draw the line between restriction and freedom to gamble.”
The comments follow the federal government’s decriminalization of single-game sports betting in Canada in 2021 and the launch of a competitive market for iGaming in Ontario that has allowed dozens of private-sector operators to conduct business in the province.
Those changes prompted a burst of advertising by operators that has grated on some Canadians and their elected representatives. While Ontario has already restricted the use of athletes and certain celebrities in iGaming-related marketing, S-269 would try to extend that and other measures across the country.
Sponsored by Ontario Sen. Marty Deacon, and introduced in June 2023, the bill proposes federal intervention in how event wagering is marketed in Canada.
Among other things, the legislation would require the Minister of Canadian Heritage to create a national framework for sports betting ads that would suggest ways to restrict such marketing, including limiting the number of commercials and banning the use of celebrities and athletes.
Think again
The Senate’s Transport and Communications Committee has held a few hearings on S-269 this year, during which there were calls for a total ban on the advertising of sports betting in Canada. Some lawmakers have also voiced concern or regret about the passage of the single-game sports betting bill and the advertising it helped spark.
“I'm not sure that the people who supported this bill, and I wish to clarify again, I was not one of them, understood that in a digital era, this was going to be a much more complicated and much more enticing, addictive kind of gambling advertising,” Alberta Sen. Paula Simons said Tuesday.
Still, there are supporters of keeping the status quo for regulation in place. The Canadian Football League, which also backed the effort to legalize single-game sports wagering, has argued a national ad framework is not needed.
"Since provincial regulation of single-game wagering came into effect, responsible gaming has been shown to support sports in Canada through its ability to further engage fans, leading to increased broadcast viewership, game attendance, and consumption of earned and owned media coverage," CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in a letter to the Senate committee.
It’s unlikely S-269 will become law at all, as is the case for most bills not introduced by the government. Even so, S-269's existence and the ongoing work by a Senate committee suggest ongoing interest among Canadian lawmakers on the issue which may ultimately lead to legislative progress and federal action.
Furthermore, another Canadian province, Alberta, is currently developing its own competitive iGaming market, similar to Ontario's. The launch of that market will likely prompt a fair bit of advertising by operators trying to introduce themselves to potential customers and distinguish themselves from illegal and unregulated sites. Advertising rules will no doubt be part of that market as well, as they are in Ontario, so ongoing debate like that in the federal Senate could factor into the final product.
Taking a bath in the bath
The same could be said for the lessons learned overseas.
Grade said the introduction of the U.K.’s Gambling Act came in 2005, before the rise of the smartphone, and has not kept up with the current state of online sports betting. Although the former broadcasting exec said there's typically no harm in betting, there is a "very toxic corner" of problem gambling that regulation and legislation must address.
“The idea that you can sit in your bath for half an hour and lose $20,000 wasn't a concept in 2005,” he told the committee. “This is where it's gone haywire.”
Grade bemoaned the reality of the U.K.'s "whistle-to-whistle" ban on gambling advertising during soccer matches. He said the measure only really applied to the half-time break as stadiums and player's jerseys are still decorated with sportsbook ads that can be seen during play.
Still, the regulator highlighted other efforts, such as the Spanish government's near-total ban on gambling ads that was largely overturned in the courts, and a similar attempt in Australia that the industry has tried to beat back.
In Belgium, though, Grade said an almost-total ban was put in place last year despite opposition from the industry and sports teams.
"So it can be done," Grade noted.
From macro to micro
Even if there's a crackdown on advertising more broadly, Grade suggested there could still be trouble with targeted ads for individual users, popping up on a person's smartphone and powered by various algorithms. Those tactics should not be ignored, he said.
“If and when this general advertising is brought under control, we can be sure that the industry will concentrate all the more on the individual approaches,” Grade told the committee.
As for discipline, Grade said the U.K. regulator can in extreme cases suspend or revoke an operator's license if they continue to flout the rules, which he and his committee would like to see used.
“Just the threat of it might improve the conduct of some of the operators,” he told the committee.
Other measures suggested to the committee included affordability checks for players and testing games for addictive qualities.
“You've got to know your customer, and you've got to know what they can afford, and you should not be allowed to address tempting offers to vulnerable people who you can easily identify as being very vulnerable,” Grade told committee members.
Under the influence
Grade’s testimony was followed by that of Joannie Fogue Mgamgne, a member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s youth council, who cited research showing around one in five Canadian youths between the ages of nine and 17 engage in some form of online gambling.
She said statistics such as this underscore the need for legislative study and possible intervention by the government. In the meantime, she suggested stricter regulations are needed to protect players from gambling ads.
Fogue Mgamgne added that sportsbook operators have found a way to “gamify” the playing experience, including offering rewards and creating a connection that normalizes risk-taking behavior among young people.
“The marketing of online gambling has become overly accessible and enticing with influencers, celebrities, and artists glamourizing the activity and presenting a romanticized view of success that is far removed from the reality [young people] face,” Fogue Mgamgne said.
