Canadian broadcasters say the demand from sportsbook operators for ad time is already weakening, and a bill aiming to rein in that marketing is a bit hasty.
The Senate of Canada’s Transport and Communications Committee met again Wednesday evening to hear more testimony in connection with Bill S-269, which proposes the creation of a national framework for sports betting-related advertising.
That framework would identify ways of regulating sportsbook ads, "with a view to restricting the use of such advertising, limiting the number, scope or location," the text of the legislation states.
Not so fast, my friends
But what the Senate committee heard on Wednesday is that those commercials are already being limited, both on the initiative of broadcasters and because sportsbook operators are buying less ad time.
Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters — a group made up of more than 700 private-sector channels and stations — said some of the coalition’s members have established “internal and voluntary limits” on the amount of gaming ads they run.
Those limits are in addition to the standards set out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which oversees iGaming in the only Canadian province that allows multiple private-sector operators to do business.
“To some extent, this is not unlike advertising at the dawn of the .com boom, a new market that emerged seemingly from nowhere, that seemed ubiquitous in the moment, but that in time normalized,” Desjardins said. “What we've seen in terms of advertising over the last two years is not representative of what we anticipate going forward, and already, our members have told us that they are seeing reductions in the amount of ad time that's being sought by these businesses.”
Now up is Kevin Desjardins, the president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, a group of private-sector radio and television operators. Says some of their members have established internal limits on the amount of sports betting ads they'll broadcast. pic.twitter.com/zmXLS1m5Ny
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) September 26, 2024
Desjardins said the proposed legislation is “premature and an unnecessary overreach” into work already being done by provincial regulators.
“Having multiple layers of regulatory frameworks in this area will create confusion and not allow provincial regulators to make the changes they deem necessary as they see the evolution of the market in their own jurisdictions,” he added.
Desjardins is one of nearly 20 witnesses who have provided testimony about S-269 to the transport and communications committee, which held two hearings in June and two in September.
Another hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1, and then the committee will conduct a "clause-by-clause" consideration of the bill the following day. That will be the time for committee members to propose amendments to the legislation if they so choose, and then to advance the bill by reporting it back to the full Senate for further debate.
A few pointers
In other words, Canada's private-sector broadcasters are pushing back against legislation that appears to be making progress.
Moreover, the opposition comes as Canada is just over three years past the decriminalization of single-game sports wagering and more than two years beyond Ontario’s launch of its competitive iGaming market.
Some lawmakers have voiced concern about what the recent legislative and regulatory changes have led to, and S-269 offers an opportunity for those at the federal level to try to make changes to one of the more noticeable aspects of the business: advertising.
Ontario is still the only province that has welcomed and regulated the likes of private-sector operators such as bet365, BetMGM, and FanDuel, but Alberta is in the process of putting together a similar framework, and other markets may eventually follow suit.
Shelley White, CEO of the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), said that research on the effects of gambling marketing found that increased exposure can normalize that activity while decreasing a person's understanding of the risk involved.
White and the RGC are also supportive of the national framework S-269 proposes because, among other things, it would create a blueprint of sorts that other provinces could follow.
“The benefit is that it could provide consistent guidance to each of the provinces as they develop their gambling marketing and advertising regulatory standards,” White told the committee.
Keep on truckin' (or don't)
Still, Ontario’s market has arguably been the catalyst for much of the recent increase in advertising of sports betting in Canada. Those ads have managed to annoy some sports fans and attract attention from lawmakers and regulators.
“We've heard a lot about how dangerous this advertising is, but no one's really spoken to what I think is driving a lot of this, which is that it's so annoying,” Alberta Sen. Paula Simons said at one point during Wednesday’s hearing.
Desjardins responded by suggesting that the newness of the gambling ads is making them stand out more for Canadian viewers.
“If you were to take pickup truck ads off the air for six months, and then reintroduce them at the same levels, people would say, ‘My God, there's so many pickup truck ads on the air, right?” he said.
But public policy shouldn’t be created to satisfy people’s personal sensibilities, Desjardins said, and he warned the committee about people using advertising as a “proxy fight” to relitigate the legalization of single-game sports betting.
Desjardins also acknowledged that gambling advertising provided a "significant influx" of revenue for broadcasters at a time when he said those revenues were being challenged.
“I think that we recognize the fact that it is going to retrench somewhat, and we're already seeing indications of that,” he said. “So it's certainly not a long-term strategic piece to the advertising business, but it is a significant piece at the moment, especially for certain services.”
Desjardins says he thinks there are people using advertising as a "proxy fight" against single-game sports betting's legalization. Doesn't think there is anything demonstrating that the outcomes people want are going to be served by limiting ads.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) September 26, 2024
Although they may have bothered some viewers, especially in provinces outside of Ontario, where the operators are not yet regulated, the sports betting ads are supposed to serve a purpose. Among other things, the marketing allows operators to introduce themselves to potential customers and highlight which operators are regulated and which are not.
However, not everyone agrees that the ads are needed to help transition players from the grey and black markets into regulated ones. Cardus, a Christian think tank, is among those pushing for S-269 to go even further, and totally ban all sports betting ads.
“If the legalization of single-event sports betting was intended to meet existing demand and curtail the black market for sports gambling (as was stated at the time), then it should be unnecessary to drive up demand through advertising,” Cardus’ written submission to the Senate committee said. “Governments should not permit the promotion of this activity through advertising. Moving toward a complete ban would be consistent with this position.”
