Just a few years after opening its doors to online casinos, Ontario is feeling the repercussions.
Driving the news: Lawmakers in Ottawa will vote this week on Bill S-211, legislation aimed at reining in gambling advertising across Canada. The push on Parliament Hill follows a report that the number of problem gamblers and gambling-related suicides in Ontario have both tripled since 2018.
According to a recently published study, almost 130,000 Ontarians now show signs of problem gambling, compared to just ~43,000 eight years ago.
Catch-up: A CBC News analysis published with the University of Bristol found that across seven NHL games televised in Canada, viewers were shown ~3,000 gambling promotions (working out to around two to three per minute). Ontario and Alberta, the only provinces in Canada that allow private sportsbooks and casinos to operate, oppose Bill S-211, citing the loss of tax revenue.
Both provinces take a 20% cut of what they bring in from bettors. For Ontario, that’s amounted to $2 billion in tax revenue since legalization.
Why it matters: The growing number of problem gamblers underscores just how quickly the public's habits can shift when they have access to a casino — which is promoted through constant advertising — in their pockets. The findings are a stark warning to Alberta, which only opened up its gambling market this year, and any other provinces looking to follow suit.
Zoom out: Open gambling markets tend to increase the rate at which people run into serious financial difficulties. Studies have found that in areas where online betting is legal, average credit scores dropped by 1% and the likelihood of filing for bankruptcy increased by 25% to 30% after four years of legalization.—LA
