Two senators are calling on the federal government to ban advertising for sports betting in Canada.
A letter to the prime minister from Charlottetown Sen. Percy Downe and Waterloo Sen. Marty Deacon asks the government to have the CRTC ban all advertising for sports gambling apps and websites. It is supported by 40 other senators.
The letter says people of all ages who are exposed to the stream of ads are being influenced to turn their phone into “a pocket-sized casino.”
It also references a CBC Marketplace report that found gambling messages fill up, on average, 21 per cent of a sporting event’s broadcast runtime.
This seems like a reasonable thing to do. People still buy cigarettes despite the ban on open advertising. People seeking vices will seek them out. But we don’t need to encourage it in every possible media avenue.