New Code Coming for Canadian Sports Betting and iGaming Ads

One way or another, with or without standalone legislation, online sports betting and casino gambling operators may find their advertising subject to more federally approved oversight in Canada.

Canadian Senators are currently considering a bill that proposes to create a nationwide framework for sports betting marketing.

But work is also continuing on legislation setting out responsible gambling advertising practices for broadcasters, a legislative committee heard on Tuesday.

Scott Hutton, vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said Advertising Standards, a non-profit self-regulatory organization, and the Canadian Gaming Association, an industry group, are working on it. together on code.

“Once this code is ready, the CRTC will require broadcasters to comply with the principles in this code, as it does with other advertising rules,” Hutton told the Canadian Senate Transportation and Communications Committee.

The Canadian Senate transportation and communications committee is meeting again today to hear more testimony on Bill S-269, which proposes a national framework for sports betting advertising. Today’s witness is Britain’s Lord Grade, former BBC and Ofcom chairman. pic.twitter.com/W6C4eL2nle

— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) September 24, 2024

As Hutton notes, the CRTC “An independent, quasi-judicial tribunal that regulates the Canadian communications industry in the public interest.” Gathering feedback from the public and making decisions based on public records.

Hutton told the committee how advertising regulations work in Canada and how some other rules, such as alcohol, apply. The CRTC requires broadcasters to comply with these rules through regulator-imposed “terms of service.” The gambling code will be used in a similar way.

To ensure sports betting and casino advertising complies with the new rules, Hutton said Advertising Standards plans to provide “pre-clearance” for the gambling industry, similar to what the group does for alcohol advertising and marketing to children. Advertising Standards currently collects complaints from the public about gambling advertising and reviews them against Canada’s Advertising Standards Rules, which seek to, among other things, ensure that TV and internet advertising is not misleading or deceptive.

“We are confident that our partners at Advertising Standards and the experts they trust will develop appropriate codes that we can then incorporate into the conditions that publishers must comply with,” Hutton said in French, according to a translation.

The CRTC’s requirements for broadcasters are in addition to those that Ontario-regulated operators must comply with under the regulations and contracts they are subject to in Canada’s most populous province. This includes restrictions that came into force earlier this year Banning online sports betting operators from using athletes in their advertising Unless it’s touting responsible gambling practices.

Additionally, the new gambling law would be in addition to the national framework on advertising that Canadian senators are considering as part of Bill S-269.

Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Transportation and Communications Committee of Canada was one of several held in connection with the bill proposing a national framework for sports betting advertising.

Line by line, item by item

More than 20 witnesses I have now testified to the committee regarding the legislation.This is in addition to the written submissions provided since the bill was introduced in June 2023.

The Senate committee is scheduled to meet again Wednesday for a “clause-by-clause” consideration of the proposed legislation; Members can then advance the bill and send it back to the full Senate for further debate and possibly further approval.

To become law, S-269 must pass the Senate and the elected House of Commons, and there is no guarantee that this will happen. Even so, the Senate committee is ready to introduce the legislation.

Bill being debated following decriminalization of single vote Sports betting in Canada In 2021 and the launch of a competitive application iGaming market in Ontario Two catalysts for an advertising boom in 2022 from companies like bet365, DraftKings, and FanDuel. This ad appealed to some viewers and caused concern. including fears about the normalization of gambling.

Additionally, senators discuss the necessity of the law as follows: Alberta is preparing its own competitive iGaming market this is expected Reflecting at least to some extent what Ontario is doing.. Like Ontario, Alberta may impose its province-specific advertising restrictions on sports betting and online casino operators.

we got this

Meanwhile, the Senate committee was given a lot of information to digest. Some of the more recent statements show that: amount of sports betting and iGaming ads dropped and that a national framework is unnecessary.

“The provinces have the tools and are in the best position to regulate,” Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, told a Senate committee on Tuesday. “(An) additional layer of federal regulation is not necessary.”

Catherine MacLeod, president and chief executive of thinktv, a marketing and research charity funded by broadcasters such as Bell Media and CBC, told the committee that gambling ads “represent a small fraction” of all the ads it reviewed.

MacLeod said the association reviewed 442 online gambling ads in 2022, a number that dropped to 299 in 2023. As of last week, MacLeod added, 189 of the 28,000 video ads Thinktv has reviewed so far this year were linked to online sports betting or casino gambling.

“We anticipate the year will end with 60 fewer ads than we reviewed in 2023, which follows the typical pattern for new product launches in television advertising,” MacLeod told the committee.

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