Casino ads in Ontario featuring celebrities could be a thing of the past if the newly updated rules by the Alcohol and Gambling Commission of Ontario (AGCO) are to go by. The organization regulating the Internet Gaming (iGaming) market in Ontario has introduced new rules and updated its  “Standards for Internet Gaming” rulebook. 

Under the new rules, active or retired athletes and celebrities who would appeal to minors are barred from advertising and marketing iGaming products in Ontario. The only exception is if the athletes are promoting responsible gambling. The ban on athletes is further extended to influential persons such as artists, social media influencers and cartoon figures to safeguard the children and youth likely to be influenced by such ads. 

On the other hand, the new changes won’t affect the style and volume of online gambling adverts. However, locations were slightly affected, with the law staging that online gambling ads would not be allowed near schools. 

Online gambling is a high revenue market in Ontario 

In 2021, Canada officially legalized single-event betting, paving the way for individual provinces to regulate their markets. A year later, in 2022, Ontario launched an open and regulated iGaming market that attracted big and small industry players. 

Since then, Ontario’s iGaming industry has grown tremendously. A report from iGaming Ontario (iGO) shows that the first quarter of fiscal year 23/24 brought in a record $545 million in gaming revenue. In comparison, the first quarter for 22/23 only brought in $162 million in revenue.

What’s more, in the last three months of 2023, total wagers made via Ontario iGaming came in at about $17.2 billion, representing a 21% jump from the previous quarter. iGO, a subsidiary of AGCO that manages the internet gaming sector, including top online casinos and review sites such as Casinojungle.ca, says that the total wagers placed in the first three months of the year amounted to about $2 billion. 

Who raised concerns?

The financial figures speak for themselves; soon enough, online gambling flooded the market, and people started to notice, not just the people, organizations, and stakeholders too. It was commonplace to come across complaints about the run time of online gambling ads from the public, especially during live sporting events. For example, during a playoff game between the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023, almost 9 minutes of advertisements were on online gambling. 

Since then, there has been a notable rise in online gambling advertisements, particularly during big live sporting events. This was a cause for alarm among fans and other stakeholders since live games don’t have an age limit for who can watch.

The same year, AGCO consulted with stakeholders and interested parties and received submissions from gaming operators and marketing groups, mental health organizations, responsible gambling experts, and the public on the way forward regarding online gambling adverts.

Following the submissions, AGCO decided to update its “Standards for Internet Gaming” rulebook to ban athletes and influential people from participating in online gambling advertisements.

In a news release in August 2023, the organization stated, “Following these consultations, the AGCO has determined that prohibiting the use of athletes and restricting celebrity endorsements would help safeguard children and youth who can be particularly susceptible to such advertising content.”

AGCO strongly believes that the new changes will widen and strengthen the already tightened standards that shuts out celebrities from gambling ads and strictly prohibit advertising content that appeals to minors. Tom Mungham, the registrar and CEO of AGCO, stated, “Children and youth are heavily influenced by the athletes and celebrities they look up to. We’re therefore increasing measures to protect Ontario’s youth by disallowing the use of these influential figures to promote online betting in Ontario.”

Are there any other efforts?

Bruce Kidd, a former Olympian and University of Toronto professor emeritus, has launched a “Campaign to Ban Ads for Gambling,” stating that watching gambling ads on TV feels like being in a real-life casino. The campaign, which is supported by a good number of his colleagues, is aiming to eradicate any form of sports betting advertisement, and was disappointed to see the regulators push the ban on celebrities pushed to February of this year. 

The former Olympian stated that, “Our campaign is for banning ads for gambling in the same way that Canada banned ads for tobacco a generation ago, and for the same health reasons, these products and practices hurt people. We want to minimize, if not eliminate that harm.”

Marty Deacon, the Canadian senator, has also introduced a bill seeking to compel the federal government to ban the participation of celebrities and athletes in sports betting advertisements. While the senator is proud of the steps taken by AGCO to ban celebrity endorsements in casino advertising, she acknowledged there is a need to tighten the grip with the introduction of a national standard that sets the tone, and avoids confusion. She is also of the opinion that gambling adverts should be also allowed on TV at a certain time.

In recent times, celebrities who have featured in online gambling ads are Auton Matthews, who plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs; De Grasse, the speedster; Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, and Wayne Gretzky, who is in the Cricket Hall of Fame.