B.C. Lottery Corporation says third-party gambling ads for Ontario platforms are eating into its bottom line | CBC News
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As the Stanley Cup playoffs approach and the Major League Baseball season kicks off, British Columbians watching sports on TV are now used to the sight of regular sports gambling advertisements.
But a number of those advertisements are for betting platforms that aren’t legal in B.C. — where the only place to legally bet on sports is the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s online platform, PlayNow.
The prevalence of third-party gambling ads — which the BCLC plainly attributes to Ontario allowing the practice in 2022 — is so overwhelming, the lottery corporation cites illegal operators as the biggest factor in its online gambling revenue plateauing in recent years.
BCLC spokesperson Matt Lee said the problem arises from third-party gambling platforms that are based in Ontario, and British Columbians are directed to those illegal operators that promise lucrative signup incentives and bonuses.
“I don’t think we can, sort of, sugarcoat it … we have seen several advertisements for other betting sites, in other jurisdictions like Ontario, entering B.C.’s market, and it’s been a huge impact,” he said.
“Through aggressive marketing and acquisition efforts, those illegal operators are attempting to capture greater market share … and that’s something that we can’t afford to do.”
Lee argues there’s a cascading impact of the illegal gambling operators in B.C.
“It’s also driven up the cost of advertising and sponsorship opportunities that we use to enhance our own brand’s presence … it has also created a negative impact at land-based facilities such as casinos,” Lee added.
No guardrails, advocate argues
While the lottery corporation tries to spread awareness and change its products to keep up, advocates and researchers say they want sports gambling ads to be banned entirely, as more awareness grows of the increasingly addictive nature of online wagering.
Data showed a 300 per cent spike in young men contacting Ontario’s helpline for gambling-related problems after private online gambling was allowed in that province in 2022.
University of Toronto professor Bruce Kidd, a former track and field athlete and chair of a campaign to ban gambling advertisements, told CBC’s On The Coast Monday that the advertisements poison the idea of sport and are addicting a growing number of people into very serious forms of psychological harm.
Bruce Kidd, co-chair of the Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling, said the issue of Ontario-based broadcasters producing shows with ads for third-party betting companies is a “huge problem” for other provinces’ lottery corporations.
“There are almost 40 companies competing for bettors, and therefore they compete with … saturation advertising, the tsunami of ads,” he argued.
A bill currently before the House of Commons proposes a framework and restriction on sports betting ads, which is to be developed by the federal heritage minister after consultation with various groups.
Kidd said his group would be arguing for a total ban on sports ads.
The push for more regulation comes in the wake of Australia announcing significant restrictions on gambling advertisements. Some European countries, like Italy and Spain, have near-total bans on gambling sponsorships in sports.
“What’s tragic is that when Canada legalized sports betting, they did so completely without guardrails, despite the abundant evidence from other countries that they were necessary,” Kidd said.
Researcher wants restrictions
For its part, Lee says the BCLC is in support of the bill, which he says would harmonize advertising standards and reduce the risk of harms.
He said the corporation is working on increased marketing efforts and new products on PlayNow to generate more revenue, which he says is reinvested in various community charity efforts.
An editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) on Monday warns gambling advertising is affecting young Canadians, even if they aren’t being specifically targeted. Family physician Dr. Shannon Charlebois, who is also CMAJ’s medical editor and co-published the editorial, explains why children are particularly vulnerable to gambling ads and why it must be regulated on a federal level.
In its service plan for the next three fiscal years, the BCLC says it is monitoring how its online gambling products are leading to higher-risk behaviours and addiction — specifically, by tracking self-reported Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores.
“BCLC continues to see a gradual increase in PGSI scores as it evolves product offerings to remain competitive against illegal competitors in the burgeoning [online gambling] market,” the service plan reads.
“However, future [revenue] targets reflect BCLC’s commitment to decreasing those scores.”
A recent report from the McCreary Centre Society analyzed findings from the B.C. Adolescent Health Survey in 2023, which was completed by over 38,000 youth aged 12–18 in 59 of B.C.’s 60 school districts. Annie Smith, the report’s co-author, said online gambling activity had increased among youth since the last survey in 2018.
That strategy is alarming for Spencer Murch, a cognitive researcher and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Calgary, who has extensively studied online gambling.
“I would say that PlayNow generally does a good job on harm reduction,” he said.
“That said, doing a good job on harm reduction, in my view … does not create a permission structure where continuing to develop products, as gambling problems continue increasing, where that becomes OK.”
Murch said that gambling regulators should do more than simply build in limit-setting and self-exclusion tools for online gambling products, and they should be proactively monitoring for problem gambling behaviours.
He wants to see governments step in with broader regulatory changes, including banning credit card use for online gambling and more restrictions on advertising.
“I wouldn’t just go after sports gambling ads,” the researcher said.
“I would say that the most responsible thing we could do in Canada is to curtail all advertising for the most highly risky gambling products — online casinos, sports wagering, right? For me, pretty much everything other than the lottery.”
If you are a gambler, researchers recommend sticking to lower-risk gambling guidelines available on gamblingguidelines.ca.
Gambling Support B.C. is available 24/7 at 1-888-795-6111.