Former MP behind legalizing sports gambling says some results ‘reprehensible’

The former MP who spent more than a decade pushing to legalize single-event sports betting says he doesn’t regret it – but says its implementation is “sad” and “reprehensible” in some ways.

He also says that more regulation is needed to curb the amount and methods of gambling advertising in Canada.

Former NDP MP Brian Massey introduced a private member’s bill to lift the prohibition in 2019, and a year later, Conservative MP Kevin Waugh reintroduced Massey’s bill.

It passed in 2021 with the support of MPs from different parties.

But Massey says, five years later, legalized sports betting hasn’t been implemented the way he envisioned.

“It’s scandalous that some provinces have actually implemented this. They’ve allowed the private sector to basically own and operate it,” Mase said in an interview with CBC News.

“I have no regrets, but it is sad to see some of the consequences. We can still avoid them. The story is not over yet.”

For Masse, it was a local issue: Windsor, Ontario, casinos compete with Detroit’s casinos. When the United States Supreme Court struck down the federal law preventing states from allowing single-event sports betting, some states, including Michigan, legalized it – allowing betting in physical casinos, and putting Canadian casinos at a loss.

“It was really about jobs in our casinos, it was about jobs in our entertainment industry, it was about jobs in tourism,” Masse said.

“You see modernization happening. And so we didn’t want organized crime to benefit. We wanted it to be accountable.”

One of the primary arguments for legalizing sports betting was that it would create a legal, regulated space at the expense of black market gambling.

But five years later, sports gambling ads are ubiquitous on broadcasts.

2024 analysis by cbc Market And researchers at the University of Bristol found that up to 21 per cent of Ontario sports broadcasts were filled with gambling messages.

Last month, a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found a surge more than 300 percent Among young men contacting Ontario’s mental health helpline for gambling-related problems.

“It’s not surprising that the gambling industry has grown so much in Ontario, but that’s not the story we were told,” said Renz Nauta, program director of engagement and economics at Cardus, a Christian think-tank.

“We were told it was a move by people who were already gambling on the black market to move into the legal market. But the increase we’ve seen shows that there are a lot of people who are gambling today who weren’t before the law was passed.”

Masse said the “weakness” in the federal bill is that it changed the criminal code – and gambling is provincially regulated – leaving each province to decide its own way.

He recommended that single-event sports betting be implemented gradually, and that it remain with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, a Crown agency owned by the Government of Ontario.

“But what they’ve done is they’ve started with full force,” he said. “They have allowed all this unregulated activity.”

Unlike other provinces, Ontario opened up a regulated market to private gambling companies. 47 licensed iGaming operators. As of April 2022, regulated markets have become a billion-dollar industry in Ontario, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Ontario government – ​​and continuing to grow.

Ontario Senator Marty Deacon said, “This is where advertising becomes useless, because there are all these operators, and they all want a piece.”

Bill to regulate sports betting ads being considered

Deacon sponsored a bill to develop a national framework to regulate advertising for sports betting and set national standards for the prevention of risks.

The bill, S-211, has passed the Senate and is currently on second reading in the House of Commons.

She said, “Would I want a full ban? Sure, I would. But to get it activated and get it through the Senate to the House, depending on the threshold, I said we’re going to go with a partial ban.”

The Canadian Gaming Association, which represents operators in Canada, argues that its members already work in one of the country’s most regulated industries.

President and CEO Paul Burns said the industry is open to additional regulation, but says it should be left up to the provinces, which have the jurisdiction and expertise.

Burns said, “Getting rid of advertising is not going to solve the gambling problem. If it did, it would have done so a long time ago. In fact, it is very naive to think that that is the solution.”

But both Nauta and Massé are calling for greater restrictions on advertising, as is the case for products like cigarettes, or a ban altogether.

“Reducing advertising or banning it altogether would make a big difference in the data we see and the impact it has on people’s lives,” Nauta said.

He says he would like to impose a complete ban on sports betting advertising.

Massey says the federal government has more tools to move quickly, and if the Carney government was motivated, it could introduce its own bill or make changes to the budget bill.