In a Canadian Senate Transport and Communications Committee meeting on Oct. 2 discussing Bill S-269, the National Framework on Advertising for Sports Betting Act, witnesses testified that Canada’s gaming and broadcast regulators are doing all within their power to ensure due diligence is taken around gambling ads.

However, while the need for a national framework was contested, there was a consensus that more work is required to equip all parties with the knowledge needed.

“There’s value in coordinated research across the country,” said Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) President and CEO Paul Burns. “There’s a gap, especially around advertising. We as an industry would love to see more. What we learn from evidence-based research gives us tools to better protect players.” Burns suggested that such research could be achieved without legislation.

Burns had argued in his opening statement that he doesn’t believe S-269 is necessary, as most of what the bill aims to do is already being done. In particular, he pointed to Ontario’s advertising restrictions and stipulations around responsible gaming messaging, noting that anecdotally, Ontario has seen a far higher uptake of RG messaging and practical tools than operators are legally required to offer.

“There’s been a lot of emotional discussion about gaming advertising over the last couple of years because people have seen more of it,” noted Burns. “But there’s also been some absence of facts and data and understanding.”

“We as an industry would love to see more. What we learn from evidence-based research gives us tools to better protect players.”

Paul Burns (Canadian Gaming Association)

The CGA recently published the results of a study it commissioned in partnership with Eilers & Krejcik and GP Consulting that evaluated gambling ads and regulatory intervention. One of the report’s authors, Dr. Kahlil Philander, was a witness in Tuesday’s session and told the committee that current research into gambling advertising in Canada has significant limitations that he said are “essential” to acknowledge.

“Despite prevalent assumptions and even claims by well-credentialed researchers, the evidence linking gambling ads directly to gambling problems is largely non-causal,” Philander said, citing as an example the fact that individuals with gambling problems are more likely to recall seeing gambling advertisements.

“While advertising can influence gambling behaviours, the scale and nature of this influence is poorly defined by the limitations of existing research… To evolve Canadian gambling policy in an effective way over time, it’s essential that Canada invest in its researchers and research institutions.”

Broadcasters point to evidence of drop-off in ads

In a pair of sessions last week, leaders of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) told the committee that Canadian broadcasters are taking measures to limit the quantity of sports betting ads on their channels.

CAB President Kevin Desjardins and RGC CEO Shelley White both suggested that the level of advertising seen in Canada in the first two years of Ontario’s regulated market is already decreasing and will continue to do so. Philander agrees.

“It’s entirely foreseeable that any jurisdiction launching a multi-billion dollar gaming industry would have some growing pains in the first couple of years,” Philander added in Tuesday’s session. “We commonly refer to this phenomenon as the exposure effect in the literature.”

Burns and Catherine MacLeod, the president and CEO of ThinkTV, a not-for-profit association representing Canadian private and public broadcasters, both provided statistics to emphasise this point.

Burns said that, in a country that had an unregulated online gambling market for many years without oversight, the initial rush of commercial operators’ advertising was prompted largely by Ontario “stepping up” to regulate the industry and bring gambling activity into the light. To that point, MacLeod told the committee that “dot-net” advertising of grey market operators has “dropped off completely” in Ontario and posited that the current flexible regulatory environment has enabled marketers to build their brands responsibly while bringing players over from the grey market.

“[Gambling ads dropoff] follows the typical pattern for new product launches in television advertising.”

Catherine MacLeod (ThinkTV)

MacLeod noted that the number of online gambling ads ThinkTV reviewed dropped from 442 in 2022 to 299 in 2023. As of last week, 189 of 28,000 video ads reviewed were related to online gambling. ThinkTV forecasts that the year will end with 60 fewer gambling ads than it reviewed in 2023, a number that would represent a 20% year-over-year decrease. 

“The actual numbers of new creatives coming in have dropped considerably,” noted MacLeod. “That follows the typical pattern for new product launches in television advertising: you have a big launch with products advertising everywhere, then it continues to drop off as people are more aware of the brands.”

What even is Canadian advertising, anyway?

An interesting sidebar in the Oct. 2 conversations was focused on the very definition of advertising when it comes to gambling.

For example, Burns argued that the presence of operator logos at hockey arenas and other venues aren’t truly gambling ads as they are not calls to action but rather branding designed to raise awareness.

After committee members cited research from the U.K.’s Dr. Raffaello Rossi that suggested that viewers of a sports broadcast on cable television spend 20% of their time looking at gambling ads during a game, Burns noted that the objection he has to the research is that “it fails to understand how people digest media and what they understand.”

“The person watching the game is actually watching the sport…” Burns said. “I think we need to do more than simply counting certain logos.”

There’s also the question of where Canadian gambling ads come from. MacLeod noted that many of the logos being counted in Dr. Rossi’s research were not put there by Canadian broadcasters. The jurisdiction of ThinkTV, which is under the CAB umbrella, does not extend to advertising that comes into Canada via U.S. television stations or broadcast deals.

“When you get television coming in from distant signals, there will continue to be brand advertising on the ice from U.S. feeds,” she added. “We’re not going to get rid of that type of advertising completely, you cannot ban it because it will come into our market.”

How do social media and streaming fit in?

The overarching theme was that broadcast regulators are doing as much due diligence as is within their remit. MacLeod stressed that every commercial that shows up on Canadian TV has gone through ThinkTV, which is under the CAB umbrella. “We clear for every province,” she explained. “To be in any province across the country, they’re going to have to adhere to the highest standard. Even if you’re advertising in Ontario, distant signals will pick it up in other provinces. That’s why the highest standard has to apply.”

To that end, ThinkTV has introduced its own additional requirements for gambling ads destined for broadcast that goes beyond the broad regulations. That includes mandatory messages about seeking help for gambling concerns, a ban on imperative-based language such as “bet now” or “play today” and on advertising elements that exploit cultural beliefs about luck or prosperity, and a strict approach to what may appeal to minors. “If there’s a unicorn, if it gets too colourful, if it looks like it has too many balloons, any of those have to be replaced,” MacLeod said.

“Even if you’re advertising in Ontario, distant signals will pick it up in other provinces. That’s why the highest standard has to apply.”

MacLeod

Nanao Kachi, director of social and consumer policy at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), noted that streaming services fall under the CRTC’s remit as well as television broadcasters. MacLeod added that ThinkTV is working with streaming platforms to make sure their advertising is held to broadcast standards.

However, Kachi clarified that adverts on Google that pop up during a search, for example, do not fall under the CRTC’s remit. Neither do social media ads. While ThinkTV has the power to regulate online streaming, a streaming platform could still run a rejected ad on social media and online, acknowledged MacLeod.

Ultimately, broadcasters said that even without a national framework for gambling ads, plenty is being done.

Scott Hutton, the CRTC’s VP of consumer, analytics and strategy, said that Ad Standards, the national not-for-profit advertising self-regulatory organisation, is working with the CGA to develop and administer a code for responsible advertising. When ready, it will have to be met by all broadcasters, just as with other advertising codes.

After six hours of hearings in the last eight days, plus the initial debates in June, the committee advanced Bill S-269 to the full Senate for further debate. It would need a majority approval before it can head to the House of Commons for further study and debate.