An Independent senator representing the Waterloo region is renewing her push to restrict sports betting advertising in Canada, warning that current practices are putting young people at risk of developing addictive behaviors.

Senator Marty Deacon is using momentum from a new editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) to bring attention to Bill S-211, her proposed legislation that seeks to ban all sports betting commercials during broadcasts likely to be seen by minors.

“This is addictive behavior, and it’s a major health concern,” Deacon said in an interview on CBC’s The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris.

Sports betting has been legal in Canada since 2021, but there are currently no federal regulations governing advertising. Deacon’s bill, first introduced in June 2023, calls for a national regulatory framework modeled after advertising rules for alcohol and tobacco. Proposed measures could include:

Restricting or banning celebrities and athletes from appearing in gambling ads

Limiting the number of ads shown per broadcast or per venue

Banning certain ads from being broadcast entirely during hours when minors are likely to be watching

After a brief delay caused by the federal election, Bill S-211 is still pending and awaits reintroduction to committee. Deacon hopes to bring the bill back to the Senate for debate in early October.

"We need a common approach, a national standard similar to alcohol, similar to tobacco ads, that is not patchwork. And that's why the government has to take the lead on this," Deacon said.

An emerging issue with long-term harms

The CMAJ editorial published Monday was written by family physician Dr. Shannon Charlebois, who is also the medical editor at the CMAJ, as well as Dr. Shawn Kelly.

While Kelly primarily focuses on substance use cases, he works with all addictive disorders, and has started to screen for gambling behaviour — something he believes is an emerging issue.

"I have seen an increase in harms from gambling in people who are under the age where they should be legally allowed to engage in any gambling," he told CBC News on Monday.

"The typical story that I see in the clinic is a 13- or 14-year-old boy who has borrowed dad's credit card, or mom's credit card, engaged in some online wagering and lost a significant amount of money."

Kelly says there are also other associated harms that come with gambling issues.

"We know that substance use goes up, we know that other criminality or delinquency increases as well," he said, adding that there can also be an increase in suicidality associated with gambling behaviours.

He says parlay bets are especially concerning. Parlay is a type of bet that is connected to two or more other bets, most commonly in sports betting. All the wagers have to win together for the parlay bet to win. If any of the wagers lose, the entire parlay loses.

"You can imagine with all of these opportunities to bet, of how one could get in a financial hole very quickly," he said.

"One recommendation I would make is to be eliminating these parlay bets of where it shouldn't be so rapid fire."

He says it's important to consider the role of evolving technology.

"People can be betting from their smartphone and adolescents virtually all have smartphones now too. It just allows for a more rapid rate of gambling and sports betting taking place that we wouldn't have seen. In the past, one had to maybe go to an actual retailer or go to [Las] Vegas to be placing such bets."