When Ontario's Alcohol and Gambling Commission announced last summer it would introduce new advertising standards for online gambling to protect minors, headlines promised the barrage of sports betting and casino ads featuring celebrities and athletes that irritated television viewers , would quickly dry up.
But the fine print in the new rules, clarified by the AGCO earlier this month before they went into effect on Wednesday, suggests that viewers are still likely to see Jamie Foxx as a shill for BetMGM, Auston Matthews as a brand ambassador for Bet99 and others will see NHL player Kevin Bieksa standing atop the Sports Interaction logo as betting lines flash across the screen during weekly Sportsnet broadcasts leading up to Hockey Night in Canada.
Even Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid, who have spent the last year tweeting at each other in ads for BetMGM, may not go away entirely.
Now some in the industry believe the changes may not have been necessary.
The new advertising standards follow an announcement by AGCO last April that a year after it began regulating gambling in Ontario, the agency was concerned about marketing that could attract people under the legal gambling age of 19. The commission considered banning the use of athletes, celebrities, cartoon characters and influencers who appeal to minors.
After several months of consultation with industry stakeholders and others, including mental health professionals, the commission announced the changes last August with a blog post on its website that said: “AGCO bans athletes in Ontario’s iGaming advertising to protect minors. “
In fact, the new standards weren't nearly as black and white.
While the new restrictions prevent active or retired athletes from appearing in most traditional ads, the AGCO made an exception for so-called “responsible gambling” commercials in which sportsbooks or casino operators encourage users to gamble within their limits. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, for example, ran a TV spot featuring Curtis Joseph in support of the company's PlaySmart responsible gaming tools, in which the narrator praises the former Toronto Maple Leaf goaltender for the way he “always played prepared”.
BetMGM could choose to use Gretzky and McDavid as ambassadors for their responsible gambling efforts. (A company spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.) Bet99 could also use Matthews or Georges St-Pierre, another ambassador, for similar initiatives. (A spokesperson for that company did not respond to requests for comment.)
And the AGCO also signaled Tuesday that sportsbooks will be allowed to continue using current or former athletes for certain other promotional activities unrelated to responsible gambling.
Last April, shortly before AGCO announced it would change its advertising standards, FanDuel and Bell Media's TSN reached a deal that resulted in the sportsbook becoming the presenting sponsor of the network's afternoon radio and television show Overdrive. This show is co-hosted by Jeff O'Neill, who played eleven seasons in the NHL.
A spokesman for TSN, which is owned by Bell Media, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Through a spokesman, FanDuel declined to comment.
Sportsnet also has a commercial agreement with a sports betting operator for editorial coverage. As part of one of those agreements, Sports Interaction currently sponsors a segment on Hockey Central Saturday, the half-hour preview show that airs before Hockey Night in Canada and features a preview from former professional Bieksa, who played 13 seasons in the NHL game scheduled for that evening while surrounded by the sportsbook logo and live betting odds from the sportsbook appear on the screen.
Sportsnet spokesman Jason Jackson said in an email that the network “will continue to follow the rules and standards set forth by iGaming Ontario and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.”
In fact, AGCO told The Globe and Mail in an email that such arrangements remain acceptable. “The updated standards are not intended to cover athletes used in broadcasts or podcasts for editorial content or commentary… or sports betting commentary unless they do so pursuant to an agreement with a [sportsbook] operator,” said the email from Raymond Kahnert, a senior communications consultant at AGCO.
“The standards do not prohibit operators from sponsoring segments in broadcast programs.”
The new rules prohibit casinos or sportsbooks from using “cartoon characters, symbols, role models, social media influencers, celebrities or entertainers that would be expected to appeal to minors” in advertising.
But this language, and its focus on a person's likelihood of being attractive to younger demographics, provides enough wiggle room that even advocates of stronger advertising restrictions acknowledge that they will likely help protect minors.
“Anything could be attractive to some kids,” said Nigel Turner, an independent researcher at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. “But someone like Jamie Foxx – I don’t know what kind of following he has among young people, but he’s primarily a comedian that adults follow.”
As the changes come into effect, some parts of the industry are not even convinced that they solve an actual problem.
“We don’t think there was an issue that needed to be addressed,” said Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, a trade group that represents licensed operators. Burns believes members of the public who objected to the ads were primarily reacting to the volume of TV spots, which he said has declined since the initial burst of activity, when dozens of operators tried out from the start to capture market share.
“We probably saw a decline of up to 30 per cent” in the number of online gambling ads from fall 2022 to fall 2023 on Hockey Night in Canada and major sports, he said.
This data could not be immediately confirmed.
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