Canadian Broadcasters Say Demand Down For Sports Betting Advertisement Time

Canadian broadcasters state the demand from sportsbook operators for advertisement time is already weakening, and a bill aiming to rein in that marketing is a bit hasty.


The Senate of Canada's Transport and Communications Committee met again Wednesday night to hear more testament in connection with Bill S-269, which proposes the development of a nationwide framework for sports betting-related advertising.


That structure would recognize methods of controling sportsbook ads, "with a view to limiting the usage of such advertising, restricting the number, scope or place," the text of the legislation states.


Not so fast, my pals


But what the Senate committee heard on Wednesday is that those commercials are currently being restricted, both on the initiative of broadcasters and because sportsbook operators are purchasing less advertisement time.


Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters - a group comprised of more than 700 private-sector channels and stations - stated a few of the union's members have established "internal and voluntary limitations" on the quantity of gaming advertisements they run.


Those limits are in addition to the requirements set out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), which supervises iGaming in the only Canadian province that allows several private-sector operators to do business.


"To some degree, this is not unlike marketing at the dawn of the.com boom, a new market that emerged apparently from nowhere, that appeared common in the moment, however that in time stabilized," Desjardins stated. "What we've seen in terms of advertising over the last 2 years is not representative of what we anticipate moving forward, and currently, our members have actually told us that they are seeing reductions in the quantity of advertisement time that's being looked for by these businesses."


Now up is Kevin Desjardins, the president of the of Broadcasters, a group of private-sector radio and tv operators. Says a few of their members have developed internal limitations on the quantity of sports betting ads they'll transmit. pic.twitter.com/zmXLS1m5Ny


Desjardins stated the proposed legislation is "early and an unnecessary overreach" into work already being done by provincial regulators.


"Having multiple layers of regulative structures in this area will create confusion and not enable provincial regulators to make the modifications they consider required as they see the development of the marketplace in their own jurisdictions," he included.


Desjardins is one of nearly 20 witnesses who have actually offered testimony about S-269 to the transportation and interactions committee, which held two hearings in June and 2 in September.


Another hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1, and then the committee will conduct a "clause-by-clause" consideration of the bill the following day. That will be the time for committee members to propose amendments to the legislation if they so choose, and after that to advance the bill by reporting it back to the complete Senate for additional dispute.


A couple of tips


In other words, Canada's private-sector broadcasters are pressing back versus legislation that appears to be making progress.


Moreover, the opposition comes as Canada is just over three years past the decriminalization of single-game sports wagering and more than 2 years beyond Ontario's launch of its competitive iGaming market.


Some lawmakers have actually voiced issue about what the current legal and regulatory changes have caused, and S-269 provides an opportunity for those at the federal level to try to make modifications to among the more obvious elements of business: marketing.


Ontario is still the only province that has actually welcomed and controlled the likes of private-sector operators such as bet365, BetMGM, and FanDuel, however Alberta remains in the procedure of putting together a similar structure, and other markets might eventually follow match.


Shelley White, CEO of the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), said that research on the impacts of gambling marketing found that increased exposure can normalize that activity while decreasing an individual's understanding of the risk involved.


White and the RGC are likewise supportive of the nationwide framework S-269 proposes because, to name a few things, it would develop a plan of sorts that other provinces might follow.


"The advantage is that it might offer consistent guidance to each of the provinces as they develop their betting marketing and advertising regulative standards," White told the committee.


Keep truckin' (or don't)


Still, Ontario's market has actually perhaps been the driver for much of the current boost in marketing of sports betting in Canada. Those advertisements have actually handled to irritate some sports fans and attract attention from legislators and regulators.


"We have actually heard a lot about how hazardous this marketing is, but no one's actually talked to what I believe is driving a lot of this, which is that it's so frustrating," Alberta Sen. Paula Simons stated at one point throughout Wednesday's hearing.


Desjardins responded by recommending that the newness of the gaming advertisements is making them stand apart more for Canadian audiences.


"If you were to take pickup ads off the air for six months, and then reintroduce them at the exact same levels, individuals would say, 'My God, there's many pickup truck advertisements on the air, right?" he stated.


But public policy should not be created to satisfy people's individual perceptiveness, Desjardins said, and he warned the committee about people using advertising as a "proxy fight" to relitigate the legalization of single-game sports betting.


Desjardins also acknowledged that gambling marketing supplied a "considerable increase" of income for broadcasters at a time when he said those revenues were being challenged.


"I think that we recognize the reality that it is going to retrench rather, and we're currently seeing indicators of that," he stated. "So it's definitely not a long-lasting strategic piece to the advertising business, but it is a substantial piece at the minute, particularly for particular services."


Desjardins says he thinks there are people utilizing advertising as a "proxy battle" against single-game sports betting's legalization. Doesn't believe there is anything demonstrating that the results people desire are going to be served by limiting advertisements.


Although they might have bothered some audiences, particularly in provinces outside of Ontario, where the operators are not yet regulated, the sports wagering advertisements are expected to serve a purpose. To name a few things, the marketing enables operators to present themselves to prospective clients and highlight which operators are controlled and which are not.


However, not everybody concurs that the ads are needed to help transition gamers from the grey and black markets into regulated ones. Cardus, a Christian think tank, is among those promoting S-269 to go even further, and totally prohibit all sports wagering ads.


"If the legalization of single-event sports wagering was planned to meet existing need and cut the black market for sports betting (as was mentioned at the time), then it needs to be unneeded to drive up need through advertising," Cardus' written submission to the Senate committee stated. "Governments ought to not permit the promotion of this activity through advertising.