Last night I took my youngest son, Gus, to watch the Saskatoon Berries win the WCBL Championship. It was great minor league ball, fun to watch and exciting to be a part of the enthusiastic hometown crowd and cheer the local team on to their big win.
For a lot of years, I spent very little time thinking about sports beyond watching the occasional playoff game. My boys have sucked me back in, rattling off stats and standings and watching Stanley Cup, World Cup, World Series, Grey Cup, you name it. They’ve also been playing; this year I had a blast helping to coach their teams. For all there is to be cynical about when it comes to professional sports, there’s also a ton of genuine entertainment and its a powerful way to connect with kids and community.
But the more I watch, the more I’m bothered by the ubiquitous advertising for gambling sites. At the Berries game, Saskatchewan online betting site playnow.com, was the most visible sponsor. When watching televised matches, the ads in the breaks and on the field are dominated by different gambling platforms. Even the commentators go on about odds and spreads as though that were the point of the contest. The entire structure of sport now centres on gambling, with teams highly dependent on the revenue from advertising and sponsorship from the major betting companies.
All of that money comes from somewhere, and it’s increasingly from the pockets of young fans, particularly men. In 2018, even before legalization, 15% of Canadian aged 18-24 endorsed problem gambling. Since legalization, calls to gambling helplines in Ontario have more than doubled. And, as David Moscrop reports, a shocking number of young people are now using gambling not as entertainment but as part of their long-term investment strategy. This is obviously madness: betting your financial future on an “investment product” that is structurally designed to deliver less than is wagered (these companies aren’t taking any real risk and their profit margins prove it) simply cannot work. But the advertising, with its seductive promise of easy wins and big money, does work.
Not only are young men risking their financial future, some get in so deep as to ruin their lives. Problem gambling is associated with higher rates of relationship failure, employment loss, anxiety and depression, all contributing to a 15-fold increase in risk of suicide mortality.
The decision to legalize single-event sports gambling, led by Saskatchewan MP Kevin Waugh, came with the usual arguments against prohibition: reducing imposition on individual freedoms and decreasing illegal activity in favour of a regulated legal market. What didn’t follow, however, were any restrictions on advertising like those that apply to cannabis or tobacco. It would be unthinkable today to have centre ice lighting up with ads for cigarettes or LEDs for edibles above the stands, but for gambling - an activity far more directly related to the sports events - it’s everywhere. And it’s working, with nearly $100 billion wagered by Canadians in 2025, a 26% increase over the previous year.
A group of Canadian senators has started a campaign to ban advertising for gambling apps and websites and a bill on a national framework for regulating sports-betting ads comes up for second reading in parliament this fall. You can contact your MP here to show your support for this common sense change,
Nearly 65% of Canadians report gambling in the last year, and for the vast majority of them, it’s a bit of harmless entertainment. But for many, including the boys that have pulled me back into caring what happens to the Habs or the Jays, the risks are very real. The ease of use with apps and online sites, and the normalization of betting as an integral part of the game, is sucking people in who can’t afford to play. Gambling on sports isn’t going away, but it’s time to stop shoving it in the face of every fan. Removing betting ads from the games is a simple and obvious choice to reduce the harm.
I agree! Sports betting is a scourge. I hope the Senators and the federal government move to regulate the industry. I'd be thrilled if they outlawed it entirely but I know that won't happen. Advertising betting is everywhere. It's almost as ubiquitous as pharmaceutical advertisements on TV. And don't get me started on AI!! Is this a federal or provincial thing? Should I be contacting both levels of government?
I am so glad you are addressing this. I worry for my grandson...not only the addictive gambling, but it changes the whole spirit of sports, Dorey