It's Ontario's Fault

I've never met Aaron Paul, but it seems like he would be a good guy. His work on Breaking Bad earned him a pile of Emmy nominations and wins, his supporting role in Central Intelligence was solid, and I'm sure he'll work in Hollywood for years to come. Paul's work will usually get me to stop if I see him appear in a program on my TV, but he's starting to be an annoyance rather than a welcome sight on TV thanks to his work with a specific sportsbook and sports betting site whose commercial appears way too often during Canadian sports broadcasts. It's not his fault, though. This problem lies entirely at the feet of province of Ontario.

On June 22, 2021, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-218 - also called the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act - which amended the Canadian Criminal Code to allow provincial governments to oversee single-event sports betting offerings within their borders. On April 4, 2022, the Ontario government took it one step further as they put its regulated sports betting program in place, allowing sportsbooks to set up shop in Ontario for betting of all kinds on virtually all professional sports. The only one not included was horse racing.

All sportsbooks were required to register with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) prior to advertising their services, and there are 30 sportsbooks registered with AGCO at the time of writing. When it seems like there are too many commercials on TV about sports betting, just remember that those are the tip of the iceberg. It could be a lot worse. However, it's very noticeable during most sports broadcasts, and a lot of people dislike it.

"It's prostitution of what should be valuable time," longtime broadcaster Dave Hodge said of betting segments during intermissions and game setups to Sean Fitz-Gerald of The Athletic.

"It's a big problem," Karl Subban told the CBC about the nine minutes of betting advertising shown during a Leafs playoff game. "Gambling is very addictive. A lot of the marketing is focusing on grabbing the attention of the most vulnerable, the youngest of our population."

"I love to watch sports, but watching them on television today feels like I'm in a casino," former Olympian and University of Toronto professor emeritus Bruce Kidd told CTVNews.ca. "The most serious problem with betting ads is that they accentuate the propensity to bet, and as a result, the addiction to gambling."

They're not the only ones complaining. Many fans have expressed their unhappiness with the volume of betting advertisements during sports broadcasts, people in the media - Roy McGregor's piece in the The Globe and Mail is excellent - have written pieces expressing their digust over the volume of ads, and it has prompted provinces to cry foul where sportsbooks have yet to be registered. Of course, watching sports used to be an escape for some, but it's a whole new battle for recovering gambling addicts.

I get there's a financial windfall for the province of Ontario in allowing sportsbooks to operate in the province. As per the CBC, "Ontario is expected to generate $800 million in gross revenue from sports betting" in 2022 which, assuming it is spent wisely in a provincial budget, could go along way in providing many services and programs needed by Ontario residents. The only problem was that figure was completely fabricated as Geoff Zochodne in Covers.com wrote that a legislative watchdog estimated that sports betting would "generate around $75 million in revenue for the provincial government over the next three years" - "$26 million in net income for 2023-24 and $31 million for 2024-25, or a combined $75 million over three years."

With that kind of disparity between the two figures, one has to wonder where the final numbers landed. The actual figure that came in through the first three months was better than the watchdog estimated as the revenue reported for the first three months was $162 million, but it's still nowhere close to the $800-million figure that was reported in April 2022 by the CBC. If we extrapolate the first-quarter revenues, we're looking at $600-$650 million in revenue, but Ontario's idea that this was going to bring them big chunks of revenue was completely wrong.

Financially, it's not all bad, but it's only 80% of the money that the province figured it would generate. While I get that adding any money to the provincial budget's bottom line is good for programs and services in Ontario, this is a gamble they lost badly based on public opinion and it may force AGCO to ban athletes and celebrities in commercials for sportsbooks and online casinos.

There are a lot of things that can and should be changed about this problem. Just like cigarettes and smoking, maybe all advertising is banned for sportsbooks and online casinos. It's not like any of the tobacco companies have gone bankrupt, and I doubt that these gambling companies would suffer if they fell under the same rules. What's clear is that viewers of games aren't thrilled with the volume of commercials for gambling, recovering gambling addicts struggle with the volume of commercials, and AGCO is reviewing the practices of these gambling companies to ensure that they aren't marketing to or influencing minors to engage in gambling.

Like most things that Ontario Premier Doug Ford touches, the end result is sloppy in its conception, poorly-executed in practice, and generally disliked by a large chunk of the population. If you're sick of seeing Aaron Paul, Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, or anyone else promoting gambling companies, you're definitely not alone, but there's little that can be done to change that reality.

Thanks for ruining sports broadcasts, Ontario.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!