The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is banning athletes in ads for online gambling in the province in a bid to protect minors from their influence.
Announced on Tuesday morning, the ban will extend to both active and retired athletes, with the sole exception of advocating for responsible gambling practices. Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews are among the athletes that have appeared in sports betting ads over the last two years.
The Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming already limited the use of celebrities, role models, entertainers, cartoon characters and symbols that “primarily appealed to minors.” Another update to the standards has added social media influencers to that list, which has updated the language to those “who would likely be expected to appeal to minors,” which the AGCO says “broadens and strengthens the existing standard.”
“Children and youth are heavily influenced by the athletes and celebrities they look up to,” explains Tom Mungham, registrar and CEO of the commission. “We’re therefore increasing measures to protect Ontario’s youth by disallowing use of these influential figures to promote online betting.”
The ban will come into effect on Feb. 28, 2024, almost two years after the province opened as a regulated online gambling market. Through its own monitoring of the marketplace, the AGCO determined that advertising that uses athletes and other celebrities who appeal to minors could be a potential harm to them.
The move follows consultations that the commission held in April. In those, the AGCO conversed with mental and public health organizations, responsible gambling experts, broadcast and marketing groups, the public and the gaming operators themselves. It was through these conversations that the commission came to its decision to enact the ban.
A number of organizations have expressed concerns about the influence of gambling ads. In June, a group of Ontario MPPs introduced a bill to ban advertising for sports betting in the province; that same month, Bill S-269 was introduced in the Senate to develop a framework at the national level for sports betting ads.