The Daily Populous Monday November 24th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by cbc.ca and submitted by scaur

The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.

Two senators are calling on the federal government to ban advertising for sports betting in Canada.

A letter to the prime minister from Charlottetown Sen. Percy Downe and Waterloo Sen. Marty Deacon asks the government to have the CRTC ban all advertising for sports gambling apps and websites. It is supported by 40 other senators.

The letter says people of all ages who are exposed to the stream of ads are being influenced to turn their phone into "a pocket-sized casino."

It also references a CBC Marketplace report that found gambling messages fill up, on average, 21 per cent of a sporting event’s broadcast runtime.

Downe, the senator from Charlottetown, said he thinks the issue has gotten worse in recent years with amendments made to Bill C-218 in 2021, which legalized single-event sports betting.

WATCH | Should gambling messages during sports broadcasts be limited?: Should gambling messages during sports broadcasts be limited? | Duration 2:05 A new study from CBC's Marketplace and researchers in the U.K. finds that sports fans are exposed to gambling advertisements about three times a minute during a sports broadcast.

Downe said it is different than simply betting on the outcome of a hockey game.

"You can now bet on who will score in the next five minutes, what the odds are," Downe said.

"Everybody in effect is carrying a mini casino in their pocket. It's enticing more and more people to participate and many people, unfortunately, will suffer as a result of that."

Downe said there have already been a few changes. including bans on sports personalities being featured in gambling ads, but he wants to see the government take further steps.

"For the very same reason we banned cigarette ads on all platforms, we should ban this because of the harm it does to society, and there's no benefit," he said.

"You can't legislate away human weaknesses, but you can legislate away the ability of others to take advantage of them."

Elizabeth Stephen, a Halifax-based counselling therapist, says young people are at a higher risk when it comes to sports betting. She said she has noticed the number of gambling ads during televised games.

Elizabeth Stephen says a constant stream of sports betting ads can have an impact on youth, who can often be easily influenced. (Zoom)

She said there should be guidelines around sports betting advertising even if there isn't an outright ban.

"Professional sports, it’s completely associated with gambling these days and it’s become so normal," Stephen said. "Youth, I mean their brains and their interests are developing, they’re highly influenced.

"I don’t know how you could possibly watch sports and not be influenced by that in some way."

She said some of her own clients have even pointed out the issue.

"One of them said, 'I can't watch sports, it’s too triggering,'" Stephen said. "It’s just a constant exposure."

Charlottetown MP Sean Casey says he agrees with points made in the letter.

"Separate and apart from the nuisance factor, there's all of the public health factors that are associated with the promotion of gambling in any way and the social harms that come from it," he said.

However, he noted there has been some work on targeting the persistent ads with Bill S-211, an act respecting a national framework on sports betting advertising. It has already passed the Senate and is making its way through the House of Commons.

Sean Casey says although he isn't opposed to a full ban on sports betting advertising, he would at least like to see it reduced. At this time, there is a bill going through the House of Commons that could impose regulations. (CBC)

The act calls for more regulations around sports betting advertising, whereas Downe and Deacon are calling for a complete ban.

Casey was in Parliament at the time when the legalization of single-event sports betting became law. He said the original intent was to tax and regulate it, but that came with the unintended consequence of rapidly increasing sports betting ads.

"I'm not opposed to it being eliminated altogether, but if it could be reduced by 90 per cent so that they don't advertise sports betting any more than they advertise cars or breakfast cereal, I'd be fine with that."

Jimbuber2 on November 24th, 2025 at 12:10 UTC »

Needs this in the US. I can only stand so much Kevin Hart.

Ok_Tangerine_1106 on November 24th, 2025 at 11:10 UTC »

Sports have become simply unwatchable in Canada since 2021, I doubt the law will pass because of the heavy lobbying (another evil) we still allow in Canada.

minarima on November 24th, 2025 at 08:29 UTC »

Completely agree with this, shame it isn’t being considered here in the UK.