IGaming Advertising: Be Mindful of Children, But be Wary of Overreach
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During the holidays, there was a FanDuel ad in Canada humourizing the Christmas family feast — two older guys start brawling over politics, a young teen stabs the turkey looking dead-eyed into the camera, as an aunt detailed her psoriasis condition to her young nephew.
It was great creative, and hilarious. So were theScore Bet ads with Jon Lovitz, Russell Peters, and Patrick J Adams that ran last fall.
The Wayne Gretzky/Connor McDavid BetMGM ads are fun. The new Proline ad featuring former Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph is so well produced and Joseph is looking so good I jokingly told friends the team should sign “Cujo” to help bail the Leafs out of their current playoff predicament.
Sports Betting Business is Booming in Canada
My point is this: I am nowhere near as fatigued as others are critiquing the volume of iGaming television advertising during live sports events.
Business is booming in Ontario on the igaming front – first full year total wagers was $35.5 billion, according to iGaming Ontario, with $1.4 billion of revenue. There were 44 operators and 75 gaming websites live in the province in Q4, 1.01 million active player accounts. Twenty per cent of the revenue goes to the province. That doesn’t include igaming financial results from the government-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
It’s a growing, well-regulated industry. A spokesperson for FanDuel reached out to tell me about the boon in NHL playoff sportsbetting – in some moments surpassing betting on the NBA, a first they reported.
For me, the ads blend in seamlessly with broadcasts, largely because of that great creative. And the ad spending has been great for the media industry. Sports betting overall augments the entire sports viewing experience. By far, most people can regulate themselves and are gambling responsibly.
Calls to Slow iGaming Advertising
But there are plenty of calls to shut down iGaming advertising. NDP MP Brian Masse wants to see a ban on ads featuring NHL stars and other sports celebrities. The Campaign to Ban Advertising for Gambling wants a complete ban, just as tobacco and cannabis ads are.
And the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, citing the need to minimize potential harm from gambling on youth and the vulnerable, has invited industry stakeholders to give their thoughts on a proposal to adjust the Advertising Standards in the province and prohibit the use the athletes and celebrities in internet gaming ads. The deadline for consultation was yesterday. Assuming there has been a lot of people sending in their thoughts up to now, the AGCO moved that deadline to May 15.
“Gambling is fun but it can also become an addiction and destroy people’s lives,” said David Soberman, Canadian National Chair in Strategic Marketing, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. “Hence, it is only reasonable that marketing of gambling be restricted to people over the age of 19 (the age of majority) so they can make up their own minds.”
I go back to a panel discussion at the Canadian Gaming Association’s one-year market anniversary event last month at the Toronto Region Board of Trade, hosted by Catherine MacLeod, CEO, ThinkTV, the organization that works with advertisers and ad agencies to vet creative so the material complies with rules and regulations and makes it on air.
Dale Hooper from FanDuel, Scott Woodgate from BetMGM, Dave Thomson from NFL Canada, Stewart Johnston from Bell Media and Al Dark from Rogers Sports and Media all took part. The topic was balancing sports betting promotion with responsible gambling messaging, and what’s being done at the ground level to build a sustainable eco-system.
The Biggest Lottery Payouts in Canada
Responsible Gambling Needs to Be in The Message
Everyone rightfully sees the need to place responsible gambling messaging at the forefront of what they are doing. That’s what came out of the discussion.
MacLeod said ThinkTV viewed and approved 33,247 commercials, infomercials and PSAs in 2022. Less than one per cent had to do with online gaming. MacLeod lauded the cooperation between broadcasters, clients and regulatory bodies when talking about responsible messaging, how operators have been stepping up and reaching out to ThinkTV, being proactive in rolling out the right messaging.
Johnston talked about the caps they place on iGaming advertising that runs over an hour on any of their platforms. There was lots of talk from Thomson about not wanting to “inundate their fans” with ads, while working with their broadcasting partners. The NFL keeps current players out of any gambling advertising, he added.
Hooper said responsible gambling messaging has been a priority for them since the regulated industry launched April 4, 2022.
“We’re fully transparent about responsible gaming,” he said. “This is not a competition, it’s the right thing to do as an industry. We’re only as good as the weakest link in the chain. We want to make sure there are no weak links.”
Added Woodgate: “We are all aware of the social responsibility we hold in this marketplace.”
TV Viewers Don't Seem to Mind Gaming Ads
Dark said most of the viewer feedback they get now has more to do with “scary movies” than iGaming content.
“Seventy per cent of that (iGaming) feedback over the past year came within the first two-three months of launch, and now it's 10s of comments on a monthly basis,” he said.
So the industry is policing itself. Everyone on the panel said they were committed to “doing this the right way” and ensuring the iGaming category is grown over the long term. Organizations like ThinkTV aid them in that.
Said Shelley White, CEO of Responsible Gambling Council, in a statement to Gambling.com: “RGC has worked, and continues to work, with a number of broadcasters and operators who are committed to responsible gambling practices throughout their advertising. We believe there is a strong desire to achieve the right balance in advertising and responsible gambling education.
“In looking at the Ontario market, there are operators who are doing well in achieving a balance when it comes to advertising and responsible gambling space and there are others who are continuing to learn as they go, and we are here to support them if they need it.
“Through the RG Check accreditation process, one of the standards we audit is Marketing Communications, which helps to provide guidance to operators around policy, processes and standard practices. This helps to shape recommendations on how they can continue to improve.”
The regulated iGaming industry is still new, and while there needs to be guardrails to protect children and the vulnerable, the good far outweighs the bad up to now. The benefits of what is a well-regulated, open, competitive iGaming market far exceed any negative impact, so we need to be wary of overreaction and over-reach based on a lot of yelling.
Good for the AGCO for staying ahead of growing pains as the industry evolves, and good for them for opening up any substantive changes to stakeholder consultation on issues like proposed changes with internet gambling Advertising Standards.
It will be a drag if we lose some of that great creative featuring athletes and celebrities. But based on their ad creative track record so far, no doubt the industry will find equally entertaining ways to fill the pipeline.
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