NFL, NHL Warn Canadian Lawmakers About Sports Betting Ad Limits

A bill that could further curb advertising for online sports betting sites is making progress in Canada’s Senate despite recent concerns raised by professional leagues, whose words have gone a long way with lawmakers in the past. 

The Senate of Canada’s Transport and Communications Committee met Wednesday evening and reported Bill S-269 to the full chamber for further debate and possible passage. 

S-269 proposes a national framework for advertising sports betting in Canada that will suggest ways to restrict such marketing, including limiting the number of ads or the locations they can appear. 

Be reasonable

However, the National Football League, arguably the most popular offering at any online sportsbook in Canada and the U.S., sent a letter to the committee that warned federal lawmakers against going too far.

The Sept. 26 letter, posted on the Senate’s website this week, approaches the advertising issue by pointing out the benefits of legal sports betting, particularly the conversion of illegal activity into regulated wagering that can be monitored for any funny business.

“The elimination of illegal gambling, especially offshore betting operators, requires not simply a legal alternative, but robust, active monitoring and enforcement backed by significant civil and criminal penalties for violations,” wrote Jonathan Nabavi, the NFL’s vice president of public policy and government affairs.

Nabavi’s letter then added (emphasis his): “Unreasonably curtailing responsible advertising will inevitably hamper the important effort to channelize illegal sports betting into the legal market.”

The NFL is warning Canadian lawmakers about “unreasonably curtailing responsible advertising” for sports betting in connection with a bill in the Senate that may further restrict such marketing.

Ad limits could hurt efforts to move illegal activity into legal markets, NFL says. pic.twitter.com/OdQBMQcUS4

— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) October 3, 2024

The National Hockey League likewise wrote to the Senate committee the same day to voice its concerns about additional ad restrictions.

“We support the Bill’s consumer protection orientation given our ongoing League-wide commitment to that end,” wrote Conal Berberich, group vice president and deputy general counsel for the NHL. “However, we question the need for national legislation in light of the healthy cooperation among industry stakeholders promoting consumer protection that already exists and the ongoing successful Sports Book regulatory environment at the provincial level.” 

The comments from the NHL and NFL could carry significant weight with some Canadian lawmakers, including the senators considering S-269. The support of professional sports leagues such as the NHL for decriminalizing single-game sports wagering was one of the most persuasive arguments for the federal government’s legalization in 2021. 

Since then, there has been increased advertising in Canada by sportsbook operators such as bet365, BetMGM, and DraftKings. 

The advertising is also being driven by the Ontario government’s decision to launch a competitive market for online gambling that has attracted dozens of private-sector operators. Those operators fight with each other for business in the province, including by advertising themselves to potential customers. The upcoming launch of a similar market in Alberta could prompt another burst of introductory advertising by sportsbook operators. 

Senators on the communications committee have heard arguments for and against a national framework for advertising sports betting in Canada, as well as recommendations that the legislation should go even further and ban sportsbook advertising altogether. 

More than 20 witnesses appeared before the committee, in addition to written submissions from the Canadian Football League (which opposes a national ad framework) and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, among others.

Bill S-269 now heads to the full Senate. The legislation must be passed by a majority of Canada’s unelected Senators before it can cross over to the elected House of Commons, which will then do its own study and hold debates on the legislation. 

There’s no guarantee of success, but the likelihood of failure is pretty high, as it usually is for bills not introduced by the government. Even so, the debates around S-269 have attracted a fair amount of attention, and the submissions from the NFL and NHL suggest they are taking the matter seriously enough. 

A matter of integrity

Both leagues highlighted to the committee their various efforts in ensuring fans are not annoyed or overloaded by gambling ads, with the NFL’s Nabavi stating that, as of last season, “sports betting ads represented a small percentage of national and local NFL in-game ads across all markets.”

The NFL’s letter to the Senate committee also stresses the upside of legalized sports betting, saying there is “no greater priority” for the league than protecting the integrity of its games. Illegal sports betting operators do not use “sports integrity monitoring processes,” Nabavi’s letter says.

“Canadians’ money wagered on these illegal platforms is flowing offshore to fund enterprises and individuals with no transparency,” Nabavi wrote.

They got this

The NHL said it limits the amount of time that sportsbook brands can appear on “virtual in-ice and virtual dasherboard signage” during broadcasts. The league also argued the regulation of sports betting-related advertising should be left up to the provinces, not the federal government. 

Provinces are responsible for overseeing online gambling operators, while the federal government sets the legal guidelines for what sort of gambling is permitted in Canada.

In Ontario, for instance, iGaming operators are bound by the rules set by the AGCO, such as restrictions on using athletes in marketing their sportsbooks. 

“We also believe that limiting Sports Book advertising by legislative caveat may ultimately prove to be counterproductive,” the NHL’s Berberich wrote to the Senate committee. “Advertising provides an opportunity for brands to compete for consumers and for brands to distinguish themselves from each other, which allows consumers to make informed decisions about brand preference.”

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