Group Urges Canada To Ban All Online Gambling Ads
A Canadian advocacy group is urging the federal government to extend a proposed advertising crackdown to cover all forms of online gambling, including prediction markets, arguing that existing restrictions do not go far enough. Ice hockey, basketball and football remain some of the most popular sports for bettors to bet on.
Ban Ads for Gambling, led by former Olympian Bruce Kidd, submitted a brief on October 13 to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which is reviewing Bill S-211, a proposed federal law regulating sports gambling advertising. The bill passed second reading 291-28 in April and was referred to committee.
Group Wants The Bill Widened
The group says Bill S-211 should be expanded to add "online casinos, video games, prediction markets and other forms of online gambling" to the activities it regulates, and it is calling for an outright ban on advertising for sports betting and other gambling products. It points to Canada's advertising restrictions on tobacco and cannabis as a template.
The Canadian Gaming Association, which represents the industry, told the same committee in June that gambling advertising in Canada is already "fully regulated" at the provincial level, and noted that the governments of Alberta and Ontario oppose Bill S-211 in its current form.
New Research Cited On Betting
The submission lands alongside new academic findings on gambling-related harm. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, writing in JAMA Psychiatry, reported an association between the legalization of sports betting and increased use of anti-anxiety and antidepressant medication, based on insurance claims data covering more than 61 million Americans.
A separate Epic Research study found gambling disorder diagnoses rose 61% between 2018 and 2026 in US states that legalized online sports betting, while falling in states that did not.
Ontario, which opened its market to private operators in 2022, reported 1.2 million active gambling accounts in August 2026, up 19% year-over-year. Alberta became the second province to allow private operators when it launched its regulated market in July.
Full Ban Is Unlikely
Senator Marty Deacon, who sponsored Bill S-211, said she sympathizes with the group's aims but that its proposed amendment falls outside the bill's framework, since the legislation does not amend an existing act through which an advertising ban could be instilled.
She noted she had separately co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling for a full ban on sports betting advertising. The Heritage committee is scheduled to begin hearings on the matter on October 22.
