Ontario Can Do Better in Regulating Sports Betting Ads Says Research Center

According to the Toronto-based organization, the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the significant increase in gambling advertisements across various media, including TV, broadcast and online has had an adverse impact on the well-being of consumers, pushing many of them into problem gambling.

CAMH Calls for More to Be Done to Protect Consumers

Although a recent measure to prohibit athletes from participating in gambling advertisements was introduced by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) a few weeks ago, CAMH is not convinced that this is nearly enough. Marketing has become ubiquitous in the province and young people are being exposed to it.

AGCO has made the right call in prohibiting the use of athletes, celebrities, entertainers, and other role models that may impact young people’s perception of gambling, but this alone would not be enough. Ads are normalizing sports gambling, according to CAMH, no matter whether a famous person is featured in them.

One of the issues is that sports gambling is pushed as a form of entertainment, and while many consumers get excited about winning big, few realize that losing is usually the norm, argues CAMH. According to CAMH, a whistle-to-whistle ban ought to be introduced instead, suspending all betting-related content, including commercial messages, editorial content, and inducements.

CAMH also sees a problem with the increased chatter between commentators who discuss betting frequently. The organizaiton also wants AGCO to hold advertisements about gambling to pretty much the same standards as ads about alcohol. Sports betting in Ontario has been picking up its pace.

Ontario’s Sports Gambling Market Is Big and About to Get Bigger

In the first year of operation, sports fans in the province wagered as much as $35.5 billion on various contests in the province, across 76 regulated websites. There were 1.65 million active accounts in the first 12 months of official operation, with these numbers only going up. CAMH also wants to see the signage on stadiums and overlays of betting companies go.

These demands are not unreasonable as there is a global push for tightening regulation insofar as sports gambling goes. Fanatics, a newly-launched sportsbook in Ohio, USA, got under fire for a social media ad that linked the company’s sports apparel business and sports betting arm. The UK is undergoing a seminal overhaul of its gambling laws, and Europe in general is tightening its advertisement and gambling standards as a whole.